I took my car to the dealer about two weeks ago. They did the scheduled 80K-mile maintenance (oil change and filters), inspected the car and told me that my radiator needed a flush and the engine needed new mounts. I agreed to the changes and I picked up the car two days later after paying $2,000. I noticed the car became more stable upon ignition than it used to be.

On the same day I picked up the car, the yellow "Low Coolant Level" message showed up. Went back to the dealer and they added more coolant and the message never appeared again.

Flash forward to two weeks and 600 miles later, I started the car this morning. The first 5 seconds everything was normal. Then all of a sudden the car started shaking and the RPM gauge was slowly going down until it stabilized slightly below 1,000 (probably 950). Then the check engine light started flashing. No messages or any other symptoms. I immediately shut off the car and didn't start it again. I never touched the transmission shifting lever during the entire ordeal (so I suppose it can't be from the transmission).

I remember I specifically looked at all the other gauges (especially the temperature gauge) and nothing funny was going on.

I will take her to the dealer but I wanted to learn a thing or two from you guys before I do anything so the dealer has no chance of pulling a fast one on me (they tend to try every time I take my car for maintenance). What I want to know from you guys is:
1) What kind of a problem am I looking at?
2) Could the problem(s) be caused by anything the dealer did inspecting or fixing the car two weeks ago?
3) What is the best way to take the car to the dealer without exposing it to more damage? I don't want to start it but it is in my garage so I don't know how I'm going to pull it out of the garage without starting it.

I will try to call their roadside assistance tomorrow and have them pick it up. Then I will make the case that given that the low coolant message came on right after I picked the car up then that's an indication of a sloppy work on their end. Does this sound like a reasonable argument to make?

 

Called the dealership and they came in. They started the car and they couldn't reproduce the problem. They tried to convince me that it was fine and I needed not to worry about it. I insisted and they took it in. The SA started the car and revved s*$% out of the engine. Nothing happened. No vibration no messages no nothing. He said they would hook her up the computer and see what happened and report back to me tomorrow.

Will see how it goes and I will update this thread in case someone goes through a similar issue.

 

Most likely failing ignition coil pack.When this happens, the corresponding coil and cylinder are deactivated resulting in vibration. Restarting the engine resets the condition. I had this happen a few times over a couple of weeks until the check engine light remained on with the engine running smoothly. At this point there was definitely a fault code that the dealer could access to determine which coil was failing.

According to my dealer, it is safe to drive when check engine light is on steady, but the engine should be shut down immediately if it is flashing. If you can restart without it flashing, it is safe to drive.

 

Are you saying the car won't throw a code until the check engine light is stable? If that's the case then the dealership won't be able to do anything with my car until the problem happens again. I'm still a bit confused though.