I drive a 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser. In general it runs fine but idles kinds rough,but not always. I’m planning to take it in for repair tomorrow. What I’m hoping to get from you folks is a way to describe the issue that sounds a little more competent than “It makes a kind of wubba wubba wubba noise.”
When I’m idle for a longish time the car kind of shudders, and seems like it will stall. It hasn’t stalled yet.
Whadda we think? Fuel system?
Could be a ton of things. When you get it to the shop leave it running and just bring them out and let them hear it. If it’s a small shop it’s a lot easier to just have the mechanic come and listen to it when it’s acting up rather then trying to fix it based on what you tell them. If it’s a big shop all you can do is hope the service writer can explain it or they’ll grab a mechanic for you.
As for describing it “rough idle and sounds like it’s going to stall” is probably good. Add in when it happens though. Is the engine hot or cold, how long has it been running. Are you stopped when it happens etc? Basically, if you went out to your car in the morning, what would you have to do to reproduce it? Can you just start it up and let it sit for two minutes or do you have to drive it for a half hour?
Also, if weather plays into it, mention that. If it flares up in rainy or humid weather be sure to mention that.
I have a 2003 PT Cruiser and last summer mine started doing the same thing that yours is doing - it would “shudder” while idling. I finally Googled the problem and found thread after thread on PT Cruiser message boards that pointed to a broken radiator fan motor (like so: http://www.ptcruiserlinks.com/forum/tech-performance-forum/28707-01-pt-cruiser-radiator-fan-not-working-help.html).
Sure enough, when I checked the fan it was not running at all. In hindsight, I realized that the problem was worse when the air conditioning was running - something you might want to look at too. I eventually just replaced the entire radiator fan. Even with the help of my mechanic father-in-law it was still a pretty big pain in the ass to replace, so if that’s what’s wrong with yours you might want to consider having a shop do it.
(Apparently PT Cruisers have other idiosyncratic issues too: The battery of mine kept dying overnight so I Googled the issue and this time found threads pointing to a broken fog light switch. The fog lights would just turn themselves on at night by themselves! I pulled the fuse for the fog lights and never had trouble with the battery dying again.)
Make sure you mention it happens after it has been idling a while.
Thank you all for responding. This is what it turned out to be. The first shop I took it to wanted $1200 for this and happened to find $1500 of other repairs to recommend (including $275 to replace a brake light bulb). I took it someplace else, where I was spoken to like a grownup, and got the fan replaced (and the AC charged up) for $735.