2014 Outlander Phev 3H with overreving and vibration on steering when cold

[Ggreg]

I have a 2014 Outlander Phev 3H that I do my own maintenance on. On the last two trips of 44 miles on motorway and 35 mile on A-roads I noticed a distinct vibration coming through the car and the steering wheel, which once the car warmed up over the first 5 to 8 miles disappeared and the car drove normally.

Feels a bit like a wheel balance vibration and it noticeable with speed of around 55-70mph. But since it disappears, completely once warm, I am sure it is not wheel balance.

First time I drove 44 miles was at 10:30pm at night and was very noticeable. The EV battery was flat. Next day I drove to London early morning, also noticeable but disappeared again after 8 miles, EV battery was semI charged

Yesterday I took it for a 5 mile test run and it was slightly less noticeable, EV battery was fully charge but I put it on SAVE so the engine would kick in. The engine seems to over-rev when getting up to motorway speeds even if you are accelerating modestly.

Then again when the car warmed up it drove normally.

Any ideas? It sort of feels like not enough transmission fluid when could, and when the fluid warms up and expands it engages the gears properly. But since the Outlander PHEV does not have a conventional transmission it can't be that.

 

[AndyInOz]

Hiya.

A couple of things.

1. The car isn't over-revving. In 'Save' mode, the car will switch in and out of 'Charge' mode, when the engine is running to charge the battery it necessarily runs at higher RPM than what is needed to charge the car.

2. While the car doesn't have a gear box per se it does have a number of things with gears in them, i.e. the mechanism that is directly bolted on to the engine which handles parallel mode and using the engine to charge the battery, and also two transfer cases. Each motor powers two wheels via a transfer case. (Note that some people refer to these as the front and rear differentials). The service manual specifies the procedures for maintaining the fluid in these things.

3. From your description, and I'm guessing it is winter where you are now, I'll speculate that you may be having problems with 'flat spots' caused by under-inflated tyres, getting cold overnight. The symptoms are pretty similar. i.e. vibration when the car is cold that disappears as the tyres warm up with use. The worst case I've endured, was a commercial plane that was parked on the tarmac at Canberra overnight, we were all treated to a bone rattling ride on the taxiways...

 

[ThudnBlundr]

Another possibility if you're in a cold climate is that moisture in the air in the tyres freezes out overnight and acts like a wrongly-positioned balance weight. As the tyres warm up, the water melts and then evaporates back into the air so the problem disappears without trace :roll:

 

[kphipps]

Did you find a solution to the wheel vibration? I think I have the same problem. I've checked the tyre pressures and they are correct.

 

[Paras]

I do have the same problem in my PHEV and I have noticed that it happens when the battery is flat and the engine is trying to power the battery and drive both at once.