Holden Barina Vibration at Idle with aircon on.

[GMH_Barina]

Hi I have what looks exactly like a Chevy Sonic but is Badged as a Holden Barina in Australia. I have searched the forums and it seems ours come out with a Manual 1.6L 4cylinder and your Sonics do not is this correct? I have come across an issue with my Barina that is really annoying me and the Holden Dealership seems to have no idea what is wrong. I can drive the car fine and stop at traffic lights with no issue but the moment I turn the aircon on it vibrates quite badly through the whole cabin, I can then try and turn the aircon off but the vibration will be there the whole time the car is stationary. once I turn the car off and on again without the aircon on it is fine till I turn it on. so my question is has anyone else had this issue before ?

Thanks.

 

[JTee2017]

Hi I have what looks exactly like a Chevy Sonic but is Badged as a Holden Barina in Australia. I have searched the forums and it seems ours come out with a Manual 1.6L 4cylinder and your Sonics do not is this correct? I have come across an issue with my Barina that is really annoying me and the Holden Dealership seems to have no idea what is wrong. I can drive the car fine and stop at traffic lights with no issue but the moment I turn the aircon on it vibrates quite badly through the whole cabin, I can then try and turn the aircon off but the vibration will be there the whole time the car is stationary. once I turn the car off and on again without the aircon on it is fine till I turn it on. so my question is has anyone else had this issue before ?

Thanks.

Hello from "up here" and across the Great Pond.

Yes, you are correct, the Barina has the 1.6L and there is even a 1.3L(?) I think in another region or country in a Sonic derivative.

The only thing that comes to mind that may be causing the vibration is worn engine/transmission mounts. Are all other operating conditions up to par? Has performance gotten sluggish or any engine misfires? Perhapas, connecting a decent quality OBD II scanner to the port . . engine well warmed up. .. . and before starting . .. .. take some readings of fuel trim, idle rpm, etc. . . then turn on the air con and see what changes? Turn the A/C off and see what the readings are.


Perhaps and GOOD independent repair sho might be more inclined to determine what this is about?

Just thinking out loud here. . . difficult to diagnose at this distance.

 

[Pirate Luke]

Yessir. North American Sonics usually contain a 1.4L Turbo or 1.8L Natural. If your Sonic has a turbo I'd point you straight to the PCV system. Otherwise I'm with JTee, you can buy an OBDII scanner for $20 that will help you/us diagnose much more info.

I can say from simply watching data on my OBDII monitor, our Sonics on the 1.4L uses ~3 HP at idle but when the AC kicks on it goes straight up to 5-6 HP. My point here is that since our engines are so small the AC is very demanding, meaning something as small as a vacuum leak could reek havoc on the system you're accustomed to driving.

Anyway, that would be my first check. Make sure there are no vacuum leaks in your system. I've also read that a clogged AC line can have similar effects at idle, but those are mainly in applications very old. How many miles does your engine have on it?

 

[GMH_Barina]

Hi from down under.

thanks for the replies I will definitely look at getting an OBD2 scanner. it seems to be fine in every other way apart form the idle I will also have a look for a vacuum leak. my barina has 40156 kilometres which is 24951 miles.

 

[JTee2017]

Hi from down under.

thanks for the replies I will definitely look at getting an OBD2 scanner. it seems to be fine in every other way apart form the idle I will also have a look for a vacuum leak. my barina has 40156 kilometres which is 24951 miles.

Wow. . that is low miles/kms.

If you wish. . I have two scanners and would gladly personally hop over and lend a hand. . .
Send a round trip air ticket to me and provide the vendor for me to buy a set of those low profile rear seat head rests your Barina sports. We all would love to get a set of those here in the original "48".

 

[GMH_Barina]

Wow. . that is low miles/kms.

If you wish. . I have two scanners and would gladly personally hop over and lend a hand. . .
Send a round trip air ticket to me and provide the vendor for me to buy a set of those low profile rear seat head rests your Barina sports. We all would love to get a set of those here in the original "48".

HAHA I wish I could afford that. I never noticed the difference to the headrests before I do know that for buying genuine parts here we use a company called AMCAP https://www.amcap.com.au/ maybe you could contact them and see if there is anything they can do for you? they do have an online store but its crap you are better off phoning or emailing them. So I have not had a chance to source a scanner yet but have noticed that when it is not vibrating it is idling at 700rpm anything over 800rpm the vibration starts when the aircon is on it idles at around 900rpm I guess I don't notice it when driving as i put it down to the roads but in neutral and revving the engine I can feel it through the whole rev range any ideas?

 

[JTee2017]

HAHA I wish I could afford that. I never noticed the difference to the headrests before I do know that for buying genuine parts here we use a company called AMCAP https://www.amcap.com.au/ maybe you could contact them and see if there is anything they can do for you? they do have an online store but its crap you are better off phoning or emailing them. So I have not had a chance to source a scanner yet but have noticed that when it is not vibrating it is idling at 700rpm anything over 800rpm the vibration starts when the aircon is on it idles at around 900rpm I guess I don't notice it when driving as i put it down to the roads but in neutral and revving the engine I can feel it through the whole rev range any ideas?

The only thing I can think of is to check the front engine mount (your driver side upper fender under the "bonnet") and the upper transmission mount which is the top side of the transmission where it mates to the engine. These factory mounts have a habit of wearing out early or even just failing.
It would be good to pop the bonnet, have the car in park, turn the A/C on and have some one push the accelerator pedal on and off while you observe the those two rubber cushioned mounts I just mentioned. If the engine moves a lot under those conditions the mounts may be bad. Good news is they are a cheap fix.