Weird things going on with Sonic

[gnonne]

Air duct between filter box and throttle body may be cracked - very common on the 1.8L and there is a TSB for it. Depending on miles, it might be time for a coil pack and plugs, also very common with the symptoms you describe. Could also be emissions-related, solenoid purge valves go bad on these.

None of these are expensive parts and they are all right on top of the engine.

 

[Fluffycakes2020]

Funny you mention all that stuff because everything except solenoid purge valve had been replaced. Except the air duct because it's not cracked. It's got around 97k miles and have replaced plugs and coil pack. I can look into the solenoid purge valve and see. I read about the pcv valve but it's on the valve cover and I can't afford to buy a new cover to replace that.

 

[Fluffycakes2020]

So I took off my alternator to go get it tested to check if this was the problem, well it wasn't but certainly fixed the lighta dimming while driving and the battery light. This alternator was bad and luckily I had got another one to replace it so it wasn't to bad. But it never fixed the problem with the vibration. Next thing I'm going to check is coil pack and spark plugs and solenoid purge valve.

 

[Fluffycakes2020]

So changed the coil pack because it has lifetime warranty, didnt fix anything. Next is PCV Valve if im able to check without removing valve cover and then checking purge valve

 

[Fluffycakes2020]

So I've seen a few posts about how to check the pcv valve so I took the oil dipstick out and the car started acting like it wanted to shut off. I took off the cover for the spark plugs and checked the little hole and while covering it it makes a squeal noise and runs rough. Went to take the oil cap off and it started running bad so does all this point towards replacing the pcv valve? Hopefully someone reads this.

 

[Fluffycakes2020]

Finally fixed..... Hopefully

So I bit the bullet and ordered the valve cover from o'reilly's and got in it today and installed it. Took 35 minutes. So far so good. I'll know tomorrow for sure when I drive for 30 minutes and get it warmed and make sure there's no oil leak but so far so good. Cross your fingers. Hopefully someone has been keeping up with this so it don't look like I'm talking to myself.

 

[Fluffycakes2020]

Well the pcv valve fixed the problem but like every other vehicle when you fix one thing, something else happens. It began while driving on the freeway. Car acted like it didn't know what gear it wanted to be in. Was going 77 at a little over 3000 rpm so I slowed down and the gears just kept changing til it finally chose one. It did that twice. Check engine light flashes a few times and I checked the codes with my reader and got p0302 misfire cylinder 2 there was a small amount of oil by sparkplug when I changed valve cover, and p0324 and p0325. Knock sensor any idea on what to look at?

 

[dannyg]

There's a couple of threads on here about P0325 (knock sensor) including this one:

http://www.sonicownersforum.com/for...gine-discussion/24427-p0325-knock-sensor.html

Good luck!

 

[Fluffycakes2020]

So I searched online and that page came up so I read it but no definite answer. Honestly I think the reason the knock sensor came on was cuz the engine was running rough causing the cel. It feels alot like the transmission doesn't know what gear to be in. It did it a little bit leaving work but nothing after that. I'm gonna keep my eye on it and see if the cel comes on again and if so I'll replace the sensor.

 

[Fluffycakes2020]

Seems things are getting a little worse. The jerking while driving comes and goes and the high rpms makes me think my transmission is going out. But I now I think something else is wrong, started it earlier and the idle was rough the rpms was going up and down and up and down. Then it was ok and was idling fine.

 

[Fluffycakes2020]

So aside from the bad shifting while driving and all the jerking going on while driving, now while at idle the Traction control light comes on and the car idles rough until I start driving then it goes off. It does that off and on. Its so frustrating. Not sure if any of this is because I changed the valve cover and put seafoam in gas tank. And im still getting the p0171 code. There is no vacuum leak, everything looks fine. Might just take it to a mechanic.

 

[travisb5470]

Did you get the idle issue fixed?