I have been driving an '03 Camry for about 5 months or so, and until today I have had no problems.
I drove to the store (about a 6-minute/2-mile drive) without incident. I noticed that I had about a half-tank of gas. I was at the store for probably about 15 minutes or so. On my way home, I noticed that none of my gauges were operating: the speedometer and the tachometer both read “0”, and the fuel gauge read “E”. Neither the turn signals nor the windshield wiper would work. Additionally, the dreaded “Check Engine” Light was on.
At this point I was just hoping to be able to get home in order to figure out: 1) if I needed to bring my car in to a shop; 2) if I just needed to replace a fuse or two; or 3) if this whole situation was related to the cold weather (down to -1 deg F last night, about 5 deg F at the time).
I was almost home, when something even stranger happened: Pressing the gas pedal stopped accelerating the car; the engine just revved, as if I was in neutral (I have an automatic transmission). That lasted about 2 seconds, then almost everything went back to normal: the car resumed accelerating as normal, the gauges started working properly, the windshield wiper started working, and the turn signals started working. The “Check Engine” light was still on, however.
Does anyone have any idea what happened? Or what I should do about it?
Thank you in advance!