My fiancée’s 96 Civic has had this problem for a while now. When I slow down for a stop sign or stoplight and get below about 10 mph, the car will shudder and hesitate when I press on the accelerator. It doesn’t hesitate when I give it gas as long as I’m already going.
I assume this is indicative of transmission problems, but does it mean the tranny will fall out if I don’t spend hundreds of dollars on it? The car was very nearly totaled a few years ago and its resale value isn’t very good; I’m not inclined to put any money into it that isn’t absolutely necessary, but my fiancée doesn’t want to get a new car until the summer of 2007. Will it last that long?
It could be a problem with the transmission (you don’t say whether it’s a manual or automatic), but it could also be the engine lugging out when put under load. This could happen for any number of reasons–lost compression, valve stem bent or valve not seating, et cetera–but might also just be a clogged fuel line or filter. I had a similar problem once with an old but otherwise reliable Subaru that would just start dying when it was cold or being pushed hard, although it was rather sporatic.
I’d have a mechanic look at it first and run a compression check on the engine to eliminate that possibility. And while replacing the tranny isn’t going to be cheap, the Civic is a popular enough car that you should be able to find a relatively cheap rebuild instead of buying new. OTOH, if it’s on it’s last legs anyway, s’probably cheaper to buy a beater for the interim until you can afford something new.
I don’t know how much maintenance has been kept up on it - It had the major service around 60,000 miles, but I don’t think it’s had anything but oil changes since then. It has 90,000 miles on it now.
I’m scared to take it to the mechanic… It already needs new tires at $100 a pop!
I have no advice to offer, I just wanted to share that I thought the title was “Cat shudders when accelerating from stop.” That was pretty weird to envision.
I am having the same problem. I have a 1993 Geo Metro automatic. It just started acting up.
It will buck and shudder when I accelerate from a stop. It shudders** really** bad when I put it in reverse. It does it worse in some gears than others, so I believe the likelihood it’s the tranny, is high. Of course, IANA mechanic, so it could be anything but it is my semi-educated guess, at least for my car.
I don’t want to lay my car to rest! Especially with the current gas prices. If I could restore my car, it would get 38-40 MPG. Restoration would cost more than the car is worth, though. I feel your pain. My car needs new suspension $500-700, engine needs to be rebuilt, and now the tranny. I’m probably looking at $2000+, easy. I could probably get a decent used car for that amount. :eek:
I can’t help you with the engine, but you should check into used tires. You can probably get 4 good to very good ones for around $50 or so. I’ve done this several times, but look at the treads first. They won’t come with 60,000 mile warranties, but you should get at least 30 or 40K out of them. You won’t have to, but even if you needed to, you can replace the used ones 7 or times and still be ahead of the game.
$100 per tire for a car you’re only going to have for another 18 months is insane.
I’d generally think that a “shudder” is an engine as opposed to a transmission. By shudder, do you mean the engine starts missing and nearly quits? Or does the engine seem fine, but the car moves strangely?
How about plugs and/or plug wires? I had something similar hapen in the truck. When I took it in to be checked, one wire was shot and one was on the way to being bad. I was basically driving on 4 1/2 cylinders. It only idled rough when I was at a light or stop sign. Here’s that thread.
Simular problems with my suzuki just 2 weeks ago. However I shuddered primarily in gear with the brake on. It did shudder/hesitate when accelerating, but not as bad. Turns out, my plug on the number 2 cylinder was shorting out against the exhaust manifold. The spark arched throught the plastic sheathing creating a cylinderlike hole in the side of the plug wire. Suzuki doesnt sell the plug thing so they had to buy the whole assembly. Ended up costing me 230 bucks. Probably got some of the terminology wrong so don’t quote me.
Is the ‘Check Engine’ light on? Before you go shotgunning repairs, see if the on board computer has any stored codes pointing in the direction to look.
