Engine vibration at low revs

mistercrabb

mistercrabb

mistercrabb

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I think the trusty Seat Ibiza is on it's last legs :P

Anyway, starting today on my commute home, the car started vibrating at low revs. By low I mean between 1-2K rpm. This is a petrol car btw.
When I got home I tested further in my driveway, it happens in neutral and with the clutch down. As soon as I touch the pedal the car shakes until it passes the 2k rev mark and then it settles down again.

Opened the bonnet and the whole engine block wobbles back and forth, I'm guessing this is what's vibrating the car :P

Does anyone have any ideas?
It's going to have to go to a garage I think but I'd like to know what sort of cost I could be looking at/whether it's going to blow up tomorrow.

Cheers!
 
I don't think there's a performance decline, it's hard to tell though because it was about as fast as a bus to begin with.

Not sure how to check the engine mounts, could be them I guess. Although the wobbling was more of a rocking motion, if something was loose I would have expected it to be more rapid?
I'll go and have another look shortly.

Edit: Oh I forgot, the Engine management light blinked for a bit when it started doing this!
 
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Matt82 said:
What year and engine?

I'd suspect an ignition issue
Click to expand...

+1

Without knowing exact model I don't know whether you have coil/leads or coil-pack type system.

Probably some sort of coil/lead tracking or internal HT breakdown. (If I am correct I expect that any fault code will be for a generic misfire one rather than for a specific component though coil pack failures do sometimes generate specific codes)

Remove coils/Leads/plugs and examine carefully for tracking marks but be aware that if you have the coil-on-plug set up and the electrical breakdown is internal there will be no marks/evidence

If you have the coil-on-plug type (Not uncommon on VAG type vehicles) change ALL the coil packs and plugs and don't get them on e-bay!

This may seem like overkill but IME if you don't you will find yourself having to replace them one at a time over the next couple of months anyway so you might as well do it all in one go!
 
check plugs, similar to what my gf had with her Focus, also juddered when trying to get to speed, quick change of plugs and done.
 
its night time. get out there now, bonnet up and look for the arcing.

if you find the arc, RESIST the urge to touch the pretty lights :P
 
Thanks for the replies!
Sorry I always forget something vital :P
Car is a Seat Ibiza 2004 1.4L Petrol.
VAG engine I believe.

Drove it to the gym this morning and there is a definite loss of power, engine light on whenever I'm in gear and I'm not sure but it seems to smell a bit at high revs. Still vibrates when stationary and when at low revs.

I didn't go out to check it last night but to be honest I wouldn't have a clue what to look for, I'm not even sure how to get the engine cover off :P

I guess it's likely to be a spark plug failure or something in that vicinity? Do you know how much roughly a garage is likely to charge me to fix it?
 
Well I've properly killed it now :P

Removed the coil packs one at a time to see which one was misfiring (on the basis that removing the broken one wouldn't make a difference). Now it won't start at all!

Called the AA, hope they can fix this :L

Edit: Just realized I didn't reset the ECU. That could be why.

Edit2: Right, it's sorted now ¬_¬
Turns out the computer disables cylinders when they fail, so once I had disconnected them none of them would fire until the AA guy cleared the error codes with his laptop. Also it was 2 failed coils, I bought 1 from the AA and need to get another one tomorrow. Cheers for the help guys!
 
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