Hi there,
First post here, not just on the site, but in forums in general- Apologies if I'm not super great with this, ha. Also apologies if this is the wrong place to post or if there is already something posted with the information I might need, I did look but didn't dive too deep.
Anyway, first thing, I know very little about cars, and my rabbit is my first car so everything is painfully new to me still. Second thing, I think something is going terribly wrong with my car?!
I bought it in February of this year, it had been to a mechanic before I bought it and I had talked to him before the purchase and he gave me a pretty decent rundown and everything seemed good. It had about 177k when I got it and I took it in for an oil change about the second month I had it. I had my check engine light stuck on and the airbag light was also on constantly. I had read a bit about electrical issues and having lights go on and stay on so I wasn't too worried, and when I had the oil change done I asked that they check. The fellow said it didn't seem to be anything wrong with either the airbag or engine but I needed new spark plugs. So I got new plugs, the dash lights stayed on and I went on my way.
Between then and about a week ago I had been noticing that sometimes when I am in stop-go traffic (basically all my summer driving since I live in a tourist city that swells from april to august) I read that it is called a hiccup or hesitation. I'm not totally sure that is what has been going on with my car. Basically when it happened the car would sort of lurch forward and my RPM would go up and then drop back down. This issue had been making me a little nervous so I went to get it looked at last week. They checked a bunch of things (oil change and new filter, lube check, front and rear brake check, all shocks, front end steering components, exhaust and electrical systems, battery, lights, horn, wipers and all the fluid levels, cooling, belts, hoses, check/adjust/rotate tires)
The only thing they had to tell me was my rear brakes need replacing and the front right strut is leaking a little.
Drove off, everything was cool.
Until the next morning when I went to start my car and it didn't seem to turn over right away. Since then it has been being difficult to start to the point where it just died and I had to try a second time to get it going. It has been like that for about a week now and then tonight I got home and noticed that after I had gotten out of the car and started walking to the house that it sounded like something was still running. Didn't sound too much like the engine, but maybe a fan?
I used an OBD device my brother lent me and checked and it says I have an error code (P2231, 02 Sensor signal circuit shorted to heater) and potentially (P3081 Engine temp too low) as well as Heated Catalyst non continuous, AC refrigerant non continuous and ERG system non continuous.
Since I am not knowledgeable about cars, I am not going to DIY anything- I plan on taking it in tomorrow morning and hoping for the best.
But I guess, I am curious if these are somewhat normal things? Or is my car doomed? Is it going to cost me a stupid amount of money, and if it does are these things that might continue to happen or if I deal with it now it will be good?
Anyway, thanks for reading and any help or comments (literally anything) is greatly appreciated!
