Very ROUGH idle when in gear

[ColonelPanic]

*sigh* My Vibe apparently wants to go back to the shop again. And golly gee wilickers, I can't blame it one bit, it's only been out of there for less than 24 hours, another visit ol' Sir Knocksalot's buddies is loooong overdue! Sarcasm aside, I'm trying to figure out if this is related with the brand spankin' new transmission that has been bolted to the engine. Or something associated with the installation of said item that has jacked something else up.It's pretty simple - in park or neutral, it idles fine. In any other gear, if you're stopped and holding down the brake, the engine makes the whole car shake and twitch like a crackhead. It was even shaking my pant leg earlier tonight when I was stopped at a light.. Stop it, that tickles! The idle on this thing has always been, for lack of a better description - completely stupid! It never has idled to my satisfaction. It shakes one minute, runs smooth the next, then goes back to shaking. It never has been able to make up its mind how it wants to idle... BUT, I declare this being an issue now for it apparently has decided to idle rough and stay that way. I was hoping it would pass as I drove it around some more but that hasn't happened. I've put 70 miles on it since I picked it up from the dealer and it hasn't improved one bit. It doesn't matter if the engine is cold or warm, it just does it. Seems to run somewhere around 800-900 RPM or so when warm, I think...I thought it was just me being a moron because I've been used to the Torrent and that idle that you couldn't feel or hear, then getting back into this thing which never idled good anyway... BUT, something really feels wrong here. Yes it's a four and a four isn't famous for smoothness but this is a different story.There's something it is not liking when the engine is put under a load. But it runs relatively smooth on the highway when pulling hills, accelerating, etc - doesn't seem to be missing. And no CEL of course. Any ideas? Whatever it is, it certainly is annoying! Guess I'll be scheduling yet another appointment at the dealer.This thing is pure evil alright... It knows I want to trade it in very soon and apparently it is making sure that doesn't happen.. It's a good plan, just break down and/or develop conditions that are sure to reduce resale value even further! BAD VIBE!!! hehehe

[joatmon]

well, congrats on getting the tranny replaced so quickly.take it back in. maybe something didn't get hooked up right, or maybe it's unrelated to the tranny swap.

[NSimkins]

May be something that needs adjusted when at idle and not enough of a problem to throw a CEL. Take it in and report back.

[mcgusto82]

sounds like you have a herbie on your hands. try sweet talking it. carress it... maybe a bed time story and she might act right.

[djb383]

Sounds like a possible vacuum leak. Do you see any lose hoses?

[ColonelPanic]

That I haven't checked yet... I shall do that tonight or tomorrow.I yanked the battery cable on it this afternoon and let it start up and "relearn" or whatever it does, but that didn't help.

[kostby]

Sounds like they *might* have screwed up the engine (transaxle?) mounts in the process, or they're *about to* tell you that the mounts are shot and need to be replaced on your dime!

[ToolGuy]

Do you actually see the Tach moving up and down?If not, I would suspect mounts as well...

[Kari]

Quote, originally posted by kostby »Sounds like they *might* have screwed up the engine (transaxle?) mounts in the process, or they're *about to* tell you that the mounts are shot and need to be replaced on your dime! It seems pretty obvious that it was them who did it, whatever it is...it wasn't doing that when he brought it in there for the transmission, and now it is. So even if it is the mounts, it should be on their dime or GMPP's because as far as I know that's not a normal maintenance replacement item If they try to charge him they will have an angry redhead on their hands about 2.5 hours later...heh...and they'll be footing the bill.

[ColonelPanic]

Nope, the tach seems show that it is running at a steady enough speed.. I thought mounts too... I can't tell if it's just running like crap or if busted mounts are sending too much vibration to the chassis... But I shall not be replacing *bleep* on my dime! They're the ones who jacked it all up... And besides, according to the stuff found here GM Major Guard covers engine and transmission mounts. On a side note, hmm, look at the car pictured in the top left of the screen! I'll see what they say on Wednesday...

[ToolGuy]

Quote, originally posted by Kari » If they try to charge him they will have an angry redhead on their hands about 2.5 hours later...heh...and they'll be footing the bill. Yeah, us redheads can have tempers! Go get em!!!!

[ColonelPanic]

Well, they played around with it for an hour and a half, then told me everything was good to go...The mounts apparently checked out ok. They then focused on the engine, where they found it was idling too slow. It has been idling one notch below the 1K mark on the tach.They then found carbon on the throttle body and cleaned it up. The idle was found to be within specs, and um, it still idles one notch below the 1K mark on the tach.There for a little while, I couldn't feel the idle at all! But of course, now that I've put 50 miles on the thing since the service, you can feel it start to quiver a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if the horrid idle comes back over the next couple of days. Guess I'll be keeping an eye on it and call them back and let them try it again if need be.

[ColonelPanic]

Yep, *sigh* it's gonna have to go back. It's not as rough as it was but it got worse really quick. They'll probably try to sell me their $89.99 "emissions service" where they pour that junk into the fuel lines and run it through the engine to clean the injectors and decarbon or what not... I dunno, I've had that done once and it made a noticeable improvement... Arrgh!