Hi everybody. I have an issue with my car in that when I'm not accelerating, the whole car shakes. This doesn't happen all of the time though. When I do the key dance I get P0443 which I understand it to be the EVAP PURGE SOLENOID CIRCUIT. Does anyone have any idea how I can diagnose it and whether the shaking has anything to do with it? I'm definitely not a mechanic, so any help is appreciated.

Random other problem as well. The fog light indicator on the dash stays on when I have my lights turn on. When I press on the light shaft it turns off but turns on after I let go. Any idea why?

 

P0443 usually indicates a bad Purge Solenoid. It's located on the driver side firewall under the brake booster. Small cylinder shape with one electrical connector and 2 vacuum hoses. I would disconnect the electrical connector, plug it back in, clear the code and see if it comes back. If it does, the solenoid is probably bad. The only other alternatives are the wiring or the ECM. If you remove the solenoid, tap it on your hand and see if little pieces of charcoal come out of where the vacuum hoses connect. It's not uncommon for the charcoal cannister to go bad and clog the solenoid with charcoal. I had the P0443 on my truck. I would clear the code and it would come back in a couple of months. I drove it for a couple of years like that before I finally replaced the cannister and solenoid. It shouldn't affect performance much other than dropping your MPG's a bit.
Can you be more specific about the shaking? Is it when you're driving, or idling, or??
The wife's Neon had the same issue with the fog light switch. I ended up replacing the mulitfunction switch. It was only about $50 and not hard to replace.

 

Okay I'll try all that, thanks! The shaking never happens when I'm accelerating. At least it's not noticeable. However when I'm not accelerating the car just seems to shake. Like I'll be parked looking at my phone and I can't even focus on something on the screen because the car is shaking so bad so I end up turning it off. It doesn't happen all the time though. It's probably 50/50 when it happens.