Three noobie questions

[noel]

Hi All
Three questions:
1 Should my 2009 Civic VTi vibrate under moderate acceleration? Happens up to what I believe is fourth gear, but not top, to about 3,000RPM. Smooth after that. Distance covered: 3,500k's
This is my second Civic, the first a 1991 hatchback, which did not vibrate, but it did not have VTEC, either. Nor did it the guts of the LE.
Previous two cars were an EL Falcon (quite agricultural at 3,000RPM, and a Toyota Avalon V6, which was smoooooth.)

2 The car has side airbags. Can I fit seatcovers with the bits cut out?

3 According to gps, speedo is quite fast. Anybody know correct road speed at say, 2,000RPM, top gear, on a flat road. Mine shows 108kph, the gps, 102kpm.

Any help appreciated. I find today's Honda dealers to be a little vague and evasive, especially when the issue could centre on warranty.

CHEERS
NOEL

[Tom eg5]

Hey mate not too sure on the first 2 questions as i havent owned any newer cars.
but as for the last question about the speedo. any car u jump in will read about 5-10kms faster than wat the GPS will say. Im not %100 sure why but i know that all cars do it so its nothing to be worried about. just saves u from speed cameras :P.

[CB7_OWNER]

1. No, the car should not vibrate, under normal condition. Provided that your not shifting to early and choking/lugging the engine. E.G. Fourth gear @ like 20km/h and thats for manual. DEFINITELY SHOULD NOT vibrate if its automatic.

2. Not recommended. Dont do it. If your involved in an accident. Insurance may not pay out ?

3. Most vehicle speedometers read less than what a gps in car would read. Dont know why.. but its the same case for x number of cars ive driven.

[noel]

Thanks, guys, for your views.

To elaborate, I didn't mention the vibration comes from the drive train. It's not like the "power surge" that comes through the floor in some cars. This is harsh, but can be reduced by easing off on the accelerator. Accelerate below 2,000 rpm and there's little vibration. But, hell, aren't Honda engines free-revving? The car is an auto.

Like my Avalon engine, the Honda goes better under certain weather conditions, eg, on an overcast, humid night, but at other times, the Honda vibrates. The local Honda bloke drove it recently and claimed it was ok - but of course, it wasn't vibrating so badly that day (Murphy strikes again!)

BTW, I'm not a boy racer, just an old fart who's had cars since 1956. I bought my first Civic on the recommendation of a friend, who said the motor was 'The sweetest, revin'est, zingin'est, thing'. And he was a guy who could afford much dearer cars!

HOPE the above helps
CHEERS
NOEL

[shadou]

... to question 2 insurance doesn't car jack shit about car seats or airbags deploying; it's inadvisable to fit seat covers that obstruct the area of deployment but I am pretty sure Honda have designed special seat covers to suit, search.

as for no.3 you can raise this with the lads at Honda to verify accuracy using their laptop to ECU reader, this is the best bet to insure accurate speedometer reading.

[noel]

HI again, All
This morning, the weather was overcast and sticky, so the Civic ran like it should, with only the degree of vibration one would expect. Seems the problem is in the fuel management system? However, the selling dealer claimed they checked all codes at the 1,000k service - ok!

It made me wonder, though, why they didn't test-drive the thing, apart from the 100 metres from the workshop to the parking area, to check-out the reported vibration.

Perhaps I should spring for a few bucks and have it dyno-tested?

CHEERS
NOEL

[VT3C]

1. What kind of 'vibration' ?? a hesitation or rattle from the engine itself ?? or something from the transmission / tyres/ steering etc ? If it's from the enghine - HONDA had some recalls and bottom-end issues wit htheir R18's.. I had a couple of customers that had to have new blocks on warranty - but obviously the Dealership ois gonna try n rort you before they go down the warranty claim path. if your Dealerhsip doesnt give you the love and your 'vibration' is still there - call HONDA AUSTRALIA CUSTOMER SERVICE if your car is still under warranty and THEY will kick some a55es and get you a result !!

