# Car jerks in the morning when driving



## nissan123456 (Jul 1, 2007)

Some days, after the car hasn't been driven all night, the car will jerk as if i'm hitting the break over and over again. It does this if I try to go over 40mph. I've found I have to accelerate slowly and drive around town like this untill the problem smooths itself out after 15-20 minutes, then it never does it again for the rest of the day.

Can anyone tell me what the problem could be? I don't know much about cars, I'm typing this on behalf of my father. I know he has taken it to the dealer and they couldn't find the problem. The "check engine light" is on all the time.

Thanks.


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## Doja (Jun 29, 2007)

What year and model is the car? Is it an automatic transmission? sounds like its a transmission problem, I know i had a mazda 626 older model that had a kickdown linkage causing this problem. If you took it to the nissan dealer and they couldnt fix it,then it sounds like they dont have much of a service shop, might try a diff dealer or any other shop you can trust. Ask for a free estimate.


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## dreamskyline (Nov 19, 2006)

do you let it warm up to operating temperature before driving it?like 3-7 minutes?find a local autozone or parts store to use their code reader,if you read the code it should tell you what the problem is.if you get the code and dont know what it means post the number and the description it gives and someone on here can tell you what the code means, why it happened and what to do,for example" P0420 catalyst system efficentcy below threshold,any person with a QR25 engine will know that one.If the SES(service engine soon) or check engine light are on and it sputters, sounds like a cylinder misfire, possibly a bad spark plug or ignition wire,or coil pack depending on your car,could be a bad mixture of fuel and air and it take a while for the ECU to get it right which is why it goes away,there are tons of possibilities at this point so find out what the check engine light code is and then we can go from there.


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## nissan123456 (Jul 1, 2007)

It's a Nissan Sentra 2003 1.8 litre engine Automatic Transmission. New spark plugs new wiring everything is new. Tuned up the car, changed the camshaft sensor and still problem. 

I appreciate the responses.


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## Doja (Jun 29, 2007)

nissan123456 said:


> It's a Nissan Sentra 2003 1.8 litre engine Automatic Transmission. New spark plugs new wiring everything is new. Tuned up the car, changed the camshaft sensor and still problem.
> 
> I appreciate the responses.


Did it have this problem before you changed the plugs? And what wires are you talking about that is new? Im guessing you paid someone to give the car a tune up. Which really only consists of changing the spark plugs, since theyre coil on plug ( no plug wires ) and the timing isnt adjustable. If this is so, what kind of plugs were used?(hopefully NGK) did a shop do the work? If you started having the problems after the work was done and you had it done at a reputable shop bring it back to them. If not, then we need to pull the code(s) with a code reader. talk to ya later


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## nissan123456 (Jul 1, 2007)

340- changed camshaft sensor. 

420- Catalytic system efficiency below threshold. 

462- fuel level sensor circuit. Low input.


Supposedly all these problems were addressed.


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## Doja (Jun 29, 2007)

p0420 is what can get (and got me) a new cat installed, That is covered under warranty of 8 years or 80,000 miles by fed law (emissions). 
That fuel level sensor code, I would think they would have to drop the tank and replace the sending unit, but I dont think what would cause bucking or jerking, the cam sensor usually would result in a stall or crank no start concern. Was this done at a dealer? And 
like I said, if this just started happening after they worked on it, you should really have brought it back asap. Look at your service ticket and see what exactly was done by "adressing the probs"


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