Vibration in every gear from about 1900 to 2500 rpm - worse under heavier loads and driving uphill.

[DaveM111]

I just bought a 2020 Rebel w/ the Ecodiesel and it has a strong high frequency vibration - like a buzz or whirring noise - that is also strong in the steering wheel, pedals and floors especially under load. Not even 1,000 miles yet. It's evident at engine rpm, not road speed - so probably not the drive shafts, u-joints, diffs, or tires. I'm guessing a motor mount or potentially an injector. In fact, I just got the torque specs for the motor mounts from my dealer, buts its zero and snow - so I'm not crawling under the truck, right now. Anyone have an issue like this? I want to take it in, but I'm afraid of the potential runaround with the service dept. and them saying it's the tires. They've already mentioned its "just how these trucks are".
Any help or pointers are appreciated.

 

[J-Cooz]

Take it in and let them deal with it, and contact Ram cares on the forum to help you out.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Take it in and let them deal with it, and contact Ram cares on the forum to help you out.

Dont put up with that from a service manager, know it hasn't happened yet but still...

 

[tom318]

I have a slight vibration in the steering wheel at these rpm/loads as well. If just cruising its not that noticeable but highway at 70mph with a head wind, I felt the truck working and slight vibration in the steering wheel. Its been like that since day one and rarely do I notice it unless its long stretch's with the truck under load. Even then I wouldn't describe it as strong or noisy so I'm not sure its the same thing. Personally I don't think its right but I could see many claiming its "normal" or overlooked by the designers. At least in my case since I feel its very minor.

 

[DaveM111]

I have an appointment for Service on Tuesday. More to follow.

 

[DaveM111]

My dealer's service department opened up a Star case for my issue and are keeping the truck overnight to run tests and diagnostics tomorrow.

 

[Pequod]

Was your dealer able to resolve the vibration issue or at least identify the cause? I am experiencing the same vibration issue and it’s gaining amplitude over a wider rpm range. Now at 4500mi. While it’s not severe, it certainly feels cheap in an expensive truck. I might accept this in an old clapped out Geo Metro, but not a new $65K vehicle. Getting ready to see the dealer soon.
Please share your results with us. TIA.

 

[DaveM111]

They had the truck for about 10 days and ran tests with their vibration testing system. Here is what they told me the Star team stated, and it's what they wrote up on the maintenance sheet. "We test drove another vehicle comparable to yours; there are reports of this being a normal characteristic of the active vibration cancellation system. They don't think that there is a diesel engine performance issue." They didn't do anything otherwise. When I picked it up, I asked the service manager what was actually causing it, and he repeated that line. I said "sure there are reports that this is a normal characteristic, but that doesn't explain what is causing this one on this truck and that they 'think' there isn't a problem isn't' good enough-I want them to know". He said "we don't know what else to do." So my next option is to either go through this again or take it somewhere else. It didn't do the vibration on the way home so I called the service department and asked, again, if they had done anything. Nope. Not a thing. I guess I'm going to have to put my old Harley bell on my truck to keep the gremlins off.

 

[NWRogue]

Every time I drive my truck now I pay closer attention to odd vibrations/noises. So far nothing. Mines a Limited so maybe my extra weight/air suspension is hiding this, but i've not felt any unusual vibrations, especially as bad as you describe.

Here's hoping that you find some relief for this. Have you escalated to @RamCares yet?

 

[DaveM111]

Not yet. No.

 

[Hydroblueguy]

I just bought a 2020 Rebel w/ the Ecodiesel and it has a strong high frequency vibration - like a buzz or whirring noise - that is also strong in the steering wheel, pedals and floors especially under load. Not even 1,000 miles yet. It's evident at engine rpm, not road speed - so probably not the drive shafts, u-joints, diffs, or tires. I'm guessing a motor mount or potentially an injector. In fact, I just got the torque specs for the motor mounts from my dealer, buts its zero and snow - so I'm not crawling under the truck, right now. Anyone have an issue like this? I want to take it in, but I'm afraid of the potential runaround with the service dept. and them saying it's the tires. They've already mentioned its "just how these trucks are".
Any help or pointers are appreciated.

Oh boy, good luck I fought this for a year, until I got it to fall under lemon law. After several visits to dealers and new parts with no fix, tires worn and chewed up at 5000 miles, 7 tire balances in 7900 miles. Even the road force balance that Jane from ram cares told me fixes all vibration issues, BS! I was told it was normal, I was told just drive it. I was denied a truck to test drive to compare the drive to mine. I had a 8 page narrative typed up for my lawyer! Even the ram specialist that was sent to the dealer said my vibrations were out of spec and something was not right. I was told tires, went to tire shop, they said tires were fine but all rims were warped, wouldn’t hold balance, alignment, never went down the road straight from day one! Ram refused me new rims, so they bought it back and I had a 2021 built, 350 miles on it so too early to tell. Good luck, I’d take it to the dealer and tell them to keep it till it’s fixed, they have no clue and there is no fix! Hit your 30 days and lemon law it!

