shotgun_banjo

During my return trip from Seattle yesterday my engine light came on while driving at highway speeds and I think the car went to limp mode as it is having a hell of a time accelerating. Car can still run past 70 mph but even if I floor it it wont kickback and just pretent a granny is behind the wheel. Car is still ubder warranty (4 months left) and should be covered but what is the possible problem on the car now? Also before I made the trip from Vancouver I need to jump the car as it was dead. Prior days before that the car is hesitating to crank but after a few seconds it will turn on the engine.

aamirani

Try a new battery.

romeo291

If check engine light is on, stop by an autopart store and ask them to get the OBD2 code reader and find out what the check engine light code is. Start there first....

shotgun_banjo

Car is in the dealer now. I was told it is not the battery. Will update when I get the word what is wrong with it.

shotgun_banjo

UPDATE....

So I was told that my thermostat is busted and was causing the engine light to stay on. Can that put the car in limp mode? What does that device does anyway to the car?

romeo291

A failed thermostat can definitely put the car into limp mode. Because if it's busted, that means you're not running any coolant into your engine to cool it, so then the car is running hotter than it's targeted temperature range, and limp mode is the car's attempt to prevent your engine from overheating. The Thermostat's purpose is to provide the engine coolant at a certain temperature to keep the motor at that targeted temp so it doesn't overheat.

shotgun_banjo

IC. So you are saying the car is smart enough to mellow down the revs to keep the engine from overheating. Would something else break if I drove the car at highway speeds for another 200miles after the light went on?

romeo291

lol, yeah man, of course. That's a simple thing to program into a car, and the technology has been around for decades. And yeah, stuff can break if your engine was overheated, but I don't know if your engine was ever overheated or not. Limp mode is designed to prevent this, so you might still be okay. The big items to check would be the head gasket and cylinder tubes. You can have a cracked head gasket or warped cylinders if the engine was overheated, but I am not sure this happened to you. Did you notice any steam coming from the engine or hot air coming out of the AC unit?

shotgun_banjo

I do not think I overheated and did not smell anything. Although right now they told me the car cant be started and thy asked for my spare key.