Ok, well, my problem is this. When I start my car, which is a 98 Sunfire Gt 2.4, it starts fine and then it'll start to shake fairly roughly about once every 10 to 15 seconds. The shake is just like someone grabs the engine and rocks it for a second or 2 fairly short in duration. It's kinda like a miss but I haven't been getting any codes or anything. I had the coil pack replaced last year cause the housing was cracked so it wasn't sparking right. The mechanic said I was running on 3 cylinders when I brought it in because of that. Now it seems to have no loss of power or anything and drives and accelerates fine, it just has these fairly rough "shakes" every 10 to 15 seconds and they seem to lessen once the car warms up more. I have no idea what this may be. I checked the plugs and they seem fine as well. If I have my window down, I can also here a clicking or clanking noise when these shakes occur as well. I'm not sure if it's the tranny or possible even a broken lower motor mount?? Anyone have any ideas????????? Thanx.
i have the exact same problem, car shakes every couple of seconds. I am also interested if anyone knows what could be causing this.
Well, obviouslt this is not an isolated problem that only I seem to have. Hopefully someone or someones can shed some light on this situation for us and help us out possibly.
i kinda have this problem, and i replaced both coils, the housing, all 4 spark plugs, 4 spark boots w/springs, and the ignition computer only a week ago.
mine still kinda does this, but mine holds perfectly at 700 rpm at idle. what RPM is yours at idle?
-Cameron (CaliforniaCavalier)
Girls make me mad and break my heart, but my car is always there for me.
I have the five speed, and it usually, once warmed up, it hold around 900 rmp.
I've never really looked at the idle. It's not above 1000, I know that for sure, prolly around 700-800 rpms. It doesn't jump around at all, it's really steady and smooth.
ya, mine wont move when it does the jurking, the whole car will jurk about every 7-10 seconds, but the rpm's dont move at all.
Wow, with a few of us here having the same problem, there MUST be someone who has had this problem and figured out what it was and can pass along their knowledge to us.
PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! lol
My 2000 Cav 2.4 does this too. Mine idles at 650 rpm and now now then it misses likes yours. When the engine is cold it runs fine. I have 53k on the Bosch Platinums so I thought maybe it was time to change the plugs to the AC-Delcos and also change the boots. Now I am not sure???
How does it accelerate? Does it bog down when you try to accelerate? Check your vacuum lines. You could have one that is starting to crack. Just a start for you folks at what to look at.
98 Z24
RIP Specks
ZSleeper wrote:How does it accelerate? Does it bog down when you try to accelerate? Check your vacuum lines. You could have one that is starting to crack. Just a start for you folks at what to look at.
actually a very good point. never thought of that. ill check it out and let you guys know
-Cameron (CaliforniaCavalier)
Girls make me mad and break my heart, but my car is always there for me.
I checked my vacuum lines once before and didn't see any cracks, maybe I didn't check them closely enough. How many vacvuum lines are there, I only could see 2 or 3 last time I looked , maybe I missed 1 or 2??
Oh yes, to answer the bogging question, no it does not bog at all, it drives and accelerates fine.
Mine doesn't bog donw at all either. At WOT it runs like a bat out of hell.
Ya, mine accelerates fine to.
Old Wolf wrote:I have 53k on the Bosch Platinums so I thought maybe it was time to change the plugs to the AC-Delcos and also change the boots. Now I am not sure???
Bosch Platinums are what caused my engine to miss. I replaced my factory AC-Delcos at 85k with Bosch Platinums....I had a miss at idle withing 2 weeks and a CEL within 3 weeks. Put brand new AC-Delcos back in, all is good.
I have Delco's in already so I don't think that's the issue with my car. Any other ideas or suggestions?
I like to think it's the radical factory camshafts in my 2.4 causing the rough idle.
I just put new ac delcos in mine
Sounds like it is fuel system related..
If it's fuel system related, I'm not sure what it could be. I just changed the fuel filetr and I use fuel injector cleaner all the time as well.
Wow, this is deja-vu all over again.... Hey mod... How about making this a sticy post?
I've been dealing with the same problem, except I'm about $1500 in to it. Let me save you all a bunch of time and money..
From what I've read in other posts, there are lots of causes for a rough idle but running good at WOT. There's also a lot of posts here for rough idle. Here's what I've replaced so far:
IAC valve
Throttle position sensor
EGR valve (200 bux...grrrr)
Oxygen sensor
Knock sensor
Both coil packs
Ignition module
The cover for the coil packs and ignition module
The boots that go between the coil cover and the spark plugs
2 different types of plugs
4 tanks of premium gas with 4 different types of fuel injector cleaner
Oil change/air filter/check ducts for obstructions
checked for a plugged cat converter (it's clear)
checked oil separator, it's clear
intake manifold gasket doesn't leak
throttle body gasket doesn't leak
replaced map sensor and vacuum line
and for the grand finale, I just got it back from a reputable repair shop, they tested:
Compression on all 4 cyl is in the 210 range - good.
Fuel pressure is 43 at idle, 41 to 47 is normal
Cam chain / tensioner is good
passed leak down test, so the head gasket / rings are presumed good.
fuel injectors are squirting right.
diagnostic machine found no odd voltages/readings on anything.
I've also replaced the ac compresser, which was grinding the clutch into pretty metal shavings on the shrouding.
What was the budget for nitrous and rims has been blown on playing "guess which sensor is giving you the finger". I'm broke, frustrated and still have a rough idle.
btw, this car is a 97 GT 2.4 5 speed with 80,000 miles. I'm going to take it to the dealer next, which is probably what I should have done in the first place.
When I eventually find what's wrong with this beast, I'll post it here. Until then, you can find me shaking at the next red light.
John Wilken
2002 Cavalier
2.2 Vin code 4
Auto
ya, yesterday i just put two new coil packs in mine, seems to start up better, and more throttle response, but still frickin shacks at idle.
well i had a problem with my 2000 2.4 Z24 cavy. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator and it fixed it right up. i had hard starts, it wouldnt run right while idling and some other sypmtoms that i cant remeber off hand.
