Hi all, please excuse me while I badly describe my issue.

 

Bought a 2013 4x4 1.6 Octavia from a Volvo dealer. As soon as I drove it I noticed this issue:

 

Car vibrates at low revs when lightly pressing throttle, the vibration is hard to describe but it sounds metallic, and like it's coming from the very back of the car. It has been in to Volvo twice who have confirmed all heat shields and exhaust mounts are sound. It happens more when cold, but doesn't completely disappear when it's warm (although it might take even lower revs to get it to do it when warm) - we're talking 800-1500 revs. It seems to be more prominent when under load such as when doing 30mph in 4th up a slight hill. Drop it to 3rd and put foot down and the noise doesn't appear.

 

If I had a gun to my head I'd have said heat shield/exhaust mounts but I've had these checked twice with no faults found. There's something at the back moving sometimes (I can hear/sense it somehow, like there was something loose in the boot rolling about (it's not as simple as this though, does it when boot totally empty, spare wheel, the lot)), so when I took it to Skoda today and the guy said it could be a snapped rear coil spring that made a little sense - he said it's difficult to spot with the spring sitting deep in the cup on these, and that if that was the case it could be resonating somehow with the engine speed. The other thing he said it could be is something in the 4x4 system.

 

I've booked it in with Skoda in a couple weeks for a full diagnostics, but just wondering if anyone had any ideas? Does the things he's suggested sound possible? The Volvo dealer also said "it could be the 4x4 system" whilst they were scratching their backsides, but I took it with a pinch of salt from them as they were grasping at straws seemingly.

 

Thanks,

I wish you luck. Skoda dealer the best option! 

There was an issue for some with vibrating fuel lines but I think this is more at the front of the car.

there was also an issue for some where the 4x4 system wasnt working but gives no warning lamp or message to the drive but I think this issue didnt result in vibration.

IIRC the solution was to replace the electronic control module for the 4x4 system

21 hours ago, Hightower666 said:

Hi all, please excuse me while I badly describe my issue.

 

Bought a 2013 4x4 1.6 Octavia from a Volvo dealer. As soon as I drove it I noticed this issue:

 

Car vibrates at low revs when lightly pressing throttle, the vibration is hard to describe but it sounds metallic, and like it's coming from the very back of the car. It has been in to Volvo twice who have confirmed all heat shields and exhaust mounts are sound. It happens more when cold, but doesn't completely disappear when it's warm (although it might take even lower revs to get it to do it when warm) - we're talking 800-1500 revs. It seems to be more prominent when under load such as when doing 30mph in 4th up a slight hill. Drop it to 3rd and put foot down and the noise doesn't appear.

 

If I had a gun to my head I'd have said heat shield/exhaust mounts but I've had these checked twice with no faults found. There's something at the back moving sometimes (I can hear/sense it somehow, like there was something loose in the boot rolling about (it's not as simple as this though, does it when boot totally empty, spare wheel, the lot)), so when I took it to Skoda today and the guy said it could be a snapped rear coil spring that made a little sense - he said it's difficult to spot with the spring sitting deep in the cup on these, and that if that was the case it could be resonating somehow with the engine speed. The other thing he said it could be is something in the 4x4 system.

 

I've booked it in with Skoda in a couple weeks for a full diagnostics, but just wondering if anyone had any ideas? Does the things he's suggested sound possible? The Volvo dealer also said "it could be the 4x4 system" whilst they were scratching their backsides, but I took it with a pinch of salt from them as they were grasping at straws seemingly.

 

Thanks,

Sorry, but you say you noticed it as soon as you drove it.  Why didn't you notice it on the test drive & ask the dealer to sort it?

Because I saw it on the internet and got the train 120 miles to pick it up. I got there 10 minutes before closing and then got stuck in Edinburgh traffic so just decided to head home and tell them about it when I got home. Not that any of that helps diagnose my issues, but there you go.

Could it be loose baffles in one of the exhaust boxes?

Now there's a possibility, is there any real way to check for this?

So how many miles has the car done.

Has the Haldex been serviced at 3 years or 30,000 mile intervals or anytime.   A Volvo Dealership Technician should know about Haldex.

 

If they never bothered their backside other than scratching it they should have because selling a car not fit for purpose means they need to sort it out or you can reject the car.

 

?

Which Dealer in Edinburgh sold you it,

 John Clark Group have Skoda Dealerships if you got it from them, or was it Motorparks or Cameron Motors?

Edited 21 July, 20187 yr by Offski

On 21/07/2018 at 08:37, Hightower666 said:

Now there's a possibility, is there any real way to check for this?

 

Only by giving each box a thump with the side of a clenched fist.  Only a clenched fist.  You want to give it a small but sudden shake.

Sorry, been on holiday. It has 50k, I couldn't tell you if the Haldex had been serviced to be honest. I've said I want it fixing or I'll reject it, and they have escalated it a bit, offering to pay for the Skoda diagnostics.

 

There's a few other symptoms, but it's sort of hard to describe. I hear something moving about sometimes, right at the back of the car - the Skoda guy said it's probably fuel in the tank sloshing, but I'm not so sure.

 

I've noticed it has a grunty engine anyway, and this is a characteristic of these Skodas, but there's something more - 60mph, 6th gear, put my foot down and it grunts like mad - doesn't vibrate like it does at low revs but there's a noise there as if it's trying to.

 

And finally, recently I was in 6th sitting at about 1600 rpm - I let off the throttle and when it dropped below 1500 rpm it made a whistling noise for a couple seconds, not very loud, but enough to notice. It did this a few times, the car was cold, and I haven't been out in it to try and see if it'll do it again since.

 

The problems are definitely worse when cold, but don't go away altogether when warm - they just seem to be slightly different symptoms when warm.

 

Last time at Volvo the mechanic banged on the exhaust with his fist, didn't seem to find anything, but the car was warm. Will this affect it?

Alright fellas, so a bit of an update. I took it in to a Skoda dealership and within minutes the technician found an exhaust mounting that wasn't quite sitting on the rubber properly. It resolved about 80% of the noise I'd been experiencing. However, there is still a rattle/vibration at the very rear of the car, and quite intermittently. Also, there is still the sounds of something knocking (very quietly) back there. It's been back to Skoda and they say they can't find anything else obvious.

 

To be honest, I'm about to write to the selling dealership to reject the car, but thought I'd quickly post on here - there can't be that much wrong with it surely: something not quite seated right on the exhaust somewhere?