Hi all, new guy around here. Long story short, I've had my 3rd gen for just about a year now. I bought the car with ~127,000 miles on it and since owning it I've had an engine vibration issue that's been driving me mad. From idle to around 1500 RPM the car shakes pretty noticeably. It is especially bad when slipping the clutch during engagement in 1st gear. The vibration itself cannot be felt in the clutch pedal, just throughout the car.

I've replaced engine mounts during my ownership and that did not seem to help much. The car definitely needed new mounts, however. To my knowledge the car hasn't had a clutch replacement yet, so I was wondering if something wacky could be going on with the dual-mass flywheel, unsprung self adjusting clutch madness after ~133,000 miles. I've searched around and struggled to find anyone with similar problems. If you all have any insight it would be greatly appreciated!

 

Did you use OEM mounts? Did you replace the rear mount especially? I'd use an OEM mount for the rear at the very least to limit the amount of vibrations into the cabin of the car.

 

^^^ This....

 

Yes, I used OEM Acura mounts and replaced all three of them.

 

^
When the car is on level ground, in neutral and not moving, and you gently rev the throttle up to 1500-2500 RPM range, do you experience the vibration/shudder throughout the car?

 

Yes, this is exactly that happens. The vibration tapers off as revs go above ~1500 RPM. I would say it is at its worst around 1200 RPM.

 

OK. I had the same/similar issue in my CLS6. In my case, before I replaced the clutch and the original flywheel at 150K. I would get a shudder/shake very similar to yours in the same gears; however, mine would only show up after the car had been warmed up and driven awhile. Most importantly, the slight shudder WOULD occur when slowly reving the engine up in neutral to the RPM range used for the 1-2 then 2-3 shifts. I believe it was being caused by the old OEM original flywheel I had on there with 150K. All mounts, dampers were new as well as the axles. When I had the clutch, PP, and DMFW replaced everything went back to smooth normalness. Therefore, your hunch about something 'wacky' with the DMFW, clutch, and/or PP is in the ball-park.

If you go OEM get the LUK clutch kit & DMFW for your TL from rockauto, they usually have good competitive pricing.

 

I k now you did the motor mounts but did you also replace the trans mounts? Not sure how much those will add to the vibration though, just saying because my upper trans mount was totally broken

 

Glad to hear I may be on the right track! This sounds pretty much exactly like what I'm experiencing. And yes, I was planning on going with the LUK replacements when I get around to getting the clutch done.

I did not touch the trans mounts while I was in there. I did however check them out and they appeared to be intact.

 

If the vibration mostly happens during clutch engagement then you'll probably be looking at a warped flywheel. Warped or your rear main seal is leaking oil onto the flywheel messing with the friction between the flywheel and clutch disk. A warped flywheel is most noticeable in 1st gear engagement and also in reverse when you're purposely slipping the clutch.