Broke down, need advice

Just picked up my 05 Aveo today after having the clutch and flywheel replaced. Ran fine on my way to work but on my way home it started sputtering on the freeway, the check engine light was flashing on and off, and then I began to decelerate, regardless of how much gas I gave it. I pulled over to the berm and noticed a burning smell. I looked under the hood and a square shaped unit toward the bottom under my engine and transmission was glowing red. Given that it was 2:30 am, and didn't have a flashlight I couldn't see exactly what it was. No other lights came on (check oil, etc.) I was told that it could be the oil pan or the transmission pan, and that if it is latter then the mechanic didn't refill the transmission fluid after repairs. My car is currently sitting on the freeway so I desperately need advice. Thank you in advance.

If you are fairly sure you can trust the original shop to stand behind their work and admit a mistake, then have it towed back to them. Most shops will not try to hose you if they made an honest mistake. But if you have a good reason to question the integrity of the original shop, have it towed to another general repair shop in your area to have it diagnosed. Tell them the full story, and that you will be taking it back to the original shop (you will obviously have to pay the second shop to do the diagnosis).
Good luck and please post back with the failure reason and outcome.

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Originally Posted by avguy

If you are fairly sure you can trust the original shop to stand behind their work and admit a mistake, then have it towed back to them. Most shops will not try to hose you if they made an honest mistake. But if you have a good reason to question the integrity of the original shop, have it towed to another general repair shop in your area to have it diagnosed. Tell them the full story, and that you will be taking it back to the original shop (you will obviously have to pay the second shop to do the diagnosis).
Good luck and please post back with the failure reason and outcome.

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agreed here. it sounds like something related to the repair. The only things are, I don't know why you would drain the transmission to replace the clutch. But that does not mean it didn't happen. I would check the car today. now that things cooled down it might (might) run again until it heats up. The square shaped unit could be the catalytic convertor glowing red because it was clogged. and it would technically have the same issues you experienced.

Managed to get my car off the freeway, but couldn't accelerate past 10mph and died less than a quarter mile. Had to push it into a gas station. When I tried starting it back up the whole car started shaking badly, and a pipe connected to the square unit I mentioned before was red hot, so it may be the catalytic converter. I was oozing oil from the top of my engine as well, but it doesn't look like I blew a head. My clutch has no resistance when I shift. So I am not sure if the problem has something to do with the repair, or if this is a new problem that just suddenly occurred.

a free way to see if the cat is clogged is to just unbolt it from the manifold and see if that changes you symptoms.

Turned out to be the valve cover gasket going out, and multiple missfires. Had to replace the gasket, and do a complete tuneup including the coil pack. Cars running good now. The check engine light came on again. Diagnosis said that I could have an exhaust leak, or my cat is going out. Hopefully just have to replace the gaskets.

if you had that many misfires that it wouldn't run, and a glowing red cat. It sounds like the unburnt gas was burning in the cat. And that harmed your cat. Good luck to you, Its always sad when one thing get fixed and several other problems arise.

Have to say I'm not understanding this, and maybe it's just because of some missing information. When you originally said it died on the road right after the clutch/flywheel replacement, I ASSUMED it had been running good before that repair (probably shouldn't ever assume anything). Now it sounds like that repair was completely unrelated to the problems that followed. But OTOH, it would be somewhat unusual for it to start running that badly, out of nowhere and with no prior warning (CEL, miss, skip, etc.). So now I'll ask you, how was the engine running before the clutch repair?

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Originally Posted by avguy

Have to say I'm not understanding this, and maybe it's just because of some missing information. When you originally said it died on the road right after the clutch/flywheel replacement, I ASSUMED it had been running good before that repair (probably shouldn't ever assume anything). Now it sounds like that repair was completely unrelated to the problems that followed. But OTOH, it would be somewhat unusual for it to start running that badly, out of nowhere and with no prior warning (CEL, miss, skip, etc.). So now I'll ask you, how was the engine running before the clutch repair?

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My car was running fine until the clutch went. It had to sit at my friends house for about a month before I could get the money to repair the clutch. So I am not sure if that had any effect. The mechanic said the day I picked it up that my valve cover gasket was going bad, and that night is when it broke down. But no, prior to the repair my engine was running fine, and I had no similar issues.