Has anybody else (with the manual transmission) had the engine cut out on them when they switch between gears? Both up and down. I have experienced this at low speeds in town and on the highway (all gears, at one time or other). It appears to be affected by the ambient conditions since I have not experienced it in a month or two - coincidentally about when it stopped being cold and always wet in Seattle. Now it's only sometimes wet.

I called the local dealer previously asking about this and they claimed to never have heard of it, but it didn't sound like they checked any nation-wide database (do they even have one?!). Their only guess over the phone was maybe a bad electrical ground somewhere. I haven't taken it in because I didn't feel like paying for them to not find the problem. It's only a small inconvenience because it occurs so rarely, but it's ANNOYING!

EDIT: To clarify - the engine cuts out for a second or two, then turns back on as if I were starting up in first gear from a stop. The only real effect is that the car lurches. My only worry is that it is a sign of something worse to come.

 

Update: It's not moisture related. The engine cut out on the freeway yesterday when switching from 5th to neutral and braking relatively quickly for traffic. As usual, a second or two later it came back on. The weather was perfectly sunny and has been for a few days, pretty low humidity also.

 

Is this not the transmission?

 

Definitely not regular transmission activity. The check engine and oil lights turn on and the engine is completely off for the second or two.

Sometimes, it happens as I'm braking for a stoplight and it will stay off (with the error lights on) until I shift into 1st and go on green.

 

Wow, that sucks. Let us know what it is...

 

The IMA light isn't coming off like it did an autostop, right?

When you switch gears you are probably letting off the gas. Is it possible that the engine is somehow stalling out, and then when you go back into gear, reengage the engine and press on the gas, you're actually bump starting the car? In other words the problem could be as simple (or as complex?) as something causing the engine to stall for some reason.

Obviously the engine shouldn't be stalling, but I wonder if that could explain what you are experiencing.

 

The IMA does not go 'blink-blink' when this problem happens. And yes, I do release my foot mostly from the gas pedal. Sometimes it has happened when my foot hasn't been on the gas pedal at all (coasting in 5th, then downshift from 5th to 4th on freeway to slow down for traffic flow).

Today I noticed a new twist to the tale - it now occasionally 'stalls out' (probably the easiest way to describe the mess I stated earlier) and only the 'check battery' light comes on, but not the 'check engine'.

Only another 2,500 miles to the 20,000 mile checkup at the dealer. I'll likely wait til then to have them look for a bad electrical ground or something.

 

Have you checked the starter lock-out switch that is mounted on the clutch pedal? It could be defective, loose, shorted out, or intermittent. This switch prevents the car from starting if the clutch is not depressed before turning on the ign key.??

 

Just took the car in today for the 20,000 mile checkup and left a lengthy explanation of this cut-out problem, along with the suggested possible problems. Big surprise, they couldn't replicate my problem... and 'We aren't reading any bad outputs from the IMA computer or the regular computer'

I did get a free oil change and filter out of it. I left explicit instructions to NOT change the oil and filter in that lengthy note, but apparently they didn't read that part of the note. So, they dropped those charges I didn't ask for.

 

Check to make sure your battery cables are properly tightened and there is no corosion on the terminals. Also check all cables from the battery to the chassis, engine block, motor to make sure the are not lose or have corosion preventing a good contact.