Shake, Rattle & Roll

[Mrs_PA]

Hi Guys, hope you all had a good Christmas & New Year.

Christine has presented me with a new problem (quelle surprise!). At speeds between 55-75, when the car is under load, it feels like she is trying to shake herself to pieces - it's positively teeth chattering. After 75mph it smooths out and feels quite normal, ditto below 55. However, it doesn't do it at those speeds when she's cruising downhill and my foot is off the accelerator.

I thought at first it was a wheel balancing problem, but now I'm wondering if it's an engine management problem. The light has been on for 3 years now, but the garage says there's not actually anything wrong - well, there wasn't in September.

Any thoughts?

[LiamT4]

When was the last time the wheels were balanced and calibrated? Maybe the alignment is out. Cheap place to start anyway, before you go any further.

[silverhorse]

Hmmmmm.....

Definitely wheel balance or buckled wheel until you said she is OK when coasting. Do you have foot off gas AND out of gear so engine in idling?

[Mrs_PA]

Hmmmmm.....

Definitely wheel balance or buckled wheel until you said she is OK when coasting. Do you have foot off gas AND out of gear so engine in idling?

No, never out of gear. I do have a slightly buckled wheel, I had a slow air leakage around the rim and had to have the tyre refitted.

[Wobbly Dave]

Sounds to me like you have thrown a wheel weight or the place where you had them done had only a static wheel balancer. 17" or above needs a dynamic wheel balancer to ensure that the wheel is balanced on both inner & outer edges

[silverhorse]

Sounds to me like you have thrown a wheel weight or the place where you had them done had only a static wheel balancer. 17" or above needs a dynamic wheel balancer to ensure that the wheel is balanced on both inner & outer edges

Unbalanced or buckled wheel would cause wobble whether under engine load or not. As you only get wobble under engine load and not when coasting, this suggests something else.
No harm in getting the wheels checked, but I would have some further urgent investigation done.
Could be a fuelling problem. 5 pot engines are inherently unstable and if you have a slight misfire at all, this will be amplified.
Engine light on for 3 years??? Have you had the codes read by VIDA?

[JUDGENINJA]

Start with wheel balancing.. If the wheel is properly buckled it might be getting worse??

driveshafts - Wouldn't think so
Brakes - potentially but you'd feel it when braking only(unless really bad)
Gearbox/diff - if knackered it would be making a grinding noise..
Engine - maybe but I would have thought that you would hear a different engine sound and you'd lose power.
Turbo - nope too small to cause a vibration.

Can't think ofuch else...

Hope you and Mr PA are doing Ok...

[Mrs_PA]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I had the wheels balanced today (they did it free!) and there's a definite improvement. Still a slight judder but not nearly so uncomfortable.

Silverhorse - the dash is faulty, the codes run to 5 pages :D

A while back an Independent Volvo garage told me the rear lambda was in need of replacement (that was the cause of the engine management light) but 2 garages since have said there's nothing wrong with it, which was a bit of a bummer because I bought a replacement. When the front lambda was faulty we got lumpy running, but that was at low revs. Is changing a rear lambda a DIY or garage job?

Got a long run tomorrow, I'll see how it behaves on the M5/M4.

JudgeNinja, I'm well, but Mr PA is a bit poorly.

[silverhorse]

Silverhorse - the dash is faulty, the codes run to 5 pages :D

5!!!! I think that might be a record:insane:


A while back an Independent Volvo garage told me the rear lambda was in need of replacement (that was the cause of the engine management light) but 2 garages since have said there's nothing wrong with it, which was a bit of a bummer because I bought a replacement. When the front lambda was faulty we got lumpy running, but that was at low revs. Is changing a rear lambda a DIY or garage job?



DIY no probs. All depends if it comes out OK. My front one was corroded in place and was an absolute nightmare.....

Glad the wobble is a bit better. But if it still ain't right, then I would have it checked. These things never seem to just go away on their own and you will always be thinking to yourself 'when is it going to conk out'

[JUDGENINJA]

My V40 wheel is buckled. It is balanced up, but I can still hear and feel the vibration.

Maybe if you could make the softies meet sometime we can swap wheels round to eliminate atleast one area?

Sorry to hear about Mr PA. send him our regards!

[Mrs_PA]

you will always be thinking to yourself 'when is it going to conk out'

Unfortunately, after 101 faults and two gearboxes, I'm always thinking 'when it is going to conk out'. I never even go down the road without my GEM card and mobile phone. It's a long, long horror story. Somewhere on here is a thread about the dreaded Christine.


My V40 wheel is buckled. It is balanced up, but I can still hear and feel the vibration.

Maybe if you could make the softies meet sometime we can swap wheels round to eliminate atleast one area?

Sorry to hear about Mr PA. send him our regards!

I will try and make a softies meet sometime, and I've passed on your regards.

[Mrs_PA]

Sunday's long run showed a definite improvement, although sometimes it's difficult to tell on Welsh roads :D There's still a judder but this time I arrived home with my teeth intect.

[M-R-P]

Ello :)
I think the bent wheel could be causing some sort of resonance, especially if your wishbone bushes are tired, it'll show up more under load.

All the best to you both :D

[JamesT5]

This sounds EXACTLY like the problem I had, isn't it funny how these problems seem to crop up on other cars in the same model range.....

Yes, get the wheels balanced and check the wheeel alignment too, it helped loads on mine.

Regards

James

[LeeT5]

What car is it (for us not in the know) might help? Auto or manual?

[Mrs_PA]

What car is it (for us not in the know) might help? Auto or manual?

Hi Lee, It's a V70 P2 T5 with a Tiptronic gearbox, but I mostly use it in auto.

[LeeT5]

Hi Lee, It's a V70 P2 T5 with a Tiptronic gearbox, but I mostly use it in auto.

Rules out worn clutch then.

My guess would be drive shaft, CV joint and or buckled wheel (if you have knowingly hit a pothole recently or bumped up a kerb??)