Hello fellow Superb owners,

My 2017 2.0 TDI 150 manual Superb estate has been having an issue with vibrations that I can't figure out... Lately I seem to feel a lot of engine vibration through the steering when under heavy-ish load but since this comes mostly at higher speeds I took it to get the wheels balanced, steering aligned and tires rotated back to front. The next day I drove a long distance and got a little enthusiastic on the highway (and also wanted to check for the vibration) and was surprised to see that there was a lot of vibration coming from what seemed like the front right side. I could feel it somewhat in the steering (but nothing like when wheels are out of balance) but my wife complained that she felt it quite a lot (left hand drive). This happened at speeds of ~140 km/h and higher but mostly under heavier engine load AND turning right (when the weight is lifted from the right side). In fact, on a straight downhill I took the car to 180 km/h and it was super stable, so the issue is somehow related to engine load and right cornering, as I don't really notice it otherwise in contiguous stretches of highway. I have driven fast before in the same highway, about 8 months or so ago, and the car was super fine. One thing I also noticed, but possible totally unrelated, is that I hear a loud clicking from the front end, mostly when changing from reversing to driving forward. This noise was not there when I got the car, only for the last 3-4 months.

The car is still under warranty but I don't know if this issue could be covered, whatever it may be. I never hit any pothole or sidewalk or anything like that that could damage a wheel/rim (apart from the "normal" road unevenness, sewer covers, etc.), so I don't suspect damage. What then could this due to be in such a new car?

Edited 22 July, 20196 yr by pcspinheiro
forgot info

Boa tarde,

O meu Superb é de 2016 e motor 1.6 TDI. Noto, por volta dos 140 km/h, uma vibração tipo pneus desequilibrados. Tanto faz com o motor em carga como com o motor ao ralenti. Só não procurei resolver o problema pois, dentro em breve, terei que trocar os pneus.

Relativamente ao problema que reporta, pergunto o seguinte:

- Os pneus estão com um desgaste certo, isto é, uniforme?

- Já verificou se existe alguma folga nas rodas da frente? Usualmente faço isso. Levanto o carro com o macaco e coloco as mãos às 9 horas e 3 horas e abano para ver se tem alguma folga. Depois faço o mesmo às 12 horas e 6 horas;

- Sentiu algum cheiro a embraiagem queimada?

- A carrinha tem suspensão e direcção com ajuste electrónico?

- Quando pediu para alinhar a direcção, verificaram a barra estabilizadora?

Sugiro que faça as verificações que indico acima. Penso que não será disso até porque refere que acontece apenas com o motor em carga. O que eu penso que possa ser é o volante de inércia. Pode estar desequilibrado e provoca essa vibração. Aproveito para lhe dizer que experimentei as borrachas nos vidros mas, efectivamente, não melhorou quase nada. O problema vem mesmo do interior da porta. Penso que serão folgas excessivas no mecanismo do elevador de vidro.

Fico a aguardar o seu feedback.

Bruno Silva

 

It sounds to be like either a loose engine mounting bolt, just one which is why only happens when weight thrown one way.   Or a faulty CV joint (flexible drive shaft joint)

Should be fixed under warranty 

 

Only other option is a slightly faulty tyre with a bulge.  Maybe get front tyre balance weights checked, or swap front and back tyres to see if it cures problem 

 

Thanks for the replies.

In response to NunoSilva:

- Tires look almost new, no visible uneven wear. They were rotated in last week's wheel balancing and steering alignment as I always felt the car pulled slightly to the right and that the vibration could be a balancing issue.

- never checked for play at the wheels.... cannot imagine a bearing failing at 18.000 km... My old astra has done 360.000 Km on original bearings

- No clutch smell

- no electronic adjustments to steering or suspension in my model

- Don't think they checked the stabilizer bar, but in a car driven mostly like a limo (nice and easy) I cannot imagine any of those parts wearing out so soon. 

 

A loose engine mount has come to mind several times because the car does not seem as quiet, it does this loud click when changing direction (when taking off forward just after having reversed), and the only thing out of the ordinary that happened was that I stalled the engine a few times in the first few months... shifting in this car is a little different/longer than in my old car and I may have shifted into 4th instead of second, stalling the engine with a loud bang. And I do mean loud ... I also stalled it a few times when shifting from 1st to 2nd too soon. I got used to it already and this never happens now, but wonder if this could be enough to damage engine mounts?

