Very, very odd.

After a chilly night, I got into my 2000 SE on the way to work. Something seemed off right away. I wasn’t accelerating like normal and when I’d take my foot off the gas the car would slow down, not coast…like I was lightly applying the brakes. And I had to apply some major RPM to maintain speed. Normally if I was driving at 60 or 80mph all I needed to do to maintain the speed is have the car @ 2500RPM. Today on the way into work I was up to 5000 RPM to maintain 60mph. If I went down to 2500RPM, my speed dropped quickly. There was a bit of a humming sound coming from the near the dash area that I had not heard before (or maybe the tranny area?) WTF!!!

Tranny problem? Just the cold? After driving for about 25 minutes I left the parking lot of a store after a warm start and I was able to ‘coast’ again with my foot off the gas, without really slowing down. The only thing I’ve done recently was get 4 new tires and had an alignment. I have 103k miles on the car

What do you think?

 

brakes? especially the rear ones. they tend to seize.
it also could be frozen handbrake cable that wouldn't allow the rear brakes to release.

 

You should of checked to see if the rear brakes were smokin hot. Then that would of been the problem.

 

Yep, sounds like the rear brakes were stuck and the tranny didn't want to shift out of 2nd gear due to the strain on the car to keep it moving.

 

jack the car up, release the brakes and see if you can spin the wheels with your hand.

 

This happened to me 2 years ago when we had a freeze. I live in Austin, TX, so we don't have freezes very often. It was the emergency brake frozen in place. But luckily I wasn't able to drive anywhere on it, because I had to back out of a parking spot, and it wouldn't move. Sprayed some warm water on both back wheels and kept slowly trying to rock it forward, eventually it unstuck.

 

Its an Auto tranny btw.

When I got the tires, the shop said that my rear brakes were 75% worn and I will need new rotors, pads, calipers by the end of January. The rear rotors are at least 30 months old... 25k miles since then.

If I run into this problem again, how do I 'un-stick' the brakes. Is this caused more by the weather, or declining brakes? Last winter here in Boston never had this problem.

 

yeah happened to me in another car it got unstuck but iw as worried it wouldnt. dont use the parking brake/ebake when its cold just turn the steering wheel in one direction and that should be good

 

Well I live on a hill....so I think not having brakes engaged will be a big problem, quick. Do you mean just turn the wheel with the parking brakes engaged? If its the rears, how will that help?

 

the AT tranny usually have a parking lock, I use that one instead of handbrake, but I've never parked my car on a hill yet.

 

Turn the front wheels towards the curb. That way, if the parking prawl (which is what holds the car still in park) lets loose, your car will back into the curb.

 

No joke, keep the car parked in a Garage or let it warm up for a good 10 minutes after a cold night. Same thing happened to my fathers fx45 last winter. I't wouldnt move and the lifters had frozen in place, it shot out blue smoke and was loud as crap. Winter weather can seirously play around with your car...

 

10 minutes? you joking?
I never let the car idle more than 1 or 2 minutes, more than that is just a waste of gas.

 

From what i know, and correct me if im wrong but your supposed to wait for the car tempt to reach mid. not just start the car and drive. At least in winter your not.

 

engine and tranny are suppose to be warmed up while moving not standing still.

 

you should always use your e-brake, if you don't it will eventually sieze in place. You should rock your car abit back and forth if brakes freeze, it should do the trick, also rock the e-brake back and forth.

You should always warm up the car for a few minutes in cold weather. I usually put my auto heater in auto mode and wait until the fan speed kicks into one, then i go, keep my rpms low under 2k until engine is fully warm. No need to spend 10 minutes idling unless you want to get into a toasty car, but it wastes gas. Usually 2-4 minutes is suffiecient to drive.