Methodx

I have an 08 tsx auto. I feel alot of engine vibration when at idle, with the air on and off. Is this normal on a TSX?

ThirdLane

No its not. I have no vibration on my TSX with AC on or off.

JTso

iTrader: (2)

If you are talking about idle in D, then you will feel slightly more vibration than a 6MT due to lower engine rpm. You will find many AT owners have the same issue. Also, the AT model has an addition vibration damper on the bottom subframe, which could mean Honda is aware of the issue. Does the vibration go away or greatly reduced when in neutral or park?

nkeller099

Mine is more pronounced with the air on. Acura tech said it was normal.

Any of the non-honda four cylinders I have owned in the past, do not vibrate. Why does the acura?

intensity2x

My '06 does this too. When idling in 'D' the steering wheel vibrates pretty good (you can even see it vibrating) independantly of the A/C. It comes and goes. Pretty much if you are stopped and in drive, you will feel it within a short time. I used to be concerned about it too but been more than 2 years now and no problems, you get used to it. I would be curious to know why it does that though.

davidspalding

I have a very slight rumble vibration in D, but nothing a passenger would notice. Nothing in teh steering wheel that I've felt. Putting my 5AT into N makes it go away.

For an AT, I find this one much more civilized than those I've met in teh past.

Methodx

I get it alot when the air is on. Its the most noticeable in park,drive and reverse. Once the car starts to go, it goes away. I will see what the dealers take is. I have had several cars and none did such a thing unless there was a motor or tranny mounts issue. This is to expensive of a car to vibrate so rough.

synthetic

This could be a result of the summer heat causing the engine fan to start frequently(specially when the car is stopped). Unfortunately TSX's crappy battery and weak alternator makes for very sluggish electric supply that causes the rpm to fluctuate whenever the AC or the FAN start up.

My question to people who have replaced their OEM battery with a better one(pretty much any battery is better than the OEM)

Has it improved anything?

ThirdLane

do we have IAC valve? If so AT owners can raise the idle a bit. I had an issue with 95 Accord 5MT with vibration during idle especially with the AC on and I raised to idle to 850rpms from 750rpm and the problem went away.

LukeaTron

^^^ Nope, it's all handled by the DBW throttle. Any adjustment would have to be done in software.

Methodx

Thats is definitley a possiblity as far as the battery goes. I will check the voltage and amperage. Raising the idle could help also. I did that on my STI and the car ran alot smoother.

LukeaTron

The idle is not adjustable in any way*, sorry.



* Unless you want to start hacking at the ECU code. I wouldn't advise that.

shizi

yup.. unfortunately when i idle in D its pretty noticeable too =\
i got 08 auto also

ck123

its normal for 4 cylinder engines to vibrate, nothing to worry about until you see your steering wheel having seizures.

my old civic vibrated pretty well(worn out motor mounts)
my tsx has a slight vibration
my integra has virtually none since its manual(neutral all the time)
my dad's v6 sienna has very very little, just a little less than the tsx
friends v6 tl and dealers v6 mdx has virtually none
bunch of corrollas ive sat in vibrated a lot
bunch of civics ive sat in had slight vibration too
my friends yaris does it
my friends mazda3 does it

my point here is that i4 engines will vibrate during idle unless you put it in neutral. i think the tsx handles the vibration pretty well if your a passenger because i barely feel it compared to other cars.

LukeaTron

^^^ That's what 3 counter balance shafts will do for you. I read somewhere that 2.4 liters is about as big as you can go with an I4 engine because of issues with balancing the engine. You could probably go bigger if you lightened up the moving parts but that's an expensive prospect for a production vehicle.

Methodx

I have to disagree. I use to have a 2.5 Altima. It had a balance shaft that sat right below the crank and was chain linked to the crank to rotate it. Through some nissan forums people were removing them and it would free up about 10 to 15 whp. So I removed mine. I had almost no engine vibration and it vibrated 5 times less than my Acura does. It sounds like Acura did not properly position or internally balance this motor.

LukeaTron

Interesting. I wonder if they just isolated the engine more with big pillowy engine mounts. A large displacement I4 engine with no counterbalancing at all is going to have a lot of inertia swinging around. That energy has to go somewhere. It's physically impossible to build an I4 engine that doesn't produce inertial moments without using counter balancers. It's a byproduct of design. Acura uses three counter balance shafts because the weight of the moving parts is significant enough that the second order harmonics are noticeable. The two counter rotating shafts are there to cancel these vibrations.

JTso

iTrader: (2)

^^
Where did you find 3 balance shafts?

frack

I definitely feel the engine vibration when in drive and at a stop. It actually makes the front license plate cover rattle, and every couple months I have to tighten it.

Its really been my only complaint from this car since I bought it new a year ago.

xjohnkdoex

iTrader: (2)

i feel vibration, but it's not that bad even with the A/C on. it definately is reduced or gone if i sit in N.

i have a 5AT.

LukeaTron

It was bragged about extensively in one of the glossy advertisement books I got from the dealer. I'll see if I can find a web reference to site.

LukeaTron

From Acura Media Newsroom: 2007 TSX :
IIRC the shaft that spins opposite of the engine has two weights on it which are offset. There was an awesome website that I found linked to a thread here some time ago that explained all the forces of various engine configurations but I'll be damned if I can't find it again. Basically any 60 or 90 degree V engine with cylinders in multiples of 8 or any boxer engine will always naturally have their inertial moments exactly canceled out naturally. Any other configuration is going to have periodic moment left over because the momentum of the moving parts is not naturally balanced by a part of the same mass moving in the opposite direction. The I4 configuration is least naturally balanced of all the common engine configurations.