Engine vibrations

2010 NISSAN X-TRAIL
290,000 MILES • 2.0L • 4 CYL • 2WD
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SHIRLEY VORSTER
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Good day, I live in a small rural town and I have to travel about per day to fetch children from school. My engine light has come on. I checked it with the garage and they said it was dirty air in the filters, most likely caused by the bad roads we travel on. It gives little jerks or shudders every now and then. Lately this has stopped but the car seems to lose power when travelling uphill. it reaches a speed of only about sixty kmph where it could still reach one hundred and twenty kmph. Now the engine seems to vibrate and when coming to a stop street or idling it seems to cut out altogether. I have taken it back to the garage, but they do not seem to know what is wrong with it. They say it could be a coil or the mounting but they do not know what to do. i know very little about car engines but maybe with your help we can figure it out.
thanking you.
Apr 4, 2018 at 6:37 AM
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STRAILER
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Hello,

To me it sounds like the park plugs need to be replaced. have you done a tune up recently?

If not here is a guide to help you see what you are in for when doing the job:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-tune-up-a-car-engine

The next thing is to run the codes to see if there are any.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/checking-a-service-engine-soon-or-check-engine-light-on-or-flashing

Please let us know what you find. We are interested to see what it is.

Cheers, Ken
Apr 5, 2018 at 12:20 PM
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SHIRLEY VORSTER
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Hi Ken thanks for your reply. Yes spark plugs were replaced a few months ago. I have since had a guy come and do a code test and it shows no faults, but he said it seems to be a mechanical problem and to him it looks like a balancing shaft damage. He will have to investigate further and let me know. Thanks for your help.
Apr 6, 2018 at 5:25 AM
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STRAILER
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I was thinking balance shafts but wanted to try the easier stuff first. So to confirm you are getting a very steady vibration at idle then it goes away once the engine RPM is higher?
Apr 6, 2018 at 11:30 AM
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SHIRLEY VORSTER
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Hi, no the vibration is there all the time and if you look at the engine it is on the right hand side. the guy who is helping me will look at it in his spare time over the weekend so i guess i will just wait to see, but will keep you posted. thank you so much for your help.
Apr 6, 2018 at 11:43 AM
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STRAILER
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Sounds good please let us know. Is this an automatic transmission? if so It can be the torque converter.
Apr 7, 2018 at 11:51 AM