Nadhir

2007 530xi 108k miles.

My car has been vibrating whenever I’m not moving - start up, stopping, etc. it’s fine when I’m driving and drives normally but whenever I pull over or come to a red light, within 2-3 seconds my car starts to vibrate. It’s nothing ridiculous and shakes the car, but it’s still vibrating. Can vibrate to the point where my house keys touch one another since they’re on the key slot on my steering wheel.

I don’t think it’s anythign crazy, but just want to know and make sure it’s nothing serious down the line. Any suggestions?

Just had an oil change. Had my spark plugs changed a few thousand miles ago, but not the coils...bought wrong coils but my mechanic said my coils were fine..

No error codes according to Carly.

richie281vn

How much is the rpm when it vibrates?

Nadhir

It stays the same at around 600 which is the confusing part and it’s off and on. It vibrates more often than not but sometimes it’ll be completely silent and I won’t feel a thing.

I Mo don’t think it’s the mounts because it’s not constant and it’s on and off. But the RPM is constant around 600 when the car is idle just like always. It doesn’t change while driving, though. When I turn my car on it’ll either vibrate or not. If it does it’ll do it the entire time the car is on whenever I stop and the same thing if it doesn’t. This happens regardless of whether the car is cold or not.

FormerE30Owner

Have you noticed whether the cooling fan is on or not. Vibration could come from the cooling fan cycling and it is out off balance or something.

Nadhir

I haven’t paid too much attention to that, though I normally don’t have the A/C on at all. I prefer driving with the windows down for a nice breeze unless it’s just scorching hot which it hasn’t been for a while now.

I drove this morning with no fan on or anything and it was driving normally with no vibrating. But it happens generally on start up and it’ll either be vibrating or it won’t the entire ride. It won’t vibrate at one light and not vibrate on the other and vise versa. I’ll keep trying to see what hat causes it but I’m a bit confused.

FormerE30Owner

Then AC doesn't have to be on for the cooling system fan to turn on. Depending on the coolant temperature, the fan will come on, usually when idling, because there is no air flow through the radiator when stopped, but plenty of air when moving. This might explain the on/off nature of your vibration.

Nadhir

But why would that happen on certain drives and not on others? I drive both in city and on highway. It doesn’t seem to change based on where/how I drive and is set based on something when my car turns on. Unless there’s just situations where it won’t turn on for an entire drive..

FormerE30Owner

Yes, the fan might not turn on at original S/U because the coolant temperature isn't high enough and you move off before the fan needs to turn on and the air flow is sufficient to do the cooling without the fan.

The point is, when the vibration happens, quickly open the hood and check to see if the fan is turning, that is if the traffic conditions allow. Also, when there is no vibration, then again check to see if fan is turning. You could also turn the AC on to see if that starts the fan and see if the vibration is there. Just a thought.

Nadhir

Will do, thanks.

Valveguy

I would be interested in knowing that the fan is or is not the issue.

I have a 2006 530I, which I just purchased about two months ago with 65,000 miles.

I have a similar vibration. It occurs at the stoplight. The rpm drops to 550-600 then vibration occurs. Then the RPM goes up slightly to approximately 650 to 700 and then it clears up. .The rpm then drops a little bit and the vibration occurs again. So it’s kind of cyclic.

so far I have removed and cleaned the throttlebody, as well as the MAF. There has been some improvement. It’s still occurs, but the vibration seems to have reduced slightly. Could be hopeful imagination.

Generally does not occur when the vehicle is cold. Only after it is warmed up. I have a Schwaben scanner which I bought from ECS a while back. I put it on it and there are no codes at all.

I really think if I could adjust the idle to 700, the problem would go away completely. Is there way to do that?

Thanks,