Engine Vibrates While Idle (Auto 01 EX)
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Engine Vibrates While Idle (Auto 01 EX)
I don’t think this is too much to worry about but when I’m sitting still with the engine on the car will vibrate a little. Anyone got ideas? I think it could be loose mounts or onset rod knock, the car has 340k miles btw.
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Re: Engine Vibrates While Idle (Auto 01 EX)
I would first presume motor mounts given the age. I doubt the mounts are "loose" probably broken and dead at this age (unless this is something you've done recently).
You can see if they are really broken (particularly the front and rear) by parking the car, lift the hood, have someone watch the engine while you start it, put it into gear BUT keep your foot on the brake. When you put it into gear, if the engine rocks forward (and I don't mean a millimeter, it should be suddenly several inches) that's usually indicative of a broken/dead motor mount.
There are 4 of them, 3 which are easy to get to and the back one against the firewall that's horrible to get to. The 3 easy ones you can inspect to see if they are broken, the frontmost you can simply look at carefully, the others I tend to pull off to look at them. The back one I personally can only look at easily with a boroscope so I can aim behind the engine.
If they are broken and need replacement, here's one piece of advice: don't use any aftermarket motor mounts, as far as I can tell and have used a variety, they are terrible. They will fit, but they are too firm and will cause the car to vibrate a lot. Use OEM mounts and the car will ride like it's on glass. The reason I point this out as well is the temptation to buy the replacements as they are much much much cheaper. But they all seem to suck.
Going in the other direction, if the engine is letting go, I would get a replacement from somewhere rather than try to fix or rebuild the engine. The F23A motor you have is very inexpensive to pick up complete from another junked car and put in. But cheaper than rebuilding (unless maybe you do it yourself).
At this point, if it's still just a small vibration and it is the engine I would just keep driving it until it was much worse. Then swap in a motor for a few hundred and keep going. Depending on the rest of the cars condition.
You can see if they are really broken (particularly the front and rear) by parking the car, lift the hood, have someone watch the engine while you start it, put it into gear BUT keep your foot on the brake. When you put it into gear, if the engine rocks forward (and I don't mean a millimeter, it should be suddenly several inches) that's usually indicative of a broken/dead motor mount.
There are 4 of them, 3 which are easy to get to and the back one against the firewall that's horrible to get to. The 3 easy ones you can inspect to see if they are broken, the frontmost you can simply look at carefully, the others I tend to pull off to look at them. The back one I personally can only look at easily with a boroscope so I can aim behind the engine.
If they are broken and need replacement, here's one piece of advice: don't use any aftermarket motor mounts, as far as I can tell and have used a variety, they are terrible. They will fit, but they are too firm and will cause the car to vibrate a lot. Use OEM mounts and the car will ride like it's on glass. The reason I point this out as well is the temptation to buy the replacements as they are much much much cheaper. But they all seem to suck.
Going in the other direction, if the engine is letting go, I would get a replacement from somewhere rather than try to fix or rebuild the engine. The F23A motor you have is very inexpensive to pick up complete from another junked car and put in. But cheaper than rebuilding (unless maybe you do it yourself).
At this point, if it's still just a small vibration and it is the engine I would just keep driving it until it was much worse. Then swap in a motor for a few hundred and keep going. Depending on the rest of the cars condition.
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