Vibration under acceleration

[7Andrei7]

Hi guys!
Yesterday I had a bit of a weird experience. I had let my car in the airport for 4 days and when I went to pick it up it was fairly cold outside. About 12C (53.6F).
The engine started normally. I let it idle until the revs came down to 1K and then I left the parking garage.
It took me about 2 min from standstill to the on ramp of the highway. All was normal up to that point.
While I was slowly accelerating from 70kph (44mph) to about 120kph (75mph) the car started to vibrate violently. I thought that I maybe had a flat tire of missing wheel nuts... I mean really, it was pretty serios.
I slowed down to 100kph (60mph) and was thinking what could have happened while the car was sitting in the airport. Then, within 2-3 minutes, the car started to settle down. The vibrations slowly went away and I could slowly go up to cruising speed - 140kph (87mph) with no more vibrations.
While in operation the car acts and accelerates totally fine.
This morning it seemed fine. I was in town so I could not go over 60kph (37mph) while the engine was cold.
Now, what could explain this? Bad gasoline? Bad injector? Torque converter? I would take it to the dealer but I am 100% sure there will be no error code stored..
PS: I have the 2.0T.

 

[Deviate]

Check your coil wires. See if you had a visitor while you were gone. If a rat chewed on the wires it may have been grounding out. Until it vibrated to a "good " spot. Could be condensation build up too. Just stuff ive had happen to me.

Its gotta happen again if theres an issue. All is just guess work on my end. Without being in the car, sounds like a firing issue.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Yeah, my first suspicion was rodents chewing your soy-laced insulation. I'm paranoid that way, having seen an actual mouse tail disappear below my windshield, right where the cabin air filter is, WHILE DRIVING (my wife saw it too). I've been putting out cat food ever since: have quite a nice little collection of potential mousers constantly going in and out of our yard. Hah!

 

[D.J.]

This issue sounds more like it's vibration/tire related (flat spots from sitting) - more than engine related.

A violently vibrating car with no CEL - is almost certainly not engine related

 

[Deviate]

This issue sounds more like it's vibration/tire related (flat spots from sitting) - more than engine related.

A violently vibrating car with no CEL - is almost certainly not engine related

I like the train of thought, but only 4 days? I left my car for 10 days with no issues.

NOT arguing with you or saying that you are wrong, just seems to short a time period for that to happen. IMO

 

[D.J.]

I like the train of thought, but only 4 days? I left my car for 10 days with no issues.

NOT arguing with you or saying that you are wrong, just seems to short a time period for that to happen. IMO

Don't get me wrong .. I do not think the issue is tire flat spotting....

But it's more likely tire flat spotting than anything engine related with the description I read.

Also of note - virtually no violent shaking goes away on its own (sometimes ice buildup on wheels in winter can come and go all on its own as the ice melts)

If your issue went away all on its own, in minutes, that's quite strange. It's not like a wheel weight flew off and then flew back on!

It is possible what you are describing as violent vibrations, others may describe as a mild shimmy - it's entirely subjective with no frame of reference.

Glad it seems fixed though.

 

[NS_Stinger]

I immediately thought of tire flat spotting from sitting in the right kind of weather for 4 days. Hopefully that's all it was but time will tell.

 

[Deviate]

Don't get me wrong .. I do not think the issue is tire flat spotting....

But it's more likely tire flat spotting than anything engine related with the description I read.

Also of note - virtually no violent shaking goes away on its own (sometimes ice buildup on wheels in winter can come and go all on its own as the ice melts)

If your issue went away all on its own, in minutes, that's quite strange. It's not like a wheel weight flew off and then flew back on!

It is possible what you are describing as violent vibrations, others may describe as a mild shimmy - it's entirely subjective with no frame of reference.

Glad it seems fixed though.

Agreed on all points. And a good laugh with wheel weight analogy

 

[7Andrei7]

Thank you guys for the replies!
I never heard of flat-spotted tires, except for during F1 racing . But, I would compare the sensation to having ice or snow stuck on the inside of the rims. Totally unbalanced.
Since the problem happened, I drove quite a bit. More than 1500 km, and no further problems. This morning I did try to accelerate harder with the cold engine, and uphill. No vibrations.
I also checked the engine bay for any signs of rodents and nothing.
Until any other problems I'll just assume it was either a flat spot or bad gasoline.

 

[D.J.]

Thank you guys for the replies!
I never heard of flat-spotted tires, except for during F1 racing . But, I would compare the sensation to having ice or snow stuck on the inside of the rims. Totally unbalanced.
Since the problem happened, I drove quite a bit. More than 1500 km, and no further problems. This morning I did try to accelerate harder with the cold engine, and uphill. No vibrations.
I also checked the engine bay for any signs of rodents and nothing.
Until any other problems I'll just assume it was either a flat spot or bad gasoline.

You really are conflating wheel vibrations with engine vibrations.

Bad gas, will not cause shaking at highway speeds only. It could cause some shaking, but it wouldn't be related to vehicle speed, It would be linked to engine rpm.

 

[7Andrei7]

Well, it's because I was too shook up myself to understand what was happening. My initial reaction was to believe something was wrong with the wheels but the fact that it went away quickly made me believe it had something to do with the engine/transmission heating up.
Reading about flat-spotting now makes me think this might be what happened. Apparently it can take as little as a few days for the tires to get flat spots if the conditions are "right".
Learning something every day.

 

[G-296461]

I wanted to buy a stinger. I tried all models and there was a vibration in the cabin. Like a window was open in the back. My ears was going crazy. Thought maybe it was the GT2 6 so I went to a GT with the 4.
Same thing but a little less. Was told the roof of the car was not made as sturdy as it should have been.
anybody else experiencing this?

 

[Snicklefritz]

roof is not sturdy? what a croc of bs.

 

[7Andrei7]

@G-296461 never heard of that. sounds VERY weird.
My problem was 100% the flat spotted tires. Never came back after that one strange moment.

 

[JLMann82]

I wanted to buy a stinger. I tried all models and there was a vibration in the cabin. Like a window was open in the back. My ears was going crazy. Thought maybe it was the GT2 6 so I went to a GT with the 4.
Same thing but a little less. Was told the roof of the car was not made as sturdy as it should have been.
anybody else experiencing this?

I am weirdly pleased to read this, b/c I’m experiencing this exact thing!

 

[StingaGal23]

Hi guys!
Yesterday I had a bit of a weird experience. I had let my car in the airport for 4 days and when I went to pick it up it was fairly cold outside. About 12C (53.6F).
The engine started normally. I let it idle until the revs came down to 1K and then I left the parking garage.
It took me about 2 min from standstill to the on ramp of the highway. All was normal up to that point.
While I was slowly accelerating from 70kph (44mph) to about 120kph (75mph) the car started to vibrate violently. I thought that I maybe had a flat tire of missing wheel nuts... I mean really, it was pretty serios.
I slowed down to 100kph (60mph) and was thinking what could have happened while the car was sitting in the airport. Then, within 2-3 minutes, the car started to settle down. The vibrations slowly went away and I could slowly go up to cruising speed - 140kph (87mph) with no more vibrations.
While in operation the car acts and accelerates totally fine.
This morning it seemed fine. I was in town so I could not go over 60kph (37mph) while the engine was cold.
Now, what could explain this? Bad gasoline? Bad injector? Torque converter? I would take it to the dealer but I am 100% sure there will be no error code stored..
PS: I have the 2.0T.

Has this issue been fixed?