Vibration/pulsing through the clutch pedal - Vectra B

sophos9

Question please to someone who has removed and refitted one of these.

TIS states that the axle needs to come out to replace, can someone confirm if this is the case and share any hints on awkward positions etc?

Thanks in advance

BURT150

I havent myself done one but im sure if you jack the back of the gearbox/engine up out the way youl be able to get it out and get your new one in.

sophos9

Looks like access is limited at the rear engine dampening bracket - from the detailed diagram, it looks like the bolts may not have enough access to be fully removed due to the axle?

Also, I will have to remove the coolant cut off valves that go into the heater matrix - thet have the strange green connectors (never touched them before). Whats the best way to remove them please ?

Thanks 🙂

MikeS

about a 3 hr job removing the rear engine mount

the gearbox and chain cover are easy

sophos9

Thanks for the reply - whats up with the gearbox/chain cover (mines a Veccy B)?

MikeS

engine mounts

one is chain cover

the other is under gearbox on subframe

sophos9

Ah mate, this is the rear gearbox mount that needs changing. Both of the hydraulic engine mounts are good :thumbup:

vocky

I can honestly say that every vec B I've owned all had vibration on the clutch pedal when you lightly pressed it, even when they were brand new :thumbdown:

so nothing to worry about

sophos9

Hi mate, thanks for the reply. Yep I've noticed the vibrations in both the X25XE and X20XE engined Vectra B's I've owned however I'm experiencing a bit more than vibes.

Vibes through the clutch pedal alone would be OK however its the rough spot when pulling away thats of concern - I'm guessing that it is down to excess movement where the rear gearbox mount is fubared.

Tested engine movement today - put it in first gear with handbrake on and watched engine movement, lots of excess backwards movement in the mount. Gear changes whilst in motion are fine, I'm guessing that more force is exerted from stand still so would fall again in line with engine mount buggered.

If not then sports clutch and lightened flywheel to start the ball rolling :lol:

MikeS

the x16xe engine in my vectra does exactly the same

however i notice vibration at fast idle that seems to come from gearbox mount

no big deal as the car got 192k 🙂

sophos9

MikeS said:
no big deal as the car got 192k 🙂

Awesome mate!! showo..

I'll be glad to get this sorted, my car only has 61k and is in great condition apart from these niggles :sick: (but MOT'd the GSXR 600 today so I may be more focused on 2 wheels than 4 shortly he he :lol🙂

vocky

the rear gearbox mount usually fails first on most vec B's, but the front nearside gearbox mount can also fail on the z22se

sophos9

vocky said:
but the front nearside gearbox mount can also fail on the z22se

Thanks mate, if a hydraulic mount fails would you be able to witness this by leakage?

sophos9

Last night I changed the rear engine mount (gearbox), manual recommends removing drive shaft and coolant valves - I did not however can understand why it would be much easier. Pain in the arse of a job but sorted.

The old mount once out looked in good condition, same shape, no distortion, same movement pattern as the old one so did not have much hope that it will fix it. Fitted the new one and took it out for a drive.

The car feels a bit firmer but has not fixed the problem...

I've been making notes on this and have some additional observations which may help

When the car is started in the morning from cold, there are no clutch problems until down the road (when its started to warm up?)
When pulling away, there is a sweet spot just near the top of clutch travel where vibes go through the car - you can hear the vibe sound also
If I pull away very slowly, whilst there is some noise, there are only very slightly noticeable vibes in the sweet spot

So could really do with a bit of help please...

If this was flywheel related (i.e. warped) then I presume there would be problems through out the rev range?
I'm wondering about why there would be no issues from cold then it starts playing up 'down the road' - perhaps not clutch but engine/sensor related - long shot but whats your thoughts (EGR issue?)
Would the nearside front engine mount cause this problem?

Thanks in advance

sophos9

Tonight I changed the gearbox fluid - the fluid coming out was like brand new, no bits at all on the magnetic drain plug it was all like brand new. No yellow mark on the fill plug so just went with filling it up until it came out of the rear plug

No change at all (and none expected)...

