2001 Echo mechanical problems

[hughc]

I will try to keep this brief. I would appreciate any help/suggestions on my problem.
I recently purchased a 2001 Echo (standard tranny) with 130K (80,000Miles). The car performed fine for the first week.
Yesterday on the way home from work the check engine light came on. The car was driving perfectly.
I decided to clear the error, just in case it was due to a simple error and if the engine light came on again, I would be certain of a problem.
The car drove perfectly to work (100K) this morning.
Leaving work today, I backed out of the parking spot and the parking brake light stayed on, flashed, stayed on even though the parking brake was off. ALso, the car idled very rough - close to stalling and even with the clutch engaged, there was a noise almost like the clutch wasnt engaged. I needed to reve the engine to avoid stalling, and the parking brake light either flashed or stayed on until I got up to 80KPH (50MPH). I drove this speed to avoid any damage to the motor. After about 5 mins at a constant speed, the parking brake light went off. I drove for about 30 mins, and when I took the offramp the car again drove very rough and the brake light came on again - flashed, or stayed on constantly.
I have searched to try and find an answer to why this has happened but came up short.
Any help would be very very appreciated.

[Qslim]

The brake light isn't going to have any relations to the driveability problems, I think you have two separate issues here. That light will come one either when the parking brake is up or the brake fluid level in the master cylinder is low. I'd bet the reason its flashing on and off is because the fluid is barely low enough to turn it on, and as the vehicle move the fluid sloshes around, opening and closing the switch.
So check the fluid level for the brake light. As for the engine, did you check the code before you cleared it? For future reference, it's a good idea to retrieve the code from the MIL to see what your car is trying to tell you. The hesitation could be any number of things, and it's a lot easier to diagnose if you have a code from the obd system.

[hughc]

I checked the fluid level, it is at the top.

The car was driving perfectly, until I left work, and the brake light warning was either on or flashing, as the car was driving extremely rough, near stalling. When I engaged the clutch, there was a sound almost like trying to start a car that was alread running.

I started and drove the car today, no warning lights, no rough idle, or near stall.

I noticed that the car has a remote start device (I did not get the remote control dongle for the car). It is a Astrostart model RS-213. Is it possible that this thing is causing my problem?

thanks

[echo987]

I had the same rough idle problem with my 2000 Echo 5spd. Mine got really bad and would stall. The took car to Autozone and they let me use a scantool for free. The code said it was running rich, I changed the mass air flow sensor and the code came up Running lean. I changed the Oxygen sensors and car runs perfect. Check the codes, I bet you it is the same problem I had. I needed both replaced.

[hughc]

Turned out to be a wire from the Autostart that was causing this funky malfunction. Autostart is no longer in the car.