Engine has developed strong vibrations... help!!!

[MWP]

Hi all,

The 4E-FTE in my EP82 (Starlet GT) has developed a large vibration all of a sudden.
It was fine one moment, and vibrating like crazy a second later.

The vibration is very very strong... it rattles the car body and can be felt very easily through the seats.

Its definitely an engine vibration, and not gearbox or drive train related.
It happens when revving the engine while parked.

The strange thing is the car still drives perfectly... it still accelerates smoothly as if nothings wrong.
Doesnt blow any smoke, both coolant and engine oil are clear.
It also isnt making any new ticking or knocking noises at all.

Any ideas what the problem could be caused by?
Im thinking harmonic balancer or maybe a flywheel/clutch issue...

Thanks for any help!!

[unclewal]

engine mounts maybe?

[wa5]

Harmonic Balencer..... Engine Mount..... Is it running on all cylenders? (plugs ...leads)

[SillyCarS]

turn on motor and then pull off one spark plug at a time and see if the revs drop and on the one that doesnt, thats the one thats dropped out

[oldcorollas]

if it still accelerates normally, i vote something major has fallen off ... flywheel, clutch or crank pulley etc...

have a good look around... if the front of engine looks normal, (mayne pull off belts and run and see if it goes away?) then it is time to pull off box, or look inside for a peak...
it could have spat part of the friction plate?

i had a horrible vibration when one of the metal fan blades came off...

[SillyCarS]

ur joking right?!!!

get a timing light and check leads also

carbi clean and air comp could pay attn to carby if these fail

[MWP]

Engine mounts have just all been replaced.
Vibrations are too strong for even shot mounts though.

Im pretty sure its running on all cyl's... but ill pull the plugs one by one to check.

Front of the engine all looks good... cant see any wobble in the crank or other pulleys. Still its kinda hard to see down in there though being a tight FWD engine bay.

Grrrr, removing the gbox will be a bitch of a job

[oldcorollas]

The strange thing is the car still drives perfectly... it still accelerates smoothly as if nothings wrong.

if it had dropped a cylinder..it would be popping and farting and not drive normally....

if it is a major vibration, then something large had fallen off
if nothing is obvious aroudn the crank pulley, then.. sad to say but it is prolly clutch related..

is there an access hole? clutch fork hole? anything you can see in?

if you can, first check clutch cover is in one piece
then, rotate engine until you can see the edge of the friction plate....

jack up one front wheel, and get one person to put foot on clutch, one person to rotate wheel, and look at edge of friction plate to see if any is missing or looking odd

hopefully you can do that before pulling box

[MWP]

Good think'n, ill do exactly that... hopefully ill be able to look in somewhere.

Thanks.

[30psi 4agte]

Id be rechecking the mounts ! . check all the bolts are tight etc .sounds like a mount to me.

If it is as bad as you say it is then it cant be that hard to find

[Norbie]

I had something similar happen once, absolutely horrific vibration but the engine still ran smoothly, it turned out to be a bent pressure plate.

[oldcorollas]

if such a massive vibration is just caused by a mount.... i'd be changing engines (ok, maybe nto that drastic but..)

[brett_celicacoupe]

if its as bad as you say then it would have to be something to do with the flywheel assembly. nothing else has such a large radius in comparison. clutch plate or PP?

[jeffro ra28]

bent rod does this aswell

[MRMOPARMAN]

id be going engine mounts too.. its probably so stuffed its allowing the engine to move so much the exhaust or engine etc is able to rub on the body, causing your concerns.

does the engine jolt if your cruising, then back of and stab the throttle hard? classic symptoms of stuffed engine mounts