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‘07 H3 Test Drive with Steering Wheel Vibration???
Hi. I test drove an 07 H3 today and noticed the steering wheel noticeably vibrated when stopped at a red traffic light, yet went away as soon as I accelerated.
Normal? Not normal? Indicative of an engine problem?
THANK YOU!
PS- 91k miles if that makes any difference
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9 Replies
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Not sure if this is any help, but I just had Detroit check my engine and transmission for codes and update the software on the engine. The Tech who did the work made several comments that DDEC 5 always has a rough idle. Once the engine gets up to about 1000 rpm it smooths out. The upgrade of the DDEC software did seem to make mine a little less shaky at idle.
The tech was an older guy with a lot of experience, but I have no idea if he is right or wrong.
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Good morning.
Addition info:
I actually put a deposit down on this coach and now sure hoping it is “normal” and not indicative of an issue. Lost a little too much sleep last night!
Several years back, I owned a ‘97 American Eagle with a purely mechanical Cummins C8.3 and if I recall correctly, seems it too vibrated some and that I raised the idle on it and that lessened it.
Is the idle easily adjusted on a 2006 year model chassis? It was idling at 650 RPMs. Is that the proper idle RPM?
Thoughts appreciated! Thank you! -
Thank you Andre!
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Could be the pump with some air trapped in the system.
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On my 2008 (2006 chassis) Legendary, it ran much smoother after the overhead was adjusted. Same thing with my 2011 Liberty (2010 chassis). The initial valve adjustment should be done at 60,000 miles, but it seems that many people never get it done. Cost was about $700 if I remember correctly. In both cases, the valves and injectors were out of adjustment by quite a bit.
As mentioned, idle speed can also make a difference. As little as 50 RPM can make a big difference. We had a group of trucks once that you couldn’t see out of the mirrors at idle. Increasing it by 50 RPM got rid of the vibration.
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Our 1998 XLV chassis seems to vibrate at idle, especially at low idle. It seems to smooth out at high ideal, but there is still some vibration. But once I put it in gear and am sitting at a stop light with the service brake, I get vibration again … RPM is pulled down. But once I release the service brake and apply throttle, it smooths out. Its been like this from probably 72,000 miles (when we bought it) and continues to 115,000 miles which is on it now after almost five years of ownership. It isn’t enough to bother me. As someone else has said … your results my vary.
I’m looking forward to having the valves and injectors adjusted too as I don’t believe its ever been done. I too heard do it at 60,000 miles. When I contacted Brian Stanton (he’s no longer there) at American Fleet he said wait until the fuel mileage drops off. Its been 3 years or more since I reset the fuel mileage on the Pro Driver and the mileage continues to slowly edge up.
This afternoon Craig Hendrick from American Fleet told me: “The few things you should watch for would be loss of power and significant fuel mileage loss.”
Let me toss out a possible reason for low engine speed vibration. DieselHub.com reports the 12.7 liter S-60 has compression ratios of 15:1 or 16.5:1. That is a TON! More than what my NASCAR/ARCA engines have. I know when we drop the idle down on the those engines (especially the road race engines) they start to vibrate pretty good. Might be because of the extreme ignition and cam timing, or maybe because the big Holley carb shows its stuff over 3,000rpm, or maybe because of the very high compression. I know as soon as I give it a little throttle and increase the RPMs the engine gets really, really smooth.
So for me, I’m attributing the low RPM vibration to extremely high compression.
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Thank you all for sharing your experiences! I won’t lose anymore sleep tonight 🙂
PS – they are going to replace the single belt for three individual belts
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I would not listen to old wives tales about valve & injector adjustments. DD says 60,000 miles so do it. Just because your fuel mileage has not gone down does not mean you overhead is adjusted correctly. Both of mine were way out of adjustment, and the first one had a loose injector hold down as well. Bite the bullet and get it done. It won’t hurt anything to do it and it could save you lots down the road.
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I agree, at about 118K I had the overhead done on my 02 and found broken jake adjusters. There is an updated adjuster. After the overhead, much smoother idle and just sounded better.
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