So I've taken my car to the dealer 4 times. The 3rd time they replaced my spark plugs, and that seemed to cure the problem for the time being. However, 2 weeks later the rough idling came back, and even worse then before. The dealer required me to leave the car with them for 2 days. In the end, they claimed to have adjusted all the idling times, and all that and said the problem should be gone for good. Well the minute I turned on the car at the dealer, I still felt the f*cking idle. So I storm back in, and spoke to the service manager. He claims that they sat in it for nearly 30 minutes and didn't find anything abnormal with the idling. I don't know what else to do? I'm worried this might be something serious with the engine. BTW this happens at all temperatures, even when the car is warm.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be causing this?

thanks

 

dude, service wouldnt know poor idle if it slapped them

if you got in to a brand new pontiac that youve never been in before, you would accept however it felt the first time as normal.

so service cant detect peoblems cause they dont own and drive your car.

Neway, i strugled with this problem for months. i did plugs, auto tensioner, BG treatment, lots of stuff till one morning it tottaly hit me... MOTOR MOUNTS!! hard to detect a failure in, and you would never know it... i had noticed strange vibration and poor torque off the line... turns out my rear and left mounts were screwed. now she idles like a mercedes and can leave marks on the pavement again

 

I am having the same problem! You are talking about like when you come to a stop at a traffic light, the car starts to shivver a little , like it wants to stall then come back!! that is what is happening to mine , and i have takin it to the dealer 3 times and all three times they claim that they can't find anything, and it is really starting to worry me as i am coming up on 90k and at 100k it's all on me!! Maybe they know what is going on but they are just trying to stall till 100k, hey they have done worse!!

 

darkshear that great that you got the fix, is there NEway that you can take pictures of it, because i would not know what to look for if they are bad, i'm sure i can find them, but i probably wouldn't be able to tell if they are bad or not, is there something that i should look for?

thanx

 

hey sc354 ... darkshear has a point...i've seen a bunch of front and right side engine mounts go bad...usually with drivers who drive agressively...also have seen a few problems with egr valves hanging open a little bit...any check engine light associated with it?
HTH

 

I asked the dealer about that, and the third time I brought it in, the service advisor said "the first thing our technicians will check is the obvious causes, engine mounts, idling air valve, spark plugs, etc...). After he said this too me, a bit of weight was lifted off my shoulders as it seemed he knew what he was talking about. Well I was wrong. They definitely didn't know how to fix it.

Here's what I don't understand. When I brought the car into the dealer the last time for the rough idling, I also had the fuel sending unit replaced as I was getting completely inaccurate readings from my fuel gauge. They happened to install this new fuel sending unit before they investigated the rough idling problem further, and one of the service advisors called me and said, "after we installed the fuel sending unit a bunch of error codes came up on the ECU stating there was a fault in the idling". So I was like, there we go they finally found the problem. When I went in the next day and asked them what was finally done with the rough idle, the guy claimed they didn't find anything, but in any event they had adjusted the timing of the idle. I was like....WTF is that. They claimed there was a problem, and now there isn't. Before I even started up the car I was walking back to it cursing like no tomorrow cause I knew they hadn't fixed it. Well I was right, I got back in, the idling felt even worse.

Too my surprise I never had a "shivvering" when I was in drive, it only happened when in park. So not only did they not fixed the problem, the idling is even worse now.

BTW guys, is it normal to feel a very very very slight vibration in the steering wheel when stopped at a light? I'm talking only a person as nuts about the functioning of the car as me would notice???

 

i have also seen a few problems with the rotary air control valve(idle control)...usually that will cause a surge though...approx what speed is it idling at?...also there is no real check with the egr valve unless the mil is on...you can pull the egr valve to see if there is any debris stuck in the valve but usually you cant see any..also does the problem go away entirely when you raise the rpms a bit?

 

my rpm's idle somewhere in the 700 RPM range. the weird thing is I've never seen any abnormal idle speed with the car, but that shivvering sensation is always there. If I raise the RPM's ever so slightly, then yes the shivvering goes away entirely.

 

sc354 you have a pm