2011 Buick Regal CXL 2.4 L non turbo. I recently had the Battery, Camshaft Position Sensors, Intake and Exhaust Solenoids, Alternator Belt, Tensioner, and Pulley, and also the Mass Airflow Sensor Replaced because the Check Engine Light was on and the Mechanic who fixed it said this is what all needed replaced. Now my engine idles really heavy when in park, and Jerks forward when in drive with my foot on the brake. Also the car engine will literally turn off and my car will seize during either Reversing, or Turning at low speeds and acts like it has trouble accelerating.The only way to get it to not die is gassing it kind of hard during either of the two situations. Also, my car accelerates itself now just a bit. Say in going 30 MPH down a road, the car will accelerate itself to 35ish and stop. Once up to speed around 40-70 it seems to be fine.
Sidenote: I installed a subwoofer, door speakers and radio back in March 2024, but it’s never made my car lights dim or caused any problems, other than the radio resetting completely once while I was driving, back in July 2024. It is Running 800-1000 watts. I don’t know if that is causing a problem or not, but I thought I would throw on the extra info in cause someone knows something that I am unaware of. When the car died the radio stays on.
Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing the engine to die?
Mostly you need to take a look at your invoice and report the very specific error codes read by this mechanic (who is of questionable competence). They’ll typically start with a P followed by 4 digits - like P0171.
Other than that, a lot of that was hard to read, and you need to be more careful about descriptions. E.g “idles really heavy”? What do you mean by “heavy?” It’s revving up high? What RPMs per the tachometer? Also, it will turn off AND seize? IDK what that means. It accelerates itself now, but “just a bit?” Under what conditions? What does it feel like, and when?
“idle really heavy”: while it is in park or with my foot on the break in drive, it will be jumping/shaking with each rotation. No revving high, it actually turns off it I rev the engine in park as well, and it sputs out of the exhaust with each rotation, in unison with the idle sound.
Turn off and seize: when I turn or reverse at low speed the engine will die and the wheel stiffens up and I can’t turn the wheel properly (what I called seizing). I have to quickly put it in park and turn it back on to keep driving, and sometimes it’ll die again when I go to accelerate after doing that.
The self acceleration mainly happens when I take off from a stand still at a stoplight. Say I take off, get up to 30 MPH and take my foot of the acceleration. The car will accelerate itself with enough power to increase the speed by 5-7 miles within 3-4 seconds. I have to tap the brake to stop it from continuing.
Have you taken it back to the shop that last worked on it??
I recommend taking the vehicle to a pro shop and have them check it out…
If you are concerned about the stereo system, then remove the amp fuses or the power wires fuses the amps and drive the vehicle to see if it changes anything…
Welcome to the forum and thanks for the detailed report of what you are experiencing, just unfortunately you seemed to use a lot of slang we are not familiar with and that makes it hard to fully understand what you are asking…
We still need to know about the error codes associated with the check engine light. And presumably the light is still on? If so, auto parts chain stores read those for free. So check you invoice for what the mechanic found. And if the light is still on, get the codes read and report them.
It sound like the engine may be running overly lean and misfiring. That could produce some P-codes, so good idea as mentioned above to ask your shop to check. Does your shop tech notice this problem when they drive the car? If they say “no”, ask them to keep the car at the shop for a week, you find other transport, and meanwhile they use your car for their daily driver. (Presuming your insurance agent agrees.) Beyond all that, absent any diagnostic codes ask your shop if a fuel trim test would be helpful. It may show the engine is running slightly lean.
Another idea, make sure the brake lights are working correctly; i.e brake lights only on when the brake pedal is depressed. A faulty brake light switch can confuse the car’s computers and produce weird symptoms.