Engine Vibration on Start-Up

[Jayt43]

I have a Mk IV Crosstar with 50K km on the clock which is used both for long journeys and also short runs in town. The car is garaged and, in addition to routine servicing I actually have the oil changed every 10K not 20.  And mechanically I'm very sympathetic when driving it.

However, on 3 separate occasions (probably over the last 5K) if I've left the car for 3 or 4 days without using it upon start-up the entire vehicle vibrates, to the extent that today (as I've not used the car since Boxing day) I thought the engine would break free of its mounts!!

I weekly check the oil level and that's fine as are all other fluid levels. It seems that, in the US (where the base CR-V + Civic were equipped with a variation of the same 1.5litre L15BE engine, as opposed to LEB-H5 in the Jazz) that vibration on start-up was quite a common issue.

The car runs perfectly after the 1-2 seconds of shaking, but its rather disconcerting. And, of course, if in park when started, applying the throttle in the Jazz has no effect. Any ideas?

[coldstart]

Hi, as the car shows this effect only recently I suspect a defect with the ignition like defective spark plug / loose spark plug connector or maybe even a marten chewed on the cables.
When was your Jazz last serviced and have you already talked to your Honda dealer of choice about this effect?

[Jayt43]

Service was 6,000 miles ago. Haven't spoken to Honda, but funnily enough you could be right about an animal chewing on the cables! I'm right on the edge of town and one night about a month ago I couldn't garage her. A few days later I checked the oil and immediately saw that half the bonnet insulation had been torn apart!! I did check all the cables and nothing appeared untoward. And definitely no incidents since then as she's been garaged again as usual. So I'll check that out tomorrow when it's light. But also I'd say this also happened once before the animal intrusion. Thanks for the advice. I'll update the group when I know more!!

[Lincolnshire Rambler]

My last Nissan NOTEs with the 16v 1.4 petrol engine always idled very quietly-when warm you could often only tell by the rev counter it was still going . The Jazz manages to sound almost diesel like …! No doubt a result of a high compression ratio and a 100% sterling cycle doing its clever stuff! Of course the jazz engine is never running at a conventional idling speed and doesn’t waste fuel doing just that .

[Jazzik]

I have a serious question, as I have never heard any "diesel like" noise from under the hood of the Jazz. Also no strange engine vibrations or shaking for a few seconds after starting...

Are there any of you who experience the above things?

[Lincolnshire Rambler]

Although the jazz sounds gruff and a sort of hard edge to its sound it hasn’t ever had any vibration -and the dealer demo car sounded the same on our original test drive as my jazz sounds . And when you floor it it’s not quiet as it storms away at max engine speed before it steps down tbe revs . The good acceleration outweighs  any engine sound IMHO..! I wouldn’t have it any other way !

[Lord Voltermore]

Yes you can just about hear or feel the vibration when the atkinson cycle engine idles.You can hear it when you floor the pedal for a fast overtake etc.  Some petrol engines may be a bit smoother and  quieter  at times  ,maybe even a few well insulated diesel engines.   But with the Jazz  its not all the time, or especially bad.
When I first got the car  , stopped traffic for several minutes  , in absolute silence  I noticed little things like a bit of beat vibration from door speakers, or caused by an adjacent vehicle.  And when the Jazz engine suddenly burst in to life to keep the battery topped up  it startled me a bit, and I noticed it was no longer absolutely silent. But no worse than  most 'normal' cars I have driven are all the time.   

     Its a bit like being in a rural area.  You can hear the leaves as they fall, the bird song, bleating sheep etc.   You notice at first,  Being woken by the dawn chorus of annoying noisy little  blighters     
 In the town I had became accustomed to a constant background drone of traffic etc drowning out any  annoying little interruptions to my peace and tranquility.    Nah   

[Nicksey]

I always think it rumbles/bumps a bit on first start up, but only for a minute until warm. The demo model I first drove did the same too. I am now approaching 16k (72 plate) and the engine I find very quiet and smooth during driving, in fact more so now it is bedded in. Even the electric/petrol exchange is almost imperceptibly less now too.

[5thcivic]

We don't have a rev counter but I think the atkinson engine is tuned for efficiency and not idle speeds, so will be loud from cold to warm up the engine as fast as possible. Once out of the garage and off the driveway after a minite or two it quietens down considerably unless you floor it driving. But I don't find any vibration so I think the o/p must have  fault somewhere.

[Kremmen]

If you can still hear the engine the radio isn't loud enough

[plasma]

I find that mine is very quiet except if you give it some welly,

Plasma

[Lincolnshire Rambler]

This evening I did turn off my Spotify music playing so I could listen to the engine from cold . A few seconds later chap parked next to me started his new Nissan xtrail which is the electric drive hybrid and I could hear his engine over the jazz … so perhaps that changes my opinion !

[sprint07]

I've had the same problem with engine vibration/shaking on my 2021 Honda Crosstar, it's done it on 3 or 4 occasions on start up when the engine is cold, lasts for about 5 seconds then clears, the last time was a few days ago where it had been left standing for 2 days.
My local Honda dealership looked into the problem last year but couldn't find any issues with the engine.

[Marco1979]

Yesterday it was my turn: extreme rattling and vibration at startup! Like someone was shaking a box of spanners. So much different than normal; hard to miss.
Luckily I read this post and waited a while (if not, I would have switched it off immediately); it went away after about 20 seconds. Then it was silent and without vibration as ever before.
It is a 2021 Crosstar with 38k km on the clock; serviced as Honda specified. I will keep a close eye to it and go back to the dealer if it might return.

[coldstart]

Yesterday it was my turn: extreme rattling and vibration at startup! Like someone was shaking a box of spanners. So much different than normal; hard to miss.

Slowly I'm starting to worry about Honda's engineering...

The noise you and Jayt43 describe could also stem from a failing timing chain tensioner 

Timing chain problems are nothing to trifle with! A leaped timing chain can cause severe engine damage!
You should definitely talk to your Honda dealer about this.