slidefighter
Junior Member
- Messages
- 52
Again, this is likely just another post in my award-losing "something I didn't know that everyone else does" series, but here goes anyway.
Let a friend drive my 2002 4200 Coupe/CC and afterwards popped the hood so he could listen to that little jewel just purring away. Drove off with all well and right with the world. After about 5 miles, I thumped over a little bump in the road and a red cross bar light appeared across the front of the little green car symbol in the instrument cluster. As usual, I didn't put 2 and 2 together and didn't know what it was (hadn't ever seen it before). Decided to stop and consult the manual, but a dump truck came up behind me so I decided to move around the corner a ways.
Unexpectedly, the car wouldn't shift into any gear, either 1st or reverse. Shut it off to reset the system, but on restart the bar was still lit and the car still wouldn't shift out of neutral. Hmm. OK, warning lights on for safety. Hmm. Flash! The hood is not fully latched! Turns out it was down when I drove off but not fully latched (so no light). Hit the bump and the hood bounced enough to turn the "hood latch warning light" on. Apparently, the system is designed to prevent you from driving off with it unlatched but keeps the engine running if it comes on while driving, only preventing you from shifting back into gear once you've come to a stop.
Thought there might be at least one other person out there who didn't know this. I have been through the manual in some detail, but I missed this one.
Happy driving,
Lee...
Let a friend drive my 2002 4200 Coupe/CC and afterwards popped the hood so he could listen to that little jewel just purring away. Drove off with all well and right with the world. After about 5 miles, I thumped over a little bump in the road and a red cross bar light appeared across the front of the little green car symbol in the instrument cluster. As usual, I didn't put 2 and 2 together and didn't know what it was (hadn't ever seen it before). Decided to stop and consult the manual, but a dump truck came up behind me so I decided to move around the corner a ways.
Unexpectedly, the car wouldn't shift into any gear, either 1st or reverse. Shut it off to reset the system, but on restart the bar was still lit and the car still wouldn't shift out of neutral. Hmm. OK, warning lights on for safety. Hmm. Flash! The hood is not fully latched! Turns out it was down when I drove off but not fully latched (so no light). Hit the bump and the hood bounced enough to turn the "hood latch warning light" on. Apparently, the system is designed to prevent you from driving off with it unlatched but keeps the engine running if it comes on while driving, only preventing you from shifting back into gear once you've come to a stop.
Thought there might be at least one other person out there who didn't know this. I have been through the manual in some detail, but I missed this one.
Happy driving,
Lee...