Engine knocks, misses, coughs, sputters and sounds horrible I turn the car off and restart it and its completely back to normal?

CCALE04

MEMBER
2011 CHEVROLET EQUINOX
2.4L
4 CYL
154,000 MILES

In the 3 months of owning the car twice it has had an odd problem when starting. It will sound like the car is about to throw the engine up. It knocks, misses, coughs, sputters and sounds horrible. I turned the car off and restarted it and it's completely back to normal. The first time it happened about a week after buying it was -4 outside so I just chalked it up to that, the second time was yesterday, and it was 75 outside. Any help on what could be causing this would be appreciated and sorry about the bad grammar typing this in a hurry.

1 Reply

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,874 POSTS

Hi,

No problem regarding grammar. Although I've been a mechanic for 40 years, I have been a secondary education ELA teacher (grades 9, 10, 11, 12) for 30 as well. LOL Yes, I'm being serious.

Okay, I need to start with a few questions. First, did the check engine light turn on when this happened? While this was happening, did you notice any smoke from the exhaust or fuel odor in the vehicle?

Because this is an intermittent issue, it will be more difficult to diagnose, so let me know as much as you can. Anything that may help is appreciated.

BTW, your grammar is excellent.

Joe