Bad vibration, any ideas?

[TheBerrynator]

Ok, so I have a bad vibration that is load dependent. It is not noticeable under low loads, in idle, or in 1st.
It is slightly noticeable at the high end of 2nd (around 35-40), and really noticeable in 3rd and 4th at 35-45, but fades away in 4th after around 45. It is also noticeable in 5th under acceleration going 75-80 down the interstate.

It is not the CV axle. we replaced that today, with no change in the vibration (I do now have a used CV if anyone wants it :P).
Currently we are thinking it is the engine mounts, because the engine moves quite a bit under load. One of my ball joints is also completely shot, which could be making it worse. The vibration does not go away when the car is on jackstands, and vibrates at the same ranges as listed above.

Am I missing anything? Does anyone have any experience with this?

[lemonhead228]

try to check all the motor mounts bushing. can be torn. my whole tranny mount rip completely and was resting on the mount (not attach) shit was nuts when i fount out the next day!

[02ep3413]

Wheel Bearing? It sounds very similar to when I had my wheel bearing go.

[Blue03Si]

Can you feel the vibration or is it more of a sound. Is it more prominent in the cabin and outside the vehicle or just in the cabin? Reason I ask is when my wheel bearings were going bad it was more of a grinding sound, and it was really only noticeable in the cabin. Outside the vehicle it was barely audible for some reason. I had a bad motor mount also and it was also produced more noise during shifts then it did vibrations. You'd hear a clunk noise. When ever I have vibration that gets worse with speed it usually is pointing toward a wheel alignment or tire balance issue.

[Dude717]

Same thing is happening to my car right now. I however saw improvement when I got new tires and it doesn't shake quite as much. However I suspect whether it was a balancing issue? Anyways I just hope it's nothing too serious.

[TheBerrynator]

We replaced the motor mounts and ball joints, the vibration is not near as bad, but it is still very there. Both the ball joints and two of the motor mounts were bad. (front "stopper", and drivers side mount)

There is no grinding noise at all, however there is a knocking noise I had thought was the motor mounts, (only hear it when you hit the gas when the motor shifts, just a single knock). The alignment is also out now, after being done 2 weeks ago... (lifetime alignments FTW)

before we did anything, we put the car on jackstands, and got the vibrations in the same speed/RPM ranges. There is no audible grinding noise when in or out of the car, hence we ruled out the wheel bearings.

So to recap:
What has been done: (in order)
Drivers side CV halfshaft
Both lower ball joints (alignment done here as well)
all motor mounts

The tires are balanced

Could it be the passenger halfshaft? I should add that they all look good.

EDIT: the tires are rated for 40k so they should have at least another 20k left. They look good and are balanced.

[Bwek]

Do the passengerside driveshaft

if it were your tires the car would vibrate all the time,

if it was a ball joint it would vibrate under load and decel,

if it was the motor mounts you'd only get a knock under sudden decel or accel.

A driveshaft can look good and be worn out at one of the cups, is your car lowered substantially, High mileage? Are they Oem or aftermarket (aftermarket tends to be rebuilt worn out driveshafts)

have you hit a curb lately? have you had your tires on a balance machine to see if they are spinning round and straight?

I could go on forever but I'm willing to bet on the passengerside drive shaft

[TheBerrynator]

Do the passengerside driveshaft

if it were your tires the car would vibrate all the time,
Firestone did report they were slightly worn around the edges, but doesn't seem to be too bad

if it was a ball joint it would vibrate under load and decel.
They were bad, the vibration did decrease after replacing them

if it was the motor mounts you'd only get a knock under sudden decel or accel.
Also were bad, this fixed 90% of the vibration

A driveshaft can look good and be worn out at one of the cups, is your car lowered substantially, High mileage? Are they Oem or aftermarket (aftermarket tends to be rebuilt worn out driveshafts)
The suspension is at stock height, I bought the car with 180k miles on it, it now has ~205k, so I don't know about the axles.

have you hit a curb lately? have you had your tires on a balance machine to see if they are spinning round and straight?
Firestone reported the tires balanced last fall when I had them checked, like you said, it does not vibrate all the time, so I doubt that is it.


