Vito 113cdi auto vibration on motorway

[danhar707]

My 2012 vito dualiner auto has an annoying vibration that starts around 65mph / 100kmh... had wheel balance checked..same; had prop shaft removed, checked and balanced (balance in spec, just 10g added). Also changed rear diff oil. Same.

Has been like this since I bought the van 5k miles ago, 6months. Not really getting any worse.

Needs sorting as about to do a 2000mile trip end next week and I need to be going faster than 100kmh on French autoroutes.

Tonight I confirmed that vibration frequency is with roadspeed, not engine speed... did this by setting cruise at 70mph and shifting between 4th and 5th. Also by knocking into neutral and confirming no change in intensity or frequency.

I checked condition of diff mount bushes- look fine to me.

Any ideas what to look at next people?

 

[ringway]

Tyres.

I had a similar experience with my E430. It turned out to be tyre-related.
IIRC, the tyres (that came with the car) were very slightly worn on the inner edge and had somehow been swapped N/S to O/S when changing to different wheels.
This meant that the tyres were running against a (albeit incorrect) pattern that had developed over time.
There is also a slight chance that one of your tyres has been fitted with incorrect rotation.

Test by swapping the wheels from one side of the van to the other and see if that improves matters.
If there is improvement, you have the reason and can then live with things as they are, of have new tyres/tracking/alignment to have a fresh new set up.

 

[markheaney2]

I have viano and I have exactly the same problem, I have gone further than you, I have replaced propshaft, rear diff mountings, engine and gearbox mountings, all the wheels have been balanced and checked 3 times at 2 different garages, mine starts at 62 and goes away at 72 it just feels like the rear wheels aren't balanced properly, the next step for me is to remove the driveshafts but I have to add there is no play at all in them.

 

[danhar707]

Ok, things got wierder...

Just before the 2000 mile france trip, I decided to have backs and fronts wheels swapped as well as re balanced at my local trusted tyre place. They told me rears had never been balanced! (Bought my van with 18" wolfrace wheels and cheapo chinese tyres, fitted by the merc indy commercial dealer.)

So, with wheels balanced, off I went down the road and was elated to find problem solved. Set off for France and all fine at all motorway speeds, even some quite fast ones, heading down the M1.

Then...get off the chunnel, onto autoroute in France, vibration back with avengence. Had to suffer it for 400 miles.

Decided must have lost a weight. Got all 4 wheels balanced again. Equibrillage as they say, assuming I must have lost one of the newly applied weights drom
Balancing back home. ... this garage found nexessary to add 10-35g of weight to all 4 wheels. Back on the autoroute...vibration worse than ever! Its a sunday by now and headed back to blighty, so all i could do is take some air out. This alleviated things a little, but still had to put up with the vibration for 450miles.

Then, Monday morning, off the chunnel, back on UK motorway... vibration there but hardly noticeable!

So....tyre related, but hiw on earth could road surface make a difference?

 

[dragonxpress]

Ok, things got wierder...

Just before the 2000 mile france trip, I decided to have backs and fronts wheels swapped as well as re balanced at my local trusted tyre place. They told me rears had never been balanced! (Bought my van with 18" wolfrace wheels and cheapo chinese tyres, fitted by the merc indy commercial dealer.)

So, with wheels balanced, off I went down the road and was elated to find problem solved. Set off for France and all fine at all motorway speeds, even some quite fast ones, heading down the M1.

Then...get off the chunnel, onto autoroute in France, vibration back with avengence. Had to suffer it for 400 miles.

Decided must have lost a weight. Got all 4 wheels balanced again. Equibrillage as they say, assuming I must have lost one of the newly applied weights drom
Balancing back home. ... this garage found nexessary to add 10-35g of weight to all 4 wheels. Back on the autoroute...vibration worse than ever! Its a sunday by now and headed back to blighty, so all i could do is take some air out. This alleviated things a little, but still had to put up with the vibration for 450miles.

Then, Monday morning, off the chunnel, back on UK motorway... vibration there but hardly noticeable!

So....tyre related, but hiw on earth could road surface make a difference?

Not an expert on cars but have experienced similar issues before - basically you get what you pay for, it's not the road that's the issue but the tyres themselves. Having driven for over 25 years I have tried pretty much every brand of tyre available including remoulds, part worns etc. and have come to the conclusion that saving money on tyres is a false economy, at best you suffer from quality/balance/wear issues as you have experienced but I'll leave you to ponder - the tyres are the only thing between you and the road at 65mph+ Cheap Chinese tyres (and I'm Chinese!) are simply not worth the aggro! I suggest going on sites like mytyres or camskill and get the best prices for quality brands (which quite often are not much more than the cheapo ones from you mention from a local garage). Take your car to a tyre specialist with the latest fitting and balancing gear and make sure you get all 4 wheels aligned to ensure everything is setup properly first time - you should feel a world of difference between ride/noise and comfort.

 

[louwdj]

I would assume with all the balancing all tyres are checked for out of round as well. That is, not flat spots, etc.

 

[Matti]

I have viano and I have exactly the same problem, I have gone further than you, I have replaced propshaft, rear diff mountings, engine and gearbox mountings, all the wheels have been balanced and checked 3 times at 2 different garages, mine starts at 62 and goes away at 72 it just feels like the rear wheels aren't balanced properly, the next step for me is to remove the driveshafts but I have to add there is no play at all in them.

Greetings from Finland!
Mark, did you find the cause to vibrations? My vito bus 111cdi 2007 vibrates/hums between 85-105km/h. And if I accelerate hard on low speeds between 2000-3000rpm. Really annoying Otherwise it is totally normal. I changed transmission (gear box) mounting with no improvement. I have bought new propshaft support bearings, but they feel just the same as those in place.
BR, Matti

 

[Joderest]

This does sound like a true issue, ba!dancing the wheels is just that, it will not cure a tyre that is not round, meaning a slight flatspot or fault\bad build quality.
It is quite correct that your tyres are your only contact with the road. I always buy decent tyres, Goodyear etc etc.
If you think about F1, the tyres are made to a high spec\standard, one small lockup and driver changes tyre due to vibration caused by a flat spot.

 

[Joderest]

How I hate predictive text.
Should read tyre issue

 

[Matti]

Thanks for your input Joderest. We have winter tires (with spikes) here and they are noisy all the time. They are expensive brand. I have never experienced such vibration in my life (I 've owned about 25 cars). Now I don't have the possibility to try summer tires because we just had 20cm new snow 8) (and it's also illegal to drive with summer tires during December, January and February).
I am just wondering could tires make the rumble only during acceleration? In 3rd gear between 1800-2300rpm it vibrates, but only under hard load (pedal to the metal). With normal driving and acceleration, there is no vibration nor sound.
I have read many threads on internet and there has been many reasons. The probshaft support bearings and joints being the number one and two. The gear box mount was so easy to swap, so I did that first...