car shakes when AC is turned on
 

anyone know what the problem is?

my whole car shakes, and rattles when i turn the AC on.

any fix?

thanks

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (confucius)
 

doesit do it only at idle? or while u are driving too?

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (confucius)
 

WHat RPM is it before AC and what RPM after. It is normal for the car to sometimes run a little lower RPM with e AC on. The throttle regulator usually compensates for the additional load of the compresosr and the alternator when the AC is on, but if the engine idles low to begin with, plus perhaps is not well tuned, then this willnot be an uncommon problem. Quick fix is to raise your idle and RPM. LOng term fix is to dig into the engine to find out why it runs rough, if that is the case.

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (Brand)
 

i think it only shakes when idle.

My Teg is like that sometimes. On idle, when you turn the steering wheel it also shakes. When my fan goes, my car feels like it's going to die. I haven't fixed it yet, but I got a good guess on what's wrong. After warm up, what's your RPM when you are on idle? Try this out. When your car is finish warming up(800-1000 RPM), tap the accelerator slightly and see if the RPM starts jumping up and down by itself. If it jumps up and down by itself, then there might be something wrong. Try tightening your throttle cable. Let us know your results.

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (confucius)
 

check the belts

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (chrisnova)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chrisnova &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">WHat RPM is it before AC and what RPM after. It is normal for the car to sometimes run a little lower RPM with e AC on. The throttle regulator usually compensates for the additional load of the compresosr and the alternator when the AC is on, but if the engine idles low to begin with, plus perhaps is not well tuned, then this willnot be an uncommon problem. Quick fix is to raise your idle and RPM. LOng term fix is to dig into the engine to find out why it runs rough, if that is the case.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It should run at higher rpms to compensate for the parasitic draw it is taking.

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (confucius)
 

it shakes because the ac drad is bring the idel lower than 700rpm which will cause the car to chake
my car did this and it got so bad that if i ever turned on the ac the car would just die, the computer did not bring up the idel to compansate for the ac drag. it turned out that my computer was bad and as soon as i tryed another computer it fixed the problem.
but you can just try to turn you idel up a lil

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (confucius)
 

my integ use to shake bad when the a/c was on but the idle was fine, just when the a/c was on, at the same time i was changing out my motor mounts, when i did the shaking was gone, i guess the mounts were so bad that when the extra load on the engine was put on, the engine shock more which transfered to the cabin *shrugs* that was my only problem

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (SOL1D)
 

dont know what rpm is running at, have to check after work.

but after warm up, it idels about half a centimeter below 1.

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (confucius)
 

mine does it for a split second when the compressor turns on.

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (PlastikOwl)
 

its probably the idle since it only happends when the car is in idle.

i think the cars idle at about 600 rpm.

yea its the idel. the shaking stops when i rev the car.

Re: (confucius)
 

When I'm at a red-light with my A/C on, sometimes my rpm drops to 550rpm for a few seconds, than moves back up to 750. It would just alternate like that every few seconds. As long as it's at 750, everything is ok, but as soon as it drops to 550, the car, most noticeably my exhaust, begins to vibrate.

Re: (Vu)
 

fixed it.

by turning the throttle screw and tightening the throttle cable a bit.

Re: (confucius)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by confucius &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">fixed it.

by turning the throttle screw and tightening the throttle cable a bit.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Throttle cable should have no effect, unless it's too tight and it's idling faster than it should.

Idle at normal operating temperature w/o any accessories on should be between 700-800 rpm. Does it idle like this right now? If it idles higher, but idles normally when the A/C is on, then you have a problem somewhere else, since the ECU is supposed to bring the idle up when you turn on the A/C.

Re: (PatrickGSR94)
 

my idle before was at 500 rpm.

when i turn the a/c on, it idel near the 2nd bold line after 0.

prolly around 300 rpm.

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (confucius)
 

If your motor mounts are old and bad, that may contribute to the bad shake. Then again, if you put ES bushings in the motor mounts it'll hsake as well. Just a thought.

u could just roll the windos down and not use the a/c?

speaking of AC noises..... Whenever i turn on the AC and accelerate, i hear a small whinning noise and when im not accelerating the noise is gone. Anyone have any idea what it is?

Re: (nocable4me)
 

my ride has black vinyl, rolling the window down will not do.

Re: (nocable4me)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nocable4me &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">speaking of AC noises..... Whenever i turn on the AC and accelerate, i hear a small whinning noise and when im not accelerating the noise is gone. Anyone have any idea what it is?</TD></TR></TABLE> that would be the belt moving faster. kinda like a blower.

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on (confucius)
 

One of the civics at the dealership did that. The problem with the civic was that the pump would lock up intermittently..

Re: (confucius)
 

Did you ever happen to find out the problem for this or fixed it? I'm having the exact problem you just described. Or does anyone know what the problem might be? Bad ECU, bad motor mounts???

Re: car shakes when AC is turned on
 

Well if it's idle related, you may need to adjust your timing, check your iacv, get new plugs, or maybe even clean the throttle body. Also check the tensioner, if it's loose you'll get excessive belt hop. My other thought would be the crank pulley. The rubber band in them wears out and the alternator won't spin the same speed as the engine. If the crank pulley is bad, there's a good chance your timing marks won't line up if the pulley is slipping. The power steering runs off the solid part. The alternator and ac run of the outer part of the pulley, which can slip when worn.