2023 F-Sport 2WD V6. So since new, I've gotten a faint, but very annoying engine vibration sound when lightly accelerating. Usually kicks in just before the trans upshifts and just after it made the shift. Speeds from zero to about 45 mph. Sound lasts for a few seconds. It also kicks in when lightly accelerating up hills and holding steady (lightly) on the throttle. When that is happening, I can replicate the sound constantly until I let off the throttle. Any harder throttle input cancels out the vibration sound.

IT'S DRIVING ME NUTS! I brought it up at my last two services, but they say they can't replicate it. It's at the point now where it does it almost constantly, under very light throttle and over all uphills when the engine is lugging.

I've made a few posts about this before, but got no response. Next service is due in a few weeks and I'd love to get some intel here and arm myself with something for the dealer since they have been helpless thus far. My original thought was something defective with the fake engine sound machine (I've turned it on and off, makes not difference). But now I'm thinking may be something to do with the actual transmission, since it's so specific to before and after shifting. Also frustrating is the service writer told me he cannot write down "vibration sound." He has to describe it differently or the tech won't understand. But there is no other word I can come up with other than the sound of a vibration. *HELP*

 

What’s the RPM value in each gear when the sound occurs?
Can you replicate it in manual mode in a particular gear at a particular speed?
If you can get definitive information about when it occurs, they might not brush you off so easily.
My guess would be something like a heat shield that vibrates in a certain RPM range, and is getting looser, so you hear it more often.

 

why not request that you drive along with the technician so you can replicate it for them.

 

Mainly at lower rpm. It only happens under very light acceleration or cruising up a hill. Most often just before and after an upshift occurs. Can happen between 0 and 45 mph.
Will also do it in manual mode.
Interesting about the loose shield idea. I will bring it up to them as a possibility. It has gradually worsened over time.
Thank you for your insight!

 

Will go that route. He's going to have to have decent hearing though, as it is not too loud. But it IS there and worsening over the course of the year.

 

is it some serious low freq vibration or more like buzzing?
in my 2015 is 350 some heat shield seems to be resonating at very specific RPM. def below 2k rpm, and the range is very narrow where it manifests - 50-100RPM difference, if that..

i was told by my lexus dealer that it was a heat shield.

 

To my ear, it sounds more like a vibration. I first thought the engine sound maker was malfunctioning, but it sounds like more of a physical thing rather than an electronic thing. Just odd on the timing. Always under very light throttle, lower rpm, just before and just after shifting up, and always heard more when going uphill. Perhaps if it is a heat shield, the angle of the hill activates it more (?). Then if I apply more throttle, it goes away. Also, it never happens when going over a bump. Can a heat shield only vibrate from acceleration and not from other movements or jarring?
Where is or are the heat shields located? The sound from the drivers seat sounds like somewhere in front of me.
Lastly, did you get yours fixed (did it go away)?

 

Heat shields will be above the exhaust system, between the exhaust pipes and car body, especially the cats, as they get really hot.
Harmonic vibrations are weird things, so bumps may not trigger them.

 

I didnt fix it. I think it either went away or I simply got used to it.