E46 BMW 320d - whole car shaking at idle

[to3m]

This has only happened to me once (so far?) - switched the engine on last Sunday, I think, and the whole car started shaking and wobbling in a most alarming fashion, seemingly in time with the engine sound. Quickly switched it off before thinking to do any further analysis, as I was afraid it would shake itself apart, and then back on -- and no problem. Been behaving OK since, but I do wonder... maybe something could be wrong with it?

Car is not exactly new (9 years old, 133,500 miles) but seems in fair shape; certainly, I've not skimped on repairs or servicing.

A web search was a bit inconclusive, as I found various seemingly unrelated problems discussed -- but two leads I found suggested engine mounts ( http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f18/2002-e46-3... ) or -- as far as I can tell -- nothing to worry about ( http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/posts/?t=9099 ). I found a couple of others inbetween. So, uh... I'm none the wiser. Big deal, or no deal? Does anybody have any suggestions? Has this happened to somebody else -- what was the outcome?

Edit: oops, title doesn't say, sorry -- this has a manual gearbox, and (if it's relevant) it's the 150hp model

Edited by to3m on Friday 15th October 20:55

[rassi]

I would suspect one or more faulty injectors. Had the same with my 530d.

[bolide]

I've driven a few 320Ds and they all seemed to vibrate at idle. I called my local BMW dealer and they hadn't sold any engine mounts in months. So I think some vibration is common to the 4-cylinder models. The 330Ds don't do it

Sounds like you have a different problem

Nick Froome

[to3m]

There's "vibrate" (don't think it does that very much, not that I can feel anyway), and there's "shake alarmingly" (which usually it doesn't do) -- this was definitely the latter

Since nobody has popped up to say that my car is about to shatter into a thousand tiny pieces, I'll just wait for it to happen again before I start worrying further. Thanks!

[bluetone]

You have a diesel.

HTH!

[to3m]

Indeed!

A certain amount of vibration is to be expected, and my worry is not that I can tell the difference between when the car is switched on, and when it's switched off. My worry is that on this occasion, it felt like I was sitting inside a washing machine. I'm quite used to what my car normally feels like when it's switched on and doing nothing. This was not like that...

[rassi]

Again: injectors would be my suspected culprit