On the drive home from work tonight (3 miles), my car (2010 Astra J, 98k miles) started jolting under acceleration, like it wasn't able to get all its power down or was only getting power to the wheels in short bursts. The engine light came on a few seconds later indicating reduced engine power, as well and the electronic stability control light. I accelerated slightly harder and the car seemed fine after it got up to speed (both warning lights went out), but once I got home I parked up and left the engine idling and it seemed to have trouble just ticking over, like it it was going to cut out but it never did. It also never reached its normal running temp despite me leaving it running for over 10 minutes (normally only takes a few minutes of normal driving). I'll be putting it in the garage ASAP but it may not be till Wednesday and I really need it to get me into work tomorrow. Does anyone have any early ideas as to what the issue might be? Would it be foolish to try and drive it to work tomorrow?
What car is it? From the description it could be a few things... These kind of issues are difficult to diagnose from a general description, but idling issues could point to a MAF, ICV or TPS issue (depending on your car's injection system). 3 miles isn't far, walk it? Cycle?
Could also be a coil pack, a failing coil pack and make for the juddering ride you describe. Edit: I'd never drive a car that is failing, even on such a short distance.
I'd be surprised if it was a coilpack giving issues when still cold. My experience is that heat brings on their partial failure when worn, which won't then get better after a few miles. YMMV of course, but that's just me.
Could equally be a vac leak, due to a dry rotted vac hose. Or worse it's jumped a tooth on the cambelt.
Have you checked that there's water still in it, and oil level ok? Would a blown headgasket cause something like this? Does sound more like the sort of things posted above though, MAF would probably be my first stop after all the various threads on PH etc. Temp gauge seems odd though, either the temp gauge is bust, or the sender, or the thermostats stuck closed. Or it was running very rich.
Since it's modern get a fault code reader on it - the EML came on, so it will have registered a code, which should help diagnose.
Well I managed to get them to look at it today anyway so hopefully I'll have an idea soon, just hope its not too expensive. Its only just had a new thermostat and water pipe due to an overheating issue :/
Ended up needing a new coil pack and plugs. All sorted now £220 later, could have been worse though I suppose.
Coil packs are only 30 quid....... Get yourself a code reader, might save you a few quid in the long run