I could go on forever but I'm willing to bet on the passengerside drive shaft

Will I be ok going with the RockAuto part that is 1/3 the price of Honda, or is this something I should buy OEM?

EDIT: the driver side axle is NOT OEM...

[tinman5]

Let me preface my suggestion with this: I dont know what the problem is, however I doubt its the axle.

I am leaning towards early stages of wheel bearing failure.
Possibly warped brake rotor (kinda doubtful but fairly cheap to rule out with a surface cut)
Drain and fill the tranny juice. Preferably into a clean container. You will be looking for excessive amounts of glitter or larger bits of metal. Wish I could be more clear than that. There will always be SOME glitter in the fluid thats the nature of the thing, what you dont want to see is bigger bits and slivers/shavings. Excessive yellow dust is your syncros wearing down. Not good. Dip a white paper towel into the used fluid or simply pour a bit of the used fluid through a coffee filter and see what you can see.

I dont know how helpful that is but figure $8-$10 for a rotor cut, maybe $20 for a couple quarts of Pennzoil Syncromesh, new Timken wheel bearings are under $50 plus whatever it costs to press in. I dont believe it's your gearbox but I have seen instances in which low fluid level causes a myriad of annoying issues and usually ending disasterously if left undiagnosed. Good luck and keep us posted with both your findings and results.

[Bwek]

Aftermarket axles are Ok just go for something with a lifetime warranty, up here in canada I can go into Part source buy a type s or regular axle for about $75 with a lifetime warranty and they just swap it no questions asked, just keep in mind aftermarket will last about 50-100,000 Km's where an oem one will easily last 250,000 kms

Tinman5 If it was early stage wheel bearing failure there would be no noticable Vibration and only noise when he puts load on the wheel aka when he turns Left and the noise would go away turning Right,

If it were the rotor it would only vibrate under braking and if the rotor were out of balance it would've been out since the day it was installed,

If it were the transmission being low on fluid Or had an Issue it would Make a Whirring noise and would make the noise Under accel and Decel as well as having issues shifting.

this is what I do day in and out the best I can give you from your description is a drive shaft

When a driveshaft develops excessive play in the cups (usually the outer cv joint it does almost all the moving) it gets thrown out of balance and when you put power through the shaft it exaggerates the play.


EDIT just saw you replied within the Quote, is the Vibration right after the car has been sitting for awhile then you hop on the highway and the vibes go away? If that's the case it would be your tires flat spotting it happens on old tires or some particular brands.

If the vibration is intermittent it Will Not be your driveshaft and most likely be your tires, its a hard thing to track, just because I bet by the time you drive to the shop the Vibes stop and it won't show on the machine cause the flat spot worked itself out, You could try to find a shop that has a RoadForce balancing machine I have one at my shop.

it has a roller that contacts the tire and can actually measure it's runout and if the belts are shifted pretty trick machine.

Further more if it is intermittent vibration it won't be anything that is Steel, Steel won't change its balance as you're driving along, Only Rubber does that sorta thing

[tinman5]

All very good points. It sucks diagnosing something sight unseen. But I am sure in your line of work you have seen the occasional random thing. I know I have.
As long as the op resolves his issue though, its all good.

[brian1414]

Im not trying to thread jack or anything but i also have similar symptom.
I can feet the front driver side vibrate noticeably in range of 20-35 mph range especially during decel.
I dont think it the rotor since i can feel it with out any brake engagement.
Im going to my local tire shop to get the wheel/tire balanced and try to work from there.
Anyone with any tips would be appreciated! Its annoying me quite a bit!!!

[02ep3413]

Havent been on in a while, did you wind up fixing everything? did the noise completely go away?

[HFPcivicSI]

Maybe you should put the Beach Boys album in your CD player.

Good vibrations! lol.. OK OK bad joke.. :)