Engine racing

Sep 06, 2004 5 Replies

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John Hage 21 years ago

I have a 2003 Pontiac Vibe. Occasionally, when I put my foot on the brake, the engine starts racing - so much so that I have to push with all my might on the brake to keep it from zooming forward. Usually, if I shift to neutral then back to drive, the engine quits racing, but not always. Then I have to turn it off and wait a while, then things are OK. I've had it back to the dealer, but they couldn't find anything. Is there anything in particular I should ask the dealer to check??

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« Paul » 21 years ago

How long has it done that? What engine? How many miles? Any codes? What else is strange? (with the vehicle)

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Geoff Welsh 21 years ago

Does it have cruise control? GW

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John A. Hage 21 years ago

It's done that off and on for about a year. The dealer couldn't find anything. It has the small 1.8l 4 cyl engine and about 14000 miles. Don't know about the codes. It does have cruise but it was disenaged.

It's actually a very f> « Paul » wrote:

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Geoff Welsh 21 years ago

That's dangerous. I'd be making a bigger deal about it with the dealer. My only other suggestion, is to identify the throttle components, like the throttle cable, IAC, cruise cable, etc, and the next time it does race, and stays racing in neutral, pull over, pop the hood and see what's pulling what. It could just be the throttle physically sticking, but you usually see this on much older vehicles GW

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Joe 21 years ago

One possibility might be a big vacuum leak in the brake booster, intermittently. It seems like that would kill the motor before it had a chance to react, but maybe not.

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