I drive a 2006 Hyundai Sonata that my husband and I recently purchased from my father-in-law. The car has been absolutely perfect up until Monday of this week. On Monday, I was running late to work, I got in the car, started it, put it in reverse to back out of my spot, hit the gas pedal and nothing happened. The engine was idling and sounded normal. I double checked to make sure I was actually pushing the accelerator and not the brake and tried again with the same result. I looked around and notice that my check engine light was on. I turned the car off and back on again and I had regained use of my accelerator but the check engine light remained on through the duration of my commute to work. On my way home from work, the light was not on and the car was perfect again.
No problems the next day, I was sure to warm the car up for 5 minutes before I started driving.
On Wednesday, I let the car warm up and had I had the same problem that I did on Monday. I had to turn it off and back on three times before I had use of my gas petal.
Other Information:
-My car is not garaged
-temperature this week is 20-30 degrees
-I am about 100 miles overdue for an oil change
I would appreciate any ideas on what the problem is! Thanks in advance!
The little check engine light tells you where to start looking - it means that the computer has stored an error code. Many auto parts stores will plug in a code reader and give you these codes for free. Write down the exact codes (format: P1234) and post them.
If the check engine light is not on when you go to the auto parts store you will have to find out whether or not their code readers are capable of retrieving “history” codes.
The Check Engine Light means the car is trying to tell you something. Have a parts house such as AutoZone, Checkers, etc. scan the car for you. It only takes a few minutes and they will do this for you free of charge.
If this vehicle has an electronic throttle body assembly then that could very well be the problem. Hopefully it’s not because electronic throttles can seldom be serviced and they’re expensive to replace unless there’s a Recall or Good Will campaign involved.
I am still under warranty, which is good news. I will have it scanned today and post the codes this evening. Thanks for the quick responses!