I really don't know what's up with my 2001 Jetta. I drove it over to the dealership on Saturday and told them about my issues with noisy acceleration, shaky idling, the car randomly turning itself off, and leaky antifreeze, and asked them to check the a) battery b) antifreeze c) timing belt. They did all these things, and gave it a clean bill of health. Nothing wrong with car, they said.
Harrumph. They didn't start my car this morning.
1) First I did my usual morning thing -- I turned the car on and then immediately switched it to Reverse; my car shut itself off.
2) I did the same thing again, and it immediately switched off again.
3) I started my car and waited a few extra seconds before changing gears to Reverse. The car didn't shut itself off again, but it did start shaking violently. I backed out of my space, then switched back to Park and turned the car off again.
4) I restarted the car, but this time skipped Reverse and went straight into Drive. My car continued shaking, but not nearly as much, and it didn't make nearly as much noise when I pressed the accelerator.
After driving to the end of the parking lot, my car seemed fine. It idled quietly and calmly at all the stoplights. No dashboard lights came on. It made some extra noise while accelerating, not too excessive, though (but it was louder than it should be, and made a slight clunk noise as it switched gears). My ride was mostly smooth, I only felt like it was stuck once.
Does my car just hate switching gears or is it the timing belt or what, that's what I want to know.
Harrumph. They didn't start my car this morning.
1) First I did my usual morning thing -- I turned the car on and then immediately switched it to Reverse; my car shut itself off.
2) I did the same thing again, and it immediately switched off again.
3) I started my car and waited a few extra seconds before changing gears to Reverse. The car didn't shut itself off again, but it did start shaking violently. I backed out of my space, then switched back to Park and turned the car off again.
4) I restarted the car, but this time skipped Reverse and went straight into Drive. My car continued shaking, but not nearly as much, and it didn't make nearly as much noise when I pressed the accelerator.
After driving to the end of the parking lot, my car seemed fine. It idled quietly and calmly at all the stoplights. No dashboard lights came on. It made some extra noise while accelerating, not too excessive, though (but it was louder than it should be, and made a slight clunk noise as it switched gears). My ride was mostly smooth, I only felt like it was stuck once.
Does my car just hate switching gears or is it the timing belt or what, that's what I want to know.