I put the handbrake on and tried pulling away in first, got the vibration and when I pushed it a bit, I am getting a metallic rattling sound which is pretty loud - also when clutch is depressed, I get a chirping/groaning sound so something not right

What a fucker... I dont want to keep using it if I'm going to do transmission damage, if I cannot get it sorted then its on the phone to Courtenays, they can throw a fast road clutch, slave cylinder and lightened flywheel in it

HEEEEELLLLPPP!!!!

benny

sounds like you have something begining to break up / fail but what ever it is is hard to say could be clutch related but normally a clutch vibration is just that a vibration and no or littel noise ( unless it duel mass )..... but the vibration from a clutch could damge the central release and that would give a noise .but to be fair from the way your testing it i would say it would have failed by now .........go to the front of the car and look at the subframe bushes where it meets the body are these faulty they some time pull out allowing the subframe to be loose .....a good indication of this is the radiator is lower in its top mounts and some times can be moved easy ......aslo check the nut is still fitted on the lower gearbox engine mount ....the starter motor isnt loose is it ?....if it is hard to find the fault i would say keep driveing till some thing fails.....hope this helps benny ......... oh is the exhurst system all ok and not loose / hitting the body ?...

sophos9

Hey benny, thanks for taking the time to have a look in. Can confirm that all bolts/nuts are intact on both engine mounts and there does not seem to be any excess motion on the engine. Exhaust is good, stainless cat back and when I just replaced the cat and downpipe - I made sure by giving it some proper teddy

I'll check what you suggest re: subframe bushes and starter motor loose tomorrow and report back :thumbup:

sophos9

Checked subframe bushes and starter, all fine and in near new condition

Booked into Courtenays for June 10th to have the gearbox off and find the cause. Rebuild will have the usual suspects sorted such as new sports clutch, slave cylinder and lightened flywheel. Awesome :thumbup:

sophos9

Oooooohh so I fixed something today showo..

The Irmscher backbox I noticed rattling on Friday when I was picking up my motorbike frontwheel from having tyre fitted and balanced. After getting under the car and thumping the backbox, it was obvious that the metallic rattle was the baffles so I started a hunt.

Sorry, I'm rambling... anyway, today I picked up a mint Irmscher backbox from a local private seller who had an owned from new and almost new Irmscher backbox (off topic question, Irmscher backbox I have says made in Italy (and every other one I've seen), this one is made in EU???)

Under the car again, knew that the bolts would break on turn - yep, thats one bolt snapped, grinder on the other. Hmmm.... slight problem the cat back is 2.5inch vs 2inch backbox, struggled to find replacement bolts/nuts but cobbled it all together with temporary bolt and washer combo.

Sorry rambling again... so anyway, put the whole thing together and started car - million times quieter. Get changed ready for road test. Take it out and something magical has happened.

The problem I was having regarding pulling away vibrations/roughness/having to feed it revs is almost gone. The clutch problem i.e. clutch vibration and noises when pulling away is still there but it seems I am experiencing 2 problems with 2 differing root causes.

The above may also be crap as I fitted and EGR blanking plate on Friday night and have not driven it since - so whats your thoughts on the pulling away vibrations/roughness?

1) Exhaust broken and blocked
2) EGR related (never had EML)

So this is actually good news as now the clutch problem is much more obvious, release bearing fecked - great news. Next up, new clutch and flywheel 🙂

Happy days cheers..

sophos9

Hell yea, the car feels totally different this morning, its not driving exactly like it should (excluding the clutch bearing noise). Was amazed when I drove the same roads as usual to work.

Several posts ago I said that the clutch seemed fine from cold then once up the road, started its playing up - I think that would be EGR related but regardless, the fix (new exhaust or EGR blank plate) has sorted a big part of the problem and the car, for the first time is spot on 🙂

« Previous Page Next Page »