Juddering on 3200

[the_raul]

Hi Everyone,

My 3200 has developed a problem and I thought I would document it, my investigation and hopefully the eventual fix in case it will be useful to others.
Also hopefully some people can help out with some advice about this problem

The Problem

Quite noticeable/violent random juddering on acceleration.
Most noticeable in 2nd, 3rd & 4th gears accelerating normally between 2000 RPM and 4000RPM.
Also noticeable when flat out, however I suspect its happening most of the time.

No unusual mechanical noises, and its not linked to road speed or engine speed.

The Investigation

My initial thought was that it was Misfiring. So tested for this by disconnecting a coil pack and then going for a test drive to see if the juddering had stopped.
Then I repeated this for all cylinders. Unfortunately the juddering did not disappear, so that leads me to conclude its not Misfiring.

My next thing to check is the Throttle Pedal Potentiometer and the Throttle Body Flaps.

I'll keep you updated.

 

[philw696]

Best of luck in sorting her out and let us know how you get on. Sure the 3200 gurus will offer advice. Phil.

 

[ledlights]

Hi,

Sounds obvious but it could be electrical or mechanical! FWIW, and without sitting in the car and "feeling" what's going on, some thoughts of what could be at fault are:

Could be a disconnected injector

Fuel starvation caused by blocked fuel filter

Spark plug that's on it's way out

More seriously, a failing head gasket causing loss of compression on one or more cylinders

Another sort of juddering can be caused by an oil leak on the crankshaft seal which causes the clutch to slip on acceleration

Or something completely different!

I've had the faults associated with throttle body, pot and plenum leaks and they have different symptoms. The throttle body starts as a hunting around idle and leads rapidly to a check engine light, the pedal pot throws a CEL too and the plenum leak gives a high tickover speed and loss of boost. Additionally, I have had a small inlet manifold leak which led to stalling coming up to junctions but this doesn't sound like your problem either.

I think my first attempt to diagnose would be to read the fault codes. If its an early car you can look up the thread on how to do this or if it's after 2001 you can use a generic EOBD reader.

Good luck - I hope you get it sorted out.

Steve

 

[conaero]

I would suspect prop shaft, engine/geabox mounts and the clutch.

If it happens in multiple gears at a certain rev range, I would look at your engine mounts first.

If it happens within a certain speed, I would check the props haft mounts and bearings.