guidwire

The other day I noticed significant vibration being transmitted through my steering wheel in my 2007 turbo (tiptronic) when I was stopped at a stop light. When I start driving the vibration goes away. When the transmission is in park there is no vibration either. Is anyone else experiencing this? This may be normal but I just can't remember if it has been like this since I bought it 3 months ago. Thanks.

Terry Adams

Never had that. Not normal.

Macster

Hard to believe you could not notice this vibration for 3 months then suddenly take notice. Thus it would appear to be abnormal.

With a Tip in gear the engine has some load (well, more load than a manual) to overcome but the DME and the rest of the engine control system is very good at dealing with this.

So with no CEL and no warning lights on my first thought is the Tip is acting up.

Not much you can do yourself so I'd get the car to into service. The fluid level could be low or the fluid "shot". I do not know the miles on the car or its history but these are possibilities. If the fluid is low there's a leak which will have to be dealt with.

But since as I mentioned above I do not know the car's history or miles the vibration could be from a bit of rougher than normal running that could be due to (in the order I think of them) : bag plugs, or coils (but still not bad enough to trigger misfires), a fuel filter in need of changing, or stale fuel.

There could be there is I'm sure more possible explanations. How's the battery? A going bad battery can cause the alternator to really work hard and this can cause the engine to run a bit rougher as it has to expend more of its idle output to drive the alternator. Add in the extra load if you had the A/C on, the lights, etc....

But regardless I think the car needs to be looked at by a pro.

Just try to provide as much detail as you can as to when the symptom appeared so he can duplicate it.

Sincerely,

Macster.

guidwire

Thanks for the replies, especially your very detailed reply, Macster. I think I left out some very important info which may explain why I did not notice this vibration earlier. I just got the car back after installing Bilstein coil overs and a new padded stealing wheel. I may also be over exaggerating on the amount of vibration, however, there is a significant difference between it being in park an in drive. I was just wondering if this difference should be there. I do think it does have to do with the engine load with the transmission in drive and was wondering if the engine mounts have anything to do with this (I really have no clue). My car is a 2007 with just over 10k miles that I bought from a reputable Porsche dealership (although it was not CPO'd). Looks like I need to have it taken in to be looked at. Thanks again.

ChristopherG

Check your motor and transmission mounts. Look for a purplish deposit or fluid on the motor mounts when they go bad the fluid inside will leak out and transmit more engine vibration.

With a tiptronic in drive there is torque on the engine and drive train while stopped at a light for example.

This can make engine vibration pass through the car Putting the car in park takes the load off the drive line and lets everything settle down and vibration lessens.

guidwire

Thanks ChristopherG. Is this something I can check myself?

ChristopherG

Put the car up on ramps and crawl under there with a good flash light. Look for oil residue on the round motor mounts should have two bolts to attach to the chassis and a single stud on the top attaching it to the engine. I looked for pics and couldn't find any around.

There were various kinds of oil used as I understand it anything ranging from dark purple to green, to clear in some cases. See if you can rock the engine by hand you shouldn't be able to get a lot of movement.

ECS tuning has new ones for about $170 each. Not too expensive a fix if that's the problem.

Macster

Forgot to mention motor and transmission mounts. Intended to but I read my post again and I didn't. Staying up past my bedtime with my new home internet link gets me into trouble. My bad.

But someone else was on the ball and brought these up: Motor and transmission mounts are always suspect in a Tip when there's a vibration in Drive compared to in Park.

I like the motor/transmission mounts as a reason better than I like anything else.

Sincerely,

Macster.

guidwire

Thanks!