My car (2015 suzuki, celerio, 3-cyl auto with 50,000 kms on it) jolts when I am driving at low speeds. This happens when I am decelerating, accelerating, or just holding a low constant speed. The jolting stops if I am going faster than 40 km/hour. The jolting happens at low speeds no matter how long I have been driving (so it doesn’t just need time to warm up, this happens even on long road trips). The car also pretty violently shakes when I drive faster than 80 km/hr as if the front wheel isn’t aligned. I asked the mechanic about the wheel alignment and he said it looked fine [the shaking happened before the jolting started to kick in, so I asked about that a month ago]. I’m not sure if the jolting at <40km/hr is related to the shaking at >80km/hr. I’d like to know what to tell the mechanic to look for the next time I take it in, because he always seems to think the car is fine. A 5 year old car with 50k kms seems like it shouldn’t be driving like this though.
You don’t tell a mechanic what to look for . You tell them what the vehicle is doing as clear as you can be. Also it sounds like you need a different mechanic.
The jolting at low speeds could be caused by low compression or a cylinder misfiring. It would tend to smooth out at higher speed. A misfire would also make the vehicle buck at higher speed when the engine couldn’t keep up. Has the check engine light come on?
I don’t know what your mechanic is looking at to determine that the alignment is all right, possibly he’s looking at the front tires to see if they’re wearing unevenly. In any event, an alignment problem wouldn’t cause the symptoms you’re describing.
If your current mechanic won’t take you seriously that’s a problem in itself. Find another mechanic and tell him what your car is doing. Let him diagnose the problem.
No check engine light on, but interesting comment on low compression or a cylinder misfiring.
No check engine light suggests transmission or torque converter. A misfire or fuel problem would produce a code. Again, find a new mechanic and tell him what’s happening.