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Technical Engine Vibration

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Technical Engine Vibration

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04benjizac

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Hello, I wonder if anyone can help.

My 1995 Fiat Tempra 1.6 injection engine has started to vibrate a fair bit. It is worse when ticking over, and much less noticeable at higher revs/ speeds. (although I'm not driving ot at the moment.) It started last week when my girlfriend came home from work; she has a 50 mile round trip, and came home saying it was juddering badly and had had to be nursed back over the last few miles. I checked the oil and it was very low, although she says the light had not come on, so it hadn't lost pressure. I took the opportunity to change the oil anyway, and it did ease the problem, but not get rid of it. The best way I can describe it is as very noticeable vibration at low revs, and when you rev it, it sounds more like a diesel than a petrol. I can't hear any rattles or grinding or anything like that, it just seems like something isn't quite in its rightful place, if you know what I mean.

Sorry I can't be more specific, and if anyone can help following that vague description then it would be appreciated!!

Obviously if it's an expensive problem then it's probably not worth it, but if there's something I can do then it's worth a try.

Thanks in advance,

Ben.
 
Is the engine misfiring? Pull the leads one by one and see if there is one lead that makes no difference to the running. Oh yeah. Turn your engine off while you are messing with the leads. If a lead is faulty you could get a nasty shock.

Russ
 
rusty123 said:
Is the engine misfiring? Pull the leads one by one and see if there is one lead that makes no difference to the running. Oh yeah. Turn your engine off while you are messing with the leads. If a lead is faulty you could get a nasty shock.

Russ
Click to expand...

Or use one of those large rubber gloves you get for gardening !.
If it's ignition it could be a faulty distributor cap, leads or even a soft spark plug.
Have you tried wiping off the TDC sensor ?.
 
No, it's not misfiring.

I'll try the leads anyway and have a look at the spark plugs, see if it helps.

As for the TDC sensor, where am I likely to find it? Is it behind/ under the air filter somewhere?

Thanks,

Ben.
 
04benjizac said:
No, it's not misfiring. I'll try the leads anyway and have a look at the spark plugs, see if it helps. As for the TDC sensor, where am I likely to find it? Is it behind/ under the air filter somewhere? Ben.
Click to expand...

I had a really bad misfire / vibration on a 1.6ie, changing the plugs, leads and dist cap cured it even though they all looked ok.

The TDC sensor is on the engine side of the gearbox housing, right side at the back (looking from front of car). There is a connector at the back of the battery carrier, follow the lead left and down to the engine.

Location photos of tdc sensor in this thread - https://www.fiatforum.com/tempra/55928-help-tempra-dying.html?highlight=tdc+sensor.

The sensor fits with 2 small (M6 I believe) bolts into a carrier with 2 more Allen screws below. To get the sensor out remove the sensor's bolts NOT the carrier bolts or you will alter the ignition timing. Also take care not to drop the bolts down into the back of the engine or the gearbox bell housing. The sensor gets covered with gunk, cleaning it off can clear some ignition problems.

There is another location for the tdc at the water pump end of the engine although I've never had a Tempra model with this, somebody else would have to point you to this one.
 
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Checked the leads and plugs.

There was some oil deposits on the plugs and the firing ends had quite bad carbon build up, so I've replaced them, but still getting the vibration.

It looks like I've got the later model with the TDC sensor on the water pumb side of the engine. Does anyone know how to safely remove this to clean it?

Thanks for your help.

Ben
 
04benjizac said:
It looks like I've got the later model with the TDC sensor on the water pumb side of the engine. Does anyone know how to safely remove this to clean it? Thanks for your help. Ben
Click to expand...

Does the Tdc sensor look anything like the photos for the unit at the gearbox end ?, if it did I would have thought it may fit / be removed in a similar manner.
 
Checked the plugs and leads and discovered I had no spark from one of the plugs. Still couldn't get a spark with new plugs and leads, so reckon it must be something to do with the ignition system. I've got the later 1.6 with the Digiplex 2 integrated system, which my Porters manual says should only be touched by 'your fiat dealer' for diagnosis. Does anyone out there have any other ideas/ suggestions, for example, can it be replaced by the average DIY mechanic!!

Many thanks,

Ben.
 
04benjizac said:
Checked the plugs and leads and discovered I had no spark from one of the plugs. Still couldn't get a spark with new plugs and leads, so reckon it must be something to do with the ignition system. I've got the later 1.6 with the Digiplex 2 integrated system, which my Porters manual says should only be touched by 'your fiat dealer' for diagnosis. Does anyone out there have any other ideas/ suggestions, for example, can it be replaced by the average DIY mechanic!!Ben.
Click to expand...

Could still be the distributor cap or rotor arm if you've not changed those.
The Digiplex controls all four plugs as if they were one and the distributor cap directs to the relavent plug, so the Digiplex should not "fail" one plug out of four. I have had a duff disty many years ago where the spark was "leaking" away on one lead and not getting to the plug. Have you changed the cap?, cheaper than a Digiplex.

Mine had a Digiplex 2 and being in the electronics trade I did actually strip it down. You can see the electronics board but its covered with silicone sealant except for the mapping memory, so basically there is nothing you can do with it, and yes mine did still work when I put it back. If you can get one (there is a type number on it and it's important as they are mapped to engine type) it is easily changed, just a couple of screws, a plug and a vacuum tube, but new ones from fiat are very expensive (about £400), there was somebody reconditioning them but also expensive (about £350) and as I bought the car for £150 I scrapped it.

About a year before I scrapped it it had a *VERY* bad misfire, would not even start properly, I changed the plugs, leads, dist cap, rotor arm and the problem was cured, wasn't worth trying to find which bit caused the problem.
 
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Thanks Ziomike,
Maybe I've got it wrong and its not the Digiplex 2, but there isn't a distributor cap to speak of. The 4 leads connect straight into a 'black box', with a mulit-plug connection underneath and one of these connections is failing to provide a spark. The whole thing is fixed with four allen bolts to the end of the cylinder head as one unit. Do you know anything about these, and if there's anything I can do to prevent scrapping it, because, as you say, spending 3 or 400 hundred quid isn't really worth it.

Thanks again,

Ben.
 
Just to let you know, I managed to pick up a 'black box' off a Brava for 5 quid from a scrapyard, put it on and hey presto!

Runs as wel as it did before.

thanks for all your help,

Ben.
 
04benjizac said:
Hello, I wonder if anyone can help.

My 1995 Fiat Tempra 1.6 injection engine has started to vibrate a fair bit. It is worse when ticking over, and much less noticeable at higher revs/ speeds.


After 3 months =>

Can you please let us know what was actually happened / caused to the vibrations that you encounter. For us to share your experience.

Is it due to the engine mounting?
Click to expand...
 
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