 

The problem only really seems to occur at high speed and when cornering to the right under load. The vibration is quite visible on the wife's legs and she says she really feels it a lot, like the car is jumping on the right side... 

 

i have a long trip for this summer's vacation so I'm going to try to book it for a sooner-than-needed service and will ask to have this problem checked. I'll post what they may find as it could help others. 

Edited 24 July, 20196 yr by pcspinheiro
missing info

One more detail possibly pointing to engine mounts; The car shakes more than I would expect when starting it. I notice this particularly in traffic with the stop-start active.

If the vibration has moved around since tyre rotation then I'd suggest you may have had the usual vag tyre rear wear issue (think shaped like a 50p) that is common in VAG independent rear suspension cars and have then moved this to the front. 

 

Another possibility is DMF (vibration and that clicking)

Edited 25 July, 20196 yr by bigjohn

Thanks for your reply but I was not aware of that issue of rear tire wear... my rear tires looked almost like new when they were rotated last week, and they've only done 19.000 km. What do you mean "shaped like a 50p"? You mean the British 50 pence coin? Aren't those round?

Today I paid a little more attention to the car and I could definitely hear that clicking in some situations, notably when taking off in first gear after having been parked or having reversed. After that I don't hear it anymore. Also, when in neutral the engine is rather smooth up until 2500 rpm (did not test further), but under load (think 6th gear pulling up a hill at around 1800 rpm), there is noticeable engine vibration felt on the steering. 

I don't know if the vibration moved around when the tires were rotated. Fact is, I never really drive as fast as I said above and thought the small vibration I was feeling could be due to balancing issues. After this weekends trip I conclude it shouldn't be, otherwise the car wouldn't feel rock solid at 180 Km/h on a straight downhill. The clicking also seems to come from the side where the vibration is felt and sounds a bit like when a stabilized bar link has a bad ball joint that allows for some play and makes noise when the load is shifted when changing direction. If this could affect the ride so badly I don't know

 

I called the dealer and booked the car for next Monday. Hopefully they will find whatever may be wrong with it, as I will drive up to Paris with the whole family in the following weekend and want peace of mind about this issue.

Rear tyres end up with uneven wear around the circumference of the tyre which causes vibration. This has affected many VAG cars of a certain type (I think transverse and independent rear suspension) - I've encountered in Golfs, Passats and Leon's and people have posted on these forums about Octavia etc.. I mentioned 50p's as they aren't round

Edited 25 July, 20196 yr by bigjohn

Saying that now have described further symptoms I'd suspect the DMF

Hi,

Like I said, I also suspect about the flywheel (DMF). But, it can also be an engine mount problem. I say that because of the click. I used to work at Renault, from 2006 to 2009 and the Megane used to have an engine mount problem. The symptoms were, somehow, identical. It can also be something that needs to be tightened. 

Whatever the problem is, I suggest that you don´t drive too fast and try to avoid the vibration because you are putting stress into other parts of the car, such as steering, ball joints and transmission. Go to the workshop as soon as possible.  

When you mention that you stalled the engine when changing gears, if that happened at low speed and low revs, that shouldn´t cause any problem but, if it happened at high speed or high revs, maybe some clutch/DMF problem may occur or, even caused the timing belt to slip.

Apart from the occasional stalling, which doesn't happen anymore, the car never had any incident and was never ever thrashed. I do like to take it to 60 km/h in 3rd and then floor it a little to enter the freeway, just to get the great acceleration, but won't go past 90 km/h like this. I cannot believe how a DMF could get any damage from the kind of quiet driving I do, and if that's the case then this is the first and last diesel for me. One thing I think is wrong with the car are the gear shift recommendations; I think it asks for higher gears too soon, especially 6th gear, possibly putting stress on the engine/transmission. I now ignore them and shift a little later, when 6th gear feels more adequate (well over 80 Km/h, as opposed to as little as 70 Km/h). My 360.000 Km old petrol Opel is still on original everything regarding transmission! 

7 minutes ago, BrunoSilva said:

When you mention that you stalled the engine when changing gears, if that happened at low speed and low revs, that shouldn´t cause any problem but, if it happened at high speed or high revs, maybe some clutch/DMF problem may occur or, even caused the timing belt to slip.

No, this was low speed/low RPM. I went a few times from 1st to 4th by mistake, or I went to 2nd but too soon and RPM was too low for 2nd gear. But the engine did stop with a very loud bang on the first scenario, as if I had hit something... I really don't suspect engine timing. The car pulls like a train and engine is really smooth in neutral or with small load. 

