Hi, I have a 99 Vitara automatic with a rough engine vibration that as of today I have not been able to figure it out.
The Vibration is at idle, when I put in gear vibrates more and when A/C is one it gets worse.
I have already replaced the following. Motor mounts, Coil packs, spark plugs, idle control sensor, cleaned Throttle body and replaced gasket, troubleshooted vacuum leak and I can’t find it or hear any leaks. Please help.
Transmission mount maybe.Its hard to diagnose this problem on the internet
I already replaced all mounts. Thanks for your reply.
Ok, 20 year old SUV… Maybe run a compression test to see if the engine is worn out?
Does it throw a check engine light?
Did the OP recently purchase this vehicle, or has he owned it for a long period of time?
If the latter, then… is this vibration a new problem, or has it existed for as long as you have owned the vehicle?
Also… does this vehicle have an I-4 engine?
In-line four cylinder engines are inherently unbalanced, and vibration at idle is “normal” for many of them.
At first I had a check engine light and was the gas cap, I replaced the gas cap and light was gone. I do have a small smell of has but I can’t see any leaks. I can only smell when is Park at my garage not driving etc.
When I bought the car had already the vibration. I friend of mine had one of this and did not vibrate like this at all
Of course you can’t smell it driving but a good shop can do a smoke test and fix the leak which is what you should have done as soon as you noticed the gas smell.
How? Whatt vacuum reading does the engine pull at idle?
I understand that but my question is does that has to do with the vibration at idle?
I just changed the idle control sensor and is now high idle.
No codes come on.
Jose, do you not know how to read the vacuum at idle, or how to do a compression test?
If you don’t I’d suggest taking it to a professional mechanic to diagnose your problem. You won’t get very far on your own and we can’t help you if you can’t do these tests.
Is this test the one they do with the smoke?
No, it is not.
Google “engine compression test” and “engine vacuum test” and read up. The tools can be borrowed free from US based auto-parts stores.
I’ve no experience w/that vehicle or its engine but the symptoms are very similar as when my truck has a vacuum leak or the carb is plugged up w/gunk; i.e. misfiring due to overly lean operation. If I had that problem myself and there were no diagnostic codes I’d start a fuel trim test. Are you able to do a fuel trim test OP? Another way to find vacuum leaks is to spray some starter fluid in areas you think a leak is possible. If the engine speeds up then you know there’s a vacuum leak somewhere in that area. Good idea to keep a big fire extinguisher close on hand for this sort of experiment.
Hi George, I did spray all the vacuum area with carburetor cleaner and I was not able to find the leak, I didn’t found the engine changing idle while spraying it unless it’s a hidden place.
Sounds like you did that test correctly. It’s possible for a vacuum leak to occur that this test won’t find. For example on my Corolla there’s an idle-up valve in the power steering pump. It is used to boost the idle speed when turning the steering wheel, to avoid stalling during complicated parking maneuvers. It is connected on one side to the air cleaner, and the other side to the intake manifold. There’s no path from outside to the intake manifold so the starter spray wouldn’t show anything, but if that valve in the pump sprung a big leak the engine might still behave like this.
One idea: use a hand held vacuum pump to make sure the power brake booster is holding vacuum. If the diaphragm inside that gadget spring a leak this symptom could develop. Like I mentioned above, the better diagnostic method is to start with a fuel trim measurement.
When this happens on my truck it is usually one of the vacuum t-connections broke, or a hose fell off, or one of the advance/retard gadgets on the distributor sprung a vacuum leak. One time is was a vacuum actuator for the heated air intake. I just use a hand-held vacuum pump to test each vacuum circuit is all I do.
Thanks, I’ll keep looking.