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CTS started shaking violently on the highway..

13K views 17 replies 9 participants last post by  jcs003 
#1 ·
So I'm on the highway driving back from a holiday trip, and right about when I leave the check engine light comes on. I drive for another hour and it goes away, and then a little later it comes back on. And when it came back on the car started shaking lol, kinda scary when you're driving fast and you're far from your destination. The light goes away again along with the shaking, but the shaking reappears, and this goes back and forth the whole way home. Glad I made it home..

On the way I stopped at an auto parts store and the guy hooked up a scanner, but it didn't throw any codes. I'm taking it to the dealership today. Anyone had this before? If you did, what was wrong?
 
#2 ·
was there a decrease in power as well?

and by the way, if the check engine light comes on, there should be a code in there somewhere.


alright. loss of power might mean that the engine went into "limp home" mode, shutting down four of the cylinders.

give us more details.
 
#3 ·
There was a definite loss of power, yes. The shaking was worse when I was accelerating, but it shook when it was idling also. My friend was like "what the hell, are we gonna blow up?" haha. 70,000 miles on the car, can't think of any more details at the moment. Thank you!
 
#6 ·
sound like misfires. my car did it and it ran with no check engine light until it got worse. it shook so bad i thought the engine was blown. i replaced a coil pack and problem was solved. it also came out of nowhere. my mechanic said it happened "under heavy load." the evidence will be orange residue where the plugs are located, if this is the case.
 
#7 ·
Ok so I went to the dealership and they aren't worth anything. I waited four hours for them to hook up a scanner and test drive it for a few miles, and what do you know the problem went away while it was there. The scanner revealed a misfire, and they said they didn't know what the problem was and didn't give me any advice. They said it could have been "bad gas or dirty fuel injectors, but the problem has resolved itself". I paid them their $70 and drove my merry ass home, and now the problem has returned and it is nonstop shaking. I'm taking it to a highly regarded mechanic tomorrow at a local shop, just over the phone he said he thinks it could be the coil pack, but could be a few other things. JSC003, how much did that run you?
 
#9 ·
When I read your post I thought you might have the same problem I had a couple months ago with my 2003 CTS 3.2...turns out I busted a valve spring in the number one cylinder and by the time the dealer diagnosed the problem and disassembled half the motor to replace the thing, it cost me over 3 grand...between the mechanic and the service manager they had over 40 years experience and between them they saw this happen only a few times...now warning of course and had nothing to do with maintenance or abuse....driving 40 MPH and immediately shut it down and had it put on a deck truck and taken to dealer....ran VERY rough when it happened and was not drivable...bad luck is all I could attribute it to so I bent over and gave them my VISA....with 68k miles I was out of warranty.
 
#13 ·
Did you add anything to the oil recently? The reason I ask is because I put Engine Restorer in my oil and all hell broke lose. It ran like total crap. It clogged up the actuator selanoids causing the timing to be all jacked up. It's a real picky motor when it comes down to thickness of oil.
 
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