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loose gas cap & engine light??

anoriginal
10 years ago

I'm in NJ... one of I think only TWO states where you're not ALLOWED to pump your own gas.

Back in early August, I set out on a 350+ mile road trip to WV. Over 200 miles into trip, I hit a 60-somthing mile stretch of SERIOUS inclines. On FIRST steep climb, car started shaking & bucking, serious loss of power, and engine light came on... scared me to DEATH!! As soon as I crested and started DOWN, light went off and car ran just fine. Figured I was kinda at a "point of no return"... closer to sister's place and potential need for rescue. This repeated at EVERY steep incline until I finally got to about as high as I was gonna be.

Car didn't stall, temp never changed, tach needle didn't go crazy??

Got to final destination but scared silly about what I was gonna do... another 350+ miles to get back home after about 4 days!!

I had checked oil and coolant before taking off. Had gotten tank filled night before leaving. As far as I thought, was just gonna be a LONG but uneventful drive. Once I got to WV, only thing I could initially think to do was crack open the owners manual... for maybe the 3-4th time only. Had small "trouble shooting" section and ONLY comment immediately mentioned about check engine light was a loose gas cap?? Even SAYS at gas cap that it should click at LEAST 3 times of light could come on. Sure enough, it clicked MANY more times.

When I got ready to start home, was almost holding my breath... trip starts with a pretty steep incline!?! Car made it up hill with NO problems and rest of drive (though a bit nerve wracking) was without incident.

Have made a few observations since incident. Before, had rare/ramdon episodes where car would sputter... but no check engine light... hmmm Last week, again NO check engine light but some occasional sputtering... lightened cap a few more clicks and everything was fine.

Don't really HAVE a "mechanic"... KNOCK ON WOOD, have only have to have things serviced... no major repairs. Know I have an "if it ain't broke..." attitude about a lot of things. Thinking if I actually take it somewhere, explain what happened... they'll SURELY find something BIG to fix??

Have you ever experienced anything like this?

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