2. Honda's have a sensor in the seat to detect if any kid's hands or arms are on/over/around the seat in order to disable the airbags to prevent any injury to the passengers. fitting seat-covers CAN trigger the sensor to disable the side airbags in the event od a crash. This is OK for legality and inurance but if you had side airbags (And dont care about the weight) why would you want to jeopardise their effictivemness in the event of a crash ? you CAN get some NON GENUINE seat covers with cut-outs ove rhte sides of the chairs to allow the airbags to still operate, but there is no certainty they wont affect the sensors or the operation of the bag itself. HONDA doesnt offer any seat cover accessories for side-airbag equipped vehicles even though it is a strong profit-making opportunity for Dealerships - doent THIS tell you something ??

3. all modern speedos have a buffer of 4-8km/hr.. so if it reads 60km/hr you're probably only doing about 56 km/hr in actual fact. allthough i've noticed some FD civic's with their digital speedo seem to be a bit more 'optimistic'.. had one drive past me in my Prelude and I could see it's speedo so I did a speedo check against the '88 BA4 Prelude and it was about 5-6 km over the speed I was reading. I wouldnt worry about it unless you're like 10+ km/hr out.

[shadou]

maybe the quality of the fuel you are using, try a batch of 95 premium unleaded or 98 for a tank or 2 and see whether you still have this 'vibration', you gotta fuel up anyway so there's no harm in trying this option

[slimx]

put a full tank of high octaine petrol u should be right. if not perhaps gearbox fluid? coz if it shakes on gear.. only big chance its gearbox..

Try neutralling it.. at that speed and just rev it to the rpm if it still shakes maybe engine mount? bad speed humps cane brake'm

[noel]

Hi All

Many thanks VT3C for your most comprehensive and helpful reply, and to the guys suggesting a fuel change.

A dealer responded to my query about seat covers using some acronym, relating to the passenger seat, without further explanation. VT3C expanded on that nicely - now I know what the dealer was talking about. Great, mate! Our issue with seat protection is two dogs, so I'll continue to cover the seats with towels. Children don't ride in the car (no kids at our place; never found out what causes them, actually!).

It's hard to explain the vibration, other than to say it's not there when cruising, but appears under moderate acceleration and, at times, seems like it could be coming from the gearbox in the lower gears. The vibration is not from something loose, or say, mis-aligned exhaust system, but can be felt through the go pedal and the driver's footrest; it's not like the "power surge" that tells the right foot (even with the bionic throttle) the car is accelerating.

It also depends on the weather whether the vibration comes in; hot, overcast and humid, it's not there, particularly at night. But, on a dry, warm day, it can be expected. To be fair, the dealer who road-tested the car said there wasn't an issue - but the weather was "right" for it not to raise its head.

Could the vibration be associated with Honda's practice of using running-in oil?

The vibration was present on taking the car home after delivery, ie, on the F3 between Gosford and Newcastle. It's now done nearly 4,000kilometres. The engine does not ping.

I'll try running it on 95 and a bottle of injector cleaner. Our Xmas trip to near Mittagong returned under 7litres/100k's; perhaps the motor is running lean, as it probably hasn't loosened-up fully at 4,000k's?

Anyway, guys, many thanks for your interest in this one. It will be a week, or so, before the car needs petrol; I'll try some premium and report back on possible results.

CHEERS
NOEL
BTW Does Honda have a travelling engineer, who visits dealerships to try to sort out issues, such as this. Or would a trip to big-H in Sydney be advisable?

[noel]

Greetings All

At last - I've been able to fill the tank with 98 and add a bottle of fuel system cleaner.

After 20 k's the car seems livelier, the vibration on acceleration has reduced, BUT (and you knew that was coming, didn't you?) the vibration seems to have shifted to the over-run. Perhaps it's early days?

Many thanks for your help.

CHEERS
NOEL

[Manabir]

the speedo is out for a good reason.
it is very difficult to get the speedo 100% accurate, to compensate for this manufacturers are allowed to have a 10% varience (atleast its 10% in australia, ADR, not sure about other countries). so instead of having it read that your slower than you are, which would open the manufacturers up to lawsuits from speeding fines, they choose to set it this way.
arse coverage.
i always use my gps, and have actually had it going a few times through the "speedo check" things. it has shown that the gps is accurate, not the speedo.
not even just 1 gps either.
nokia maps on 3 differant nokias, a tomtom go910, and google maps on both a htc and an iphone.