Transmission keeps stalling, I keep paying, and nobody ever fixes it...

[piccolo]

Story of my life with automobiles. Something breaks repeatedly, I pay mechanics over and over to "fix" it and they never do.

The story for my PT Cruiser is as follows. One day a few months back I was driving home and my transmission seemed to jump as I was accelerating, probably when it was about to shift gears. After that my engine light went on and the car would not go higher than 3rd gear. After turning it off and back on, the car ran perfectly fine, but the engine light remained on. The code was 0700 which I found out here is a general transmission issue.

So I brought the car in and they said they couldn't find anything wrong with the transmission, but they called Chrysler and were told that what was happening is often a problem with the filter. So $200 and a new filter later, they said it was fixed. So I drove around for a few weeks or so without a problem, then OF COURSE the same exact thing happens all over again. This time I am in another city so I have to bring it to some random mechanics I'm not familiar with. I explain the situation to them and about how I already had it "fixed" but it didn't work out. They take a long look at it and decide its most likely some loose wiring they found. Bam, $200 later and it's "fixed" for the second time.

Now another few weeks later I was just driving it and surprise surprise, it happened AGAIN. As usual when I shut it off and on it works fine. I am so discouraged that I don't even want to bring it in again and waste more money. Would it be dumb of me to just ignore it until something actually breaks? I don't know what to do anymore, I am so fed up with cars and mechanics.

Does anyone know how to make the engine light shut back off?

What would you do in my situation?

Thanks!

[BLUEH20]

Hi,

Give us a bit more information on your vehicle and we may be able to give you a bit of assistance.

Year/model/mileage/previous repair history/when does condition occur (light accel/WOT--cold engine temp or normal/any cooling issues in the raditor-heat exchanger for transmission/

You can purchase a relative inexpensive code reader that allows for CEL to turned off - very hady gadget--or you can disconnect the positive lead fo the batery for approx 30 seconds allowing the entire sytem to discharge and tis will reset the ECU/TCU --light off--this does not fix anyting jsut turns off the CEL.

Lots of knowledge lurking out here--post a bit more infor and let's see if we can assist you.

[piccolo]

Originally Posted by BLUEH20

Hi,

Give us a bit more information on your vehicle and we may be able to give you a bit of assistance.

Year/model/mileage/previous repair history/when does condition occur (light accel/WOT--cold engine temp or normal/any cooling issues in the raditor-heat exchanger for transmission/

Let's see... 2001 PT cruiser, honestly don't know the model but it's "normal" one that you always see. Mileage at about 48000. Not too much repair history I can think of aside from the ordinary upkeep issues. Recently some fuses melted and shorted out all the bulbs in the tail lights. I believe it DEFINITELY occurs during heavy acceleration. I have a bit of a lead foot unfortunately, and when it happens it feels like the car can't quite keep up with my pedal jamming. I'm also nearly positive it happens when the car is supposed to shift gears (not that it's manual or anything). I'm not sure what WOT means but I do not recall the hot/cold gage going above halfway to red. No cooling issues in that thingamajig you said as far as I know.

Thanks for your help.

[bobs turbo pt]

hi, cant you bring it back and say listen you didnt fix the problem ?? and wot is wide open throttle

[CREWZIN]

Before you get rid of the light, a question. Did either shop hook up your PT to a scanner? Yes, the P0700 code is generic but a scanner should be able to narrow down the cause of the code.

There's been lots of problems with the solenoid pack of the tranny. My sons mother-in-law just had hers replaced on her 2002 and others on this forum have had the same issues.

One of the Master Mechanics on this forum replied to the issue like this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P0700 only means there are transmission control module codes to be read with a scanner.

The TCM codes will explain more of the fault information.

The TCM cannot trigger the light, only emmisions related faults can trigger the light. So,.... they program a generic code to tell the PCM that there is a fault.
P0700 is the TCM code for the PCM.
You may have one or many TCM codes to be read.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the way, reading this can be frustrating without this:

ECM = Engine Control Module
PCM = Power Control Module
TCM/U = Transmission Control Module/Unit
ECU = Electronic Control Unit
CEL = Check Engine Light

[Hooligan]

I wonder if it still is under warranty? Yes, I know it is a 2001, but it is still under 50,000 miles. If I remember right, didn't they have a 5 year (over)/ 50,000 mile warranty. Have you taken it to a dealer?? Give it a try, you have spent mucho dollars already with no fix.

[piccolo]

Crewzin, yes both places scanned it for the transmission codes. I can't remember exactly what the first place said, but at first they thought it was something MAJOR because of the codes (maybe broken cylinder?). But once they took it apart they found nothing wrong, so that's why they called chrysler.

I do have it under a major mechanical warranty but they're sticklers about what they approve repair for. It pretty much has to be something major and not my fault.

[CREWZIN]

Don't know what else to tell you. I don't see how any of this could be your fault so hopefully you'll find an answer and the warranty will cover it.

[piccolo]

Weird, the engine light went off on it's own 2 days later. What does that mean?

[quicksilverdon]

Originally Posted by piccolo

Weird, the engine light went off on it's own 2 days later. What does that mean?

That is normal. If the problem that set the engine light on goes away, after several starts the check engine light will go off. Only if problem is still there will check engine light stay on after several restarts of the car. It means that whatever problem you have, it isn't a "solid" problem, but intermittent.