• Protip: Profile posts are public! Use Conversations to message other members privately. Everyone can see the content of a profile post.

Vibrating at idle

Joined
29 September 2003
Messages
382
Location
South Florida
Hey guys.. Since I am pretty new to the NSX world, I was wondering how normal is it if your car is vibrating a bit at idle up to about 2K RPM..?

it's not vibrating alot just a bit at the steering wheel.. I was with a friend of mine today who suggested that it may be the engine mounts...
Ideas?

oh yeah.. 96 NSX-T with 34K miles..

thanks
 
Do a tune-up check (spark-plugs, coil packs and fluids) and see if everything are working. The NSX does vibrate sometime, but how bad is your vibratuion?
 
It doesn't feel all that bad but a friend of mine (who drives a 2002 M3) says that it was vibrating a little at idle.. It is a slight vibration.. The car has 34K miles and had a 30K service done about 18 months ago.. at this service they did change the plugs, valve adjustment, fluids, etc..

I am going next week to the NSX mechanic and I will mention anyways but I wanted to ask all you guys anyways since I wanted to be informed..
 
My last NSX was like that, too, but that didn't bother me at all. I ended up pumping some cleaning chemical into the engine to cleanse out the engine from debris, smogged.... It ran great when I got it back. Also, another thing, no car is perfect. Does the vibration bother you? Does your car do everything that you expected it to? If it does, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Beside, your buddy's car is a 2003.

You said you just did the service for your car, if so, then I wouldn't worry about this too much.
 
I have the same problem on my 91 nsx 80k manual. I am very picky about my car and the slighly rough idle and slight vibrations all the way to 2000rpm is really bothering me.

spyderman33 let me know what your mechanic thinks.

So far I have:
Tested all the coils - they read 1.1-1.2 ohms - 1 read 1.3 ohm
Replace with OEM NGK Plugs
Clean the throttle body to clear up carbon build up.
Next: I'm going to put in a lot of fuel injector cleaner.
Next: Adjust Valve Clearances.

Replacing the plugs and cleaning the t. body did help a little bit but did not solve the problem.

any suggestions?
thanks again...
 
a guy a while back was complaining about vibration at idle. He said he loosened the engine mounts a bit, revved the car a bunch of times, then tightened the engine mounts again and the car was much smoother. I haven't tried this myself, but maybe it caused the mounts to seat themselves better...?
 
is your vibration at warm up or all times? It is normal for NSXs to have engine...

vibration at warmup but should smooth out once up to operating temp.
Raj
 
Thanks for keeping me up to date spyderman33.

pka1, the car does suffer from vibrations when warming up but after it warms up to operating temp. The car does get better but the vibrating does not completely go away. There is still slight vibration, or a slightly rough idle.

I gota met up with someone that has a 91 or 92 - wonder if its the same problem. I only been in 1 NSX and that would be mine. hehe.

anybody else have any suggestions.... its also possible we are suffering from a lost of cylinder compression or bent valves... but I don't think that is the problem.
 
Re-centering the motor/mounts frequently helps with vibration complaints. Loosen the bolts that go through the front and rear motor mounts and rev the motor a few times, re-tighten the bolts. Its not hard to do but the front bolt is hard to get to.

Did mine and the amount of vibration I felt at idle was much less.
 
My '91 (98k km) has a "lumpy" idle too. Smooths out as soon as any amount of throttle is applied. I assumed this was just the result of such a powerful V-6. Besides there's a little part of me that figures that's what a powerful car should do. :) I'll continue to listen here though, maybe there is something to fix.
 
BrianK- Since my NSX tech will have the car up, I will ask him to check the engine mounts and see if what you are saying applies to me..

I will loop back next week with the results..
 
A friend of mine... a really good home mechanic said that the engine mounts may be the problem. He suggested that I tried replacing them instead of tightning them. Because after a long period of time, even with low mileage they can go bad.

not sure how much it cost... but right now I don't have the cash to do engine mounts.
 
Vibration at idle

This one comes up regularly on this post. Before I bought my 1991, I asked the same question of this site. After 4 years, and driving (and servicing) many NSX's, we have seen the same condition on every one of them! It seems worse on cold-start, and once warm improves, but appears to be very normal. An Acura Tech-line engineer (dealer help line) member told us that although this is an early VTEC engine, Honda knowingly allowed some roughness in the idle to allow better breathing at high RPM's. Kind of the "hot cam" trade-off that used to be common. I hope this helps!
 
well the car is at the NSX Tech's place and you would not believe the crap that we discovered..

For one, the car never had a valve adjustment.. The previous owner had receipts for a 30K service which included valve adjustment.. I even confirmed the service with his service advisor at a big Acura dealer in Greensboro, NC. My NSX Tech stated that the original valve cover gasket was still on so they never did a valve adjustment.. It's get worse.. They never changed the air filter (it looked dark grey when we took it off) and it had the original spark plugs!

The car has 35K miles on it right now..

Needless to say the car would most likely vibrate with all this.. I am getting it back tomorrow (doing timing belt, WP, etc) but he turned it on yesterday afternoon and said that magically the vibrating disappeared! He test driving this afternoon and he feels the car will be much stronger.. The tiimng belt looked good with minor cracks.

Do you guys think I should call the previous owner and let him know that he was shafted at the dealer? He told me that he was planning on getting another NSX and taking it to the dealer for service.
 
I dont think 35,000 miles is that big a deal on the plugs, but when you combine all the small issues you have it could create a problem. You are in good hands with Mike at MCA, you'll be very pleased with the results.


Armando
 
My car also had a very rough idle for a while. It turns out that when I had my engine cleaned, there was moisture that got onto the spark plugs. The problem was solved simply by drying the spark plugs. Now it idles smoothly.

:)
 
huyduchoang said:
So did you find out what contributed to the rough idle? You just said is magicly went away. thx
\

Actually, the rough idle was contributed (we believe) by a combination of all the factors.. Old spark plus, dirty air filter, no valve adjustment, etc, dirty throttle body, etc..

Engine mounts were ok..,

I said magically disappeared as a sarcastic remark..

:)
 
Back
Top