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.

:/

Normally I wouldn't be too worried by the check engine light. Sure I'd want to check what it was, but anything majorly urgent has a separate light (brakes for instance) or the car will just refuse to work.

Could be your ecu has picked up something related to your problem though, but quite often it's just a symptom it's found rather than the problem itself.

Get down to a garage and ask them what's wrong. Whatever they say, don't agree to any work. Once you're home with Internet (you do have Internet at home these days, right?) you can work out if it's something you can do your self or if you need to start ringing round for quotes.

Yeah, it has come on once or twice before (solid, as it was tonight) and then not been an issue a couple of days later.

There's a fair few posts online suggesting it could just be a computer glitch, and (so long as the car is driving as normal) it's not something to worry about. If it was a serious problem, it would switch to the emergency programme.

The one thing that has me a little bit nervous is that I think Wednesday evening it was on the emergency programme, when the light came on - half a mile from home it started flashing and the car wasn't driving right (apparently limited to 1500 RPM or something), though it drove as usual tonight when I briefly tested it, so dunno. :/

If I remember I'll check it in the morning and, if it's still on, check with my local service centre about getting it diagnosed, and then go from there.