 

[NWRogue]

Oh boy, good luck I fought this for a year, until I got it to fall under lemon law. After several visits to dealers and new parts with no fix, tires worn and chewed up at 5000 miles, 7 tire balances in 7900 miles. Even the road force balance that Jane from ram cares told me fixes all vibration issues, BS! I was told it was normal, I was told just drive it. I was denied a truck to test drive to compare the drive to mine. I had a 8 page narrative typed up for my lawyer! Even the ram specialist that was sent to the dealer said my vibrations were out of spec and something was not right. I was told tires, went to tire shop, they said tires were fine but all rims were warped, wouldn’t hold balance, alignment, never went down the road straight from day one! Ram refused me new rims, so they bought it back and I had a 2021 built, 350 miles on it so too early to tell. Good luck, I’d take it to the dealer and tell them to keep it till it’s fixed, they have no clue and there is no fix! Hit your 30 days and lemon law it!

Was yours a Rebel as well? If so, your tire shop probably has it right about the rims being the source of the problem. And why my Limited is not showing any vibrations, 20" rims on mine.

 

[Pequod]

Thanks for sharing all this information. It doesn’t sound like resolution to this issue is going to be easy. Does anyone know what

Was yours a Rebel as well? If so, your tire shop probably has it right about the rims being the source of the problem. And why my Limited is not showing any vibrations, 20" rims on mine.

They had the truck for about 10 days and ran tests with their vibration testing system. Here is what they told me the Star team stated, and it's what they wrote up on the maintenance sheet. "We test drove another vehicle comparable to yours; there are reports of this being a normal characteristic of the active vibration cancellation system. They don't think that there is a diesel engine performance issue." They didn't do anything otherwise. When I picked it up, I asked the service manager what was actually causing it, and he repeated that line. I said "sure there are reports that this is a normal characteristic, but that doesn't explain what is causing this one on this truck and that they 'think' there isn't a problem isn't' good enough-I want them to know". He said "we don't know what else to do." So my next option is to either go through this again or take it somewhere else. It didn't do the vibration on the way home so I called the service department and asked, again, if they had done anything. Nope. Not a thing. I guess I'm going to have to put my old Harley bell on my truck to keep the gremlins off.

 

[Pequod]

Thanks for sharing this information. Sounds like there isn’t going to be an easy resolution to this issue.
Does anyone know what the “active vibration cancellation “ is? Internal or external counter balancer?

 

[Pequod]

Some looking around finds the AVC to be used on the Hemi engines to compensate during cylinder de-activation. I can't find anything indicating that the AVC system is present on the Ecodiesel.

 

[NWRogue]

Here's the Mopar parts giant details: 68290387AC - Genuine Mopar MODULE-CONTROLLER (moparpartsgiant.com)

Definitely for the Hemi. If I "Check Fit" for my 2020 ED, it says "This part does not fit the vehicle you selected".

ED has an "Active Noise Cancellation" module, but pretty sure that just sends sound through the audio system to mask random ED noises. I doubt very seriously that it will cause vibration as you describe.

Edit: on the mopar parts giant site, the only way to get the AVC to show up is to tell it you have a non-ED truck. If you search with an ED truck you get no results, the only results returned for "active" are for the noise cancellation and the active shutters.

Above where I say "Hemi" probably only the eTorque.

 

[Hydroblueguy]

Was yours a Rebel as well? If so, your tire shop probably has it right about the rims being the source of the problem. And why my Limited is not showing any vibrations, 20" rims on mine.

Laramie sport with the inserts, I ordered different rims on the 21 and yes your limited has different rims. But I’ve seen people on here with the limited having the same issue. I honestly think I had several issues going on or one was causing the others? I also have 20” duelers.

 

[Pequod]

Rogue, thanks for the info. I couldn’t find anything related to AVC on the diesel either.
My first inclination was to blame the vibration on bad fuel mapping, maybe something associated with hitting an EPA target, but it’s worse under load so that theory fails. The more miles I put on it, the more it feels like resonance. If the dealer can’t help, I’ll most likely end up strapping some vibration gear on it and see what I can find. Probably easier to just lemon law it...

 

[NWRogue]

What's more depressing in this thread is the fact the dealer and star team think an ED has an AVC, when based on parts searches it most definitely does not. Seems to be a common theme on the problems that either take forever to get resolved and bad information or unwillingness to spend the time to properly diagnose the problems. Which is probably related to how complex our trucks have become from back in the day when you could work on your truck by climbing in the engine bay and stand on the frame rails with room to spare. Yes, I'm that old.

I'm a bit over 6k miles since I got mine (COVID has me working from home, so mostly running to the grocery store lately), no vibrations, so keeping my fingers crossed it is a day one issue and not something that just starts happening at random points.

 

[Hydroblueguy]

What's more depressing in this thread is the fact the dealer and star team think an ED has an AVC, when based on parts searches it most definitely does not. Seems to be a common theme on the problems that either take forever to get resolved and bad information or unwillingness to spend the time to properly diagnose the problems. Which is probably related to how complex our trucks have become from back in the day when you could work on your truck by climbing in the engine bay and stand on the frame rails with room to spare. Yes, I'm that old.

I'm a bit over 6k miles since I got mine (COVID has me working from home, so mostly running to the grocery store lately), no vibrations, so keeping my fingers crossed it is a day one issue and not something that just starts happening at random points.

My 19 was from day one, well I drove it home 1004 miles in one day , dead *** tired, but I really noticed it on day two! With 1036 miles on it.