Weird engine vibration on my Creta rattles entire cabin: Need Advice

I have had a pretty much niggle-free ownership so far and now there are horrors of engine issues running in my mind.

BHPian attrip2008 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I own a 2018 facelift Creta petrol SX AT. It has served me very well for the past 4 years. However, yesterday a very weird incident happened (in my experience). My wife and I were heading out for some shopping and when I started the engine of the car, the whole cabin started to shake and the check engine light flashed. I immediately switched off the engine. I opened the bonnet to check the engine bay for any visible issues. Did not see any issue. With a nervous hand, I again switched on the engine. This time there were no vibrations or engine lights. Turned off and on the engine a couple of times and did not face any issues. We started on the road with reluctance but thankfully no issues and I am back. In fact, I did another short run after that.

But I am concerned due to this incident, a lot. I have had a pretty much niggle--free ownership so far and now there are horrors of engine issues running in my mind. The car is out of warranty.

When I searched through the forum, I figured that it was an engine misfire. And that it could be due to multiple reasons - spark plug, fuel mixture, wiring issue, etc.

Couple of things I am able to trace back:

• Got a tank full of HP Power petrol the previous night. Could it be a fuel issue?
• There are rats in my society's open area and as the car is parked outside, rats do make visits to the car. But I did not notice any visible signs of rodent damage.

Questions:

1. Has anyone else experienced this issue in Creta petrol or otherwise? How common is this?
2. What should be my next course of action here? Can I diagnose the problem myself? Should I be running to the SC or just wait?

Thanks in advance.

Here's what BHPian kosjam had to say on the matter:

While I don't own a Creta, nor do I have a petrol car, a couple of things immediately come to mind:

1. One possibility is one of the engine mounting bolts (the bolts that are used to mount the engine to your car chassis/body) has come loose or fallen off. It may have shaken into a position which temporarily is such that it's not causing more vibrations.
2. The Second possibility is that one of the injector solenoid valves temporarily got stuck in the open position, causing an abnormally large amount of fuel to be injected into one of the cylinders, causing a large imbalance of power which caused violent vibrations.

Stopping and restarting the car may have resolved the issue if it was an electrical one, or there might have been some solid particle obstruction in the valve which prevented it from closing fully, which has since passed.

If the problem does not come again, the SC won't be able to help much, he might change the fuel filter and/or check the fuel lines. Or maximum, he might run an error code check to see if anything was amiss.

Best to play a wait-and-watch game, as this seems to be a one-off issue. If it does happen again, try to take a recording of vibrations/engine lights to show the SC people.

Here's what BHPian Eddy had to say on the matter:

The ignition coil is gone. Happened to me too a long time back.

Check this link. See post 1 for the problem and post 25 for the resolution.

Here's what BHPian Samba had to say on the matter:

In these modern cars, if the check engine light blinks even once, the ECU will register the cause of the error. A simple OBD scan will tell you the actual reason.

If it does not, wait for the problem to reoccur once more. It will surely show in an OBD scan.

This can occur due to multiple reasons. No point in speculating and shooting up your blood pressure!

Here's what BHPian Vaishak had to say on the matter:

I own a 2020 Polo TSI and this has occurred to me more than once (thrice, if I’m not wrong). Never had a CEL but experienced heavy vibrations in the cabin. As soon as I restart it, everything’s back to normal as if nothing happened at all. I also could not recreate it again. The last time it happened was about a year ago. Checked for rat visits but nothing seemed out of place. Since it never happened again, I didn’t go behind it.

Here's what BHPian jaideepshinh had to say on the matter:

Hi, this could be a failing crankshaft position sensor. This particular sensor has a slow failure- keep observing if this issue reoccurs, and if it does, swap out this sensor (it's normally not expensive)

Normally when you restart, the error clears and the car works well again but might start shuddering again when the sensor acts up.

This happened to me in my W203 Mercedes, and the service centre wasn't able to diagnose the issue as the error clears automatically whenever the car is switched OFF and ON. It is an inexpensive repair, just a headache for diagnosis. I found it by using a standard OBD Scanner and looking for real-time data while driving. You get alarm codes of misfires first and then it changes to the crankshaft position sensor after some time.

This is most likely not a mechanical issue considering that it became OK when you restarted the car. If it was mechanical in nature (loose bolt, engine mount etc) it would be a persistent issue and not something which disappears with a restart.

Best of luck with your repair!

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