If you rely on your car and you're not naturally mechanically inclined, all the more reason to get someone who knows what they're doing to look at it.

You don't spill it over the seats, fool. You keep it in a bottle in the boot in case you have a deep-fry emergency.

Sheesh!

Is that a regular emergency in Scotland?

One thing I've found with problems like that is it's not really possible to try things without buying expensive parts that may or may not fix the problem.

Juddering on my car was fixed by changing the spark plugs. It's still there occasionally so I think the coil pack may have been worn oout by being over worked with worn plugs. Have you changed the plugs? And the coil pack fixed the problem on our old Clio. Not sure if either of those would affect stastarting the car though.

Might as well ask a question too.

What might be the cause of the revs staying high when taking my foot off he accelerator? Doesn't happen all the time but it will often stay at 3000rpm when changing gear.

Juddering could be a slipping clutch too especially on pulling away.

Out of interest, what make/model of car is it?

> What *exactly* are you doing when that happens?

Driving. I haven't narrowed it down more than that (it doesn't happen in the same places/scenarios; or at least I'm not noticing if it does). It didn't happen on my drive to/from Tesco just now (~4 miles total), though it has happened before on that route - I wasn't (consciously) driving differently.

I don't think I feel it through the wheel/pedals/gear stick - rather it's the whole car... It could be like switching between having too much / not enough power, or that might be imagination bias. It doesn't last long - maybe judders a handful or half dozen times - generally enough to think "it's doing it again, yep definitely not my imagination, I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, oh it's gone."

It's not being in too high/low a gear, or bad clutch use (I'm plenty familiar with jerkiness caused by bad gear changing).

> [If] you're not naturally mechanically inclined

I think that's where you're reaching the wrong conclusion - I'm not not naturally mechanically inclined.

I like fiddling with things, I just don't presently know how (and am a little apprehensive when it comes to fiddling with large heavy fast moving things).

 

> to get someone who knows what they're doing to look at it.

And when I'm in the middle of nowhere at midnight with a broken mobile... how do you propose getting in touch with the RAC and letting them know where I am? :/

I'd rather make use of the things that make me human and be the one that knows what they're doing.

All: Thanks for the various comments/suggestions/etc so far. :)

I'll respond to anything I haven't currently another time. Need to eat and stuff now.

So you're going to carry all your tools with you, along with your Haynes manual and encyclopaedic knowledge of the stuff that's not covered or wrong? Because, after all, you won't be able to access t'interwebz with your mobile all borked.

OK, good luck! :)

What are you having to eat?

Well I admit the spare axles will be a bit of an awkward fit, but it'll totally be worth it if I get stuck in a canyon. :P

You already know the answer to that.

I don't, that's the problem :((

It's not just hitting some resonating frequency is it? As my car gets older I find certain speeds that just make it vibrate a bit more than usual. Go faster!

Oi! Read ya private messages you ;)

 

Maybe. I'm not sure what that'd feel like, but next time it happens I'll try and check what my speed is and if there's any effect from changing / maintaining it. (It's entirely possibly I'm naturally changing speed when it happens, which might be why it lasts a relatively short time.)

So, um... poopy pants.

:/