The engine on my 2004 Daihatsu Sirion M100 has started faulting after 180,000km. What could it be?
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Asked by Peter
The engine on my 2004 Daihatsu Sirion M100 was running perfectly for 180,000km but in the last few weeks it has started vibrating severely when idling after selecting reverse and the engine is cold. After the engine gets hot, the idle returns to normal. The idle is normal in every other position. Also, the exhaust is black and spits black water. Engine mounts have been suggested as a cause of the problem, but they are okay.
Answered by CarsGuide
23 May 2025If the engine mounts are indeed in good condition (and it can be hard to tell just by looking) then you might be looking at a problem with the idle speed settings. Engines typically idle more slowly when they’re cold and in gear and there’s usually a compensation for this. In an electronically controlled engine like the Sirion’s, this idle-up function will be a job for the onboard computer. But if the computer has lost the plot or isn’t getting the right signal from, say, a temperature sensor, then it can’t bump the idle up a fraction when it needs to. And then, once warmed up, the engine seems normal.
A cold engine that spits a little water out the tailpipe is completely normal. Water is one of the by-products of the combustion process. It’s black because it mixes with soot in the exhaust system. But we only see it when the engine is cold, as once warmed up, the exhaust system turns the water to steam and we don’t see it. A black exhaust in a modern car that runs on ULP is completely normal also.
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