Hi guys

I own an Audi A4 2.0T FSI S-line which has a shaking problem and I hope someone can help me resolve it. Apologies for the long essay but I want to give you all the information.

I took my car to Kwik Fit for MOT in March this year. During the MOT process, my car was put on a ramp and raised up. I remember that when the car was being raised up, the gap between the front body and the front wheels kept increasing as the car was being raised up. It looked like the front body was going to be ripped from the tyres. The gap between the back body and the back wheels however remained the same during the process of raising the car up

I remember thinking that it looked odd and that I had never seen anything like that but thought they must have known what they were doing anyway.

After the guys completed the MOT and told me it passed, I started my car and noticed immediately that the steering was vibrating. This is before I even started moving the car. I dismissed this with the hope that it was a temporary thing. Big mistake! Since then the problem hasn’t gone.

The problem seems to be intermittent and is somehow related to when I start the car. Once in a while when I start the car, the car runs smoothly as it used to and keeps running smoothly until the next time I start the car. At all other times, when I start the car, the steering wheel keeps vibrating and continues until the end of the journey.

For example, last week, I started the car and there was the vibration. A few miles through my journey I stopped and bought some fuel. As soon as I started the car, it was smooth again and remained smooth until I got to my destination.

In addition to the steering shaking, the driver’s seat also vibrates and I also notice that when I step on the accelerator, I feel the vibration through the seat and even sometimes through the pedals or even the floor of the car.

The vibration sometimes gets slightly better once the car warms up and at other times it just remains the same. The vibration also eases just a little when I increase speed but once I stop at traffic it increases.

When this shaking is at its worst, I have to change the gears very early to reduce the shaking. For example, change to gear six by the time I start going over roughly 45 mph.

I took my car to an Audi dealer for service in mid April but unfortunately it was one of those times when the car ran smoothly so they obviously said they couldn’t feel the vibration and that I should bring it back whenever the problem occurred again. When I finally took it back with the problem their mechanic said he had never seen anything like it and told me he would contact their technical guys (apparently where they assemble their cars) and come back to me. That was about a month ago and I am yet to hear from them.

I also took the car to a local mechanic when the shaking was at its worst and they checked the engine mounts and said there was nothing wrong with the mounts. They too couldn’t pinpoint the cause of the problem.
To be honest, I don’t enjoy driving the car anymore and just feel like selling it. This is my last attempt to get it resolved. I welcome any suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

 

you know what man, your best bet is to just hassle the dealer to fix the problem, I read the whole thing and there is just sooo many things to could be and it would only be a complete guess to give you a solution. If its still under warranty then the dealership should take care of it and even if your not under warranty the dealership should take care of it. They are the experts and I'm sure they can make some calls to get a good idea of what it could be. I'm sorry and wish I could be more help, these are awesome cars to drive/own and i hate to see someone give up on it. Good luck.

 

Hi Makav3li
Thanks for your reply. I actually posted this on another forum and someone suggested checking the exhaust as this might have been bent when the car was raised on the ramp. Also suggested are the mountings/heatshields or coilpacks. Will get these checked this week

 

oh yea if u havent gotten the coil pack recall done yet i'd deff do that and i guess it could be coil packs doing it.

 

Definately not exhaust. The only thing I can think of for an intermitant problem would be coil-packs. They are free on the recall and I would bet you $100 that is the problem. I had 2 go out at different times. 1 felt like a small vibration and the other felt like it was bucking like crazy and running on 100hp. Dooooo it. Your inspection was a coincidence.

 

It doesn't sound like the coil packs to me. I had mine go out and the vibrating was extreme. It was so bad that I was afraid to drive it to the dealership and my check engine light was blinking like mad. Also, when it happened and it was not intermittent at all but constant. It felt like the engine was going to fall out of the car. However, the shaking was definitely worse while idling and while in the lower gears (1, 2 and 3). I would think that once the coils went (if it was the coils) that it would not only do it sometimes.

I'm certainly no expert though, I can just let you know what my car felt like when my coils went out and it doesn't sound like yours is acting up quite as much as mine was.

 

Like I said 1 of my coils was catastrophic like yours. My outher failure was very tame so it could be it.

 

Thanks a lot for your inputs (2wdBlazer, markcu24, makav3li)

Right. My local mechanic checked the exhaust today and there was nothing wrong with it however when he opened the bonnet with the engine running, we noticed 3 things
1. The engine was shaking unusually (that is more than normal)
2. There was a kind of flapping noise (the mechanic did say he did not like the sound)
3. When I removed the engine oil cover, the engine started shaking vigorously as if it was possessed and only stopped and went back to the unusual shaking when the cover was replaced

I am now keen on gettin this fixed by all means and will take the new findings back to the Audi dealer and see what they say. If they fix it, I will definitely let you know.

 

It's nearly impossible to convey any sort of degree of shaking over the internet. What is vigorous to one person may be no big deal to another. So, take this for what it's worth.

The 2.0T FSI engines are a little noisy and vibrate a bit at idle. From all accounts I've seen (and several I've driven), it seems normal and comes from the method of direct fuel injection they use. My 2006 vibrates enough that you can feel it in the steering wheel at idle and from outside or under the hood, my dad had an early 2000's VW TDI (diesel) and it feels a lot like that engine. Most of the ones I test drove (2006-2007) felt fairly similar and it doesn't really bother me now that I've gotten used to it. When you're not idling, it runs very smoothly.

By all means, take it to Audi, but don't be surprised if there ends up being nothing wrong with it. Like I said, what doesn't bother some people may bother others, so if you're unhappy with it, maybe sell it and buy a newer one--the B8 (2010) I drove didn't seem to have the issue, but I wasn't going to drop $35k on it. I really like my 2006 and the deal I got.

 

KingWulfgar, I totally agree that a little bit of vibration at idle on the steering is okay but when you are driving and could still feel vibrations through the steering, seat and floor then I believe something is wrong.

Can I ask the biggest favour of the year. If you could, whenever you have the engine of your Audi running, please remove the engine oil cover and see if makes any difference to the way the engine is running.

Many Thanks