Edited 25 July, 20196 yr by pcspinheiro
missing info

That bang might be a problem... Did you notice a different behaviour after the loud bang?

Regardind the gear shift indicator, never, but never look at that thing. That does not work properly. It´s not only with this car, it happens with all the cars I know and I ever drove. Always drive above 1500 rpm, never under that, never.

My car has 42.500. km and the clutch work like a clock. The same with the gears.

Not really, but I also only notice it now at high speeds while turning and under load, and I usually don't drive like this (but was in a hurry). I don't really recall the exact noise the car made in those occasions... It was definitely violent and noisy and led to instant stop, as if I had hit a wall

Don´t drive too much at low revs. You should rev up your engine, often, to 2500 rpm. If you don´t do that, the turbo geometry will start to build up carbon and the mecanism will start do get stuck. 

2 minutes ago, BrunoSilva said:

Regardind the gear shift indicator, never, but never look at that thing. That does not work properly. It´s not only with this car, it happens with all the cars I know and I ever drove. Always drive above 1500 rpm, never under that, never.

My car has 42.500. km and the clutch work like a clock. The same with the gears.

I disabled the warning to respect the gear indications as I was annoyed by it, and now I drive more by feel (it's easy to ignore the little numbers on top of the display). The engine is so strong that in the first gears I drive under 1500 rpm for sure, but no stress there. I think it's only problematic in 5th and 6th as they were being asked for way too soon, I think

I see. Does it shake at idling? Do you notice smoke? Does the engine turn on easy?

Smooth idle, no smoke, mostly turns on really easy/instantly (except for a couple of times when the starter had to turn a little more than usual, maybe because sometimes it sits in the garage for days, don't know). As said, it pulls like a train, feels very powerful, idles like a clock. At some point going down a hill on what I think is the A11 (going from Chaves to Braga) I took it to 180 km/h with little effort and it was super stable, so the problem is something very specific to going fast AND turning right (when the weight is lifted from that side

Edited 25 July, 20196 yr by pcspinheiro

Believe me, don´t drive under 1500 rpm. That will destroy the engine and transmission. 

I drive 60 km every day. After I start the car, I wait about 30 seconds before I start driving. This allows the oil to rise from the oil pan to the camshaft and do a proper lubrication. Then I start driving, slowly, until the water temperature reaches 90 ºC. After that, I start driving a bit faster but, then I start looking at oil temperature. When the oil reaches 90 ºC, then I start doing a normal driving. I never use stop start, because that increases engine wear (because that system is always cutting oil flow). When I end my trip, I never turn off the engine immediately. I always wait between 30 seconds to 1 minute, because I don´t want to cut the oil flow, specially to the turbo.

You can read this: https://www.samarins.com/glossary/engine-mount.html

 

Thanks, I do know all this stuff. I actually do most service/repairs on my old car, and have changed engine mounts, brake calipers and pads, some sensors, have removed the injection rail to diagnose a faulty injector, etc. etc.  Not a mechanic but mechanically inclined. But this being an almost new car under warranty, and with such an odd problem, I really want to understand the origin of it. Hopefully they'll find whatever might be wrong with it on Monday. I'll post back here.

Thanks for the help!

I had similar on my Octavia vRS - it was the brake caliper sticking, only found when it got much worse

Thanks for your reply goath, this is actually a point that I had not considered. But usually sticking calipers are more obvious with repeated use, no? As in, during city driving and not highway, where I can go for many Kms without even using the brakes. I took the car in yesterday and drove it with the dealership's engineer (so they called him). He was able to observe the vibration, although it did not happen always when turning right, as I had noticed myself. But at around 150 km/g it was definitely there, and he felt it too.  Left the car the whole day and called by 4:30 PM to ask about it, was told they had not yet diagnosed it. Then I get a call less than 1h later saying the car is ready... what??? Went to pick it up and they claimed to have found nothing, only underpressure (2.0 bar) in the tires (which is odd because the place where I took it to balance the wheels and align steering set the pressure right in front of me). They now set it to 2.5 bar since I'm doing a lot of highway with a loaded car; I normally have it a 2.3 for comfort. But I don't believe they even looked anywhere....  It could really be nothing, but it could also be something serious/expensive waiting to happen when the warranty is gone. If the problem continues I'm going to make a formal complaint about these guys. I'm going to try to test the car later today.