Kalos 1.6 possible clutch/transmission problem

[Andrew247]

Hey Guys,

I apologise if this is the wrong place for this but I'm not too sure where else to post! I've got 2 problems with my car, hopefully they're related and hopefully someone can advise me on what's up!

I've had an automatic Daewoo Kalos since pretty much bang on New Year (second hand, about 120,000Kms, it's a 2004 plate), for the first month or so it ran fine, but then I started noticing the engine stuttering a bit when I was stationary. It wasn't too bad, but very occasionally it would happen while driving on the motorway, sometimes quite violently. It has slowly gotten worse, to the point where while stationary, the car feels like it's got hydraulics! Well maybe an overstatement there but it's definitely not what a stationary car should feel like. The problem is, it's intermittent: sometimes it will be real bad, other times it's pretty stable. It happens bad when the engine is connected, and while in neutral you can still feel the shudders but it's definitely not as bad.

Second problem, while pulling away from stationary, sometimes it takes a long while before everything 'connects' and the car gets moving properly. Sometimes up to 4 or 5 seconds, which presents a big problem if I'm pulling out of a junction! I know very little about the technicalities of the car workings, but it feels like something's slipping and takes a while before it will grip. Again, this is intermittent. I'm a careful driver, so no heavy revving and late breaking (it's more to do with me being a fuel scrooge!) so I can rule out me hammering the car as a problem.

My car is still under warranty but I just wanted to know if this problem sounds bad and how many days it sounds like it could take to fix. I work about 50 minutes motorway drive from my house so I'd need to organise a replacement car if it's going to take a while to fix.

thanks, Andrew

[CarSick]

The slipping could indicate a transmission problem. Slipping around a corner can just be low trans fluid. Slipping from a start might be a bad torque converter. It's hard to say how long it would take to fix.