Extreme Vibration under acceleration

[smufguy]

Lately (past two weeks) i have started to experience some wabble thru the steering wheel under heavy accelaration and high speed. I dont feel it in first gear or second, but in third around 45 and if i stay in that gear and higher speed i dont feel it. In 4th, around 60 i feel it and again, if i go over it i dont feel it. If i am cruzin in 5th gear doing about 80 then i dont feel anything, then i hit the gas at wot, then the wobble is crazy as all get out. I have check all the bolts as far as the control arm; up and side and balljoint bolts are good. The damper fork bolts that holds the shox are good. All the Lug nuts are tight enough. I have not looked underneath the car, but i will check it later tomorrow i guess.

I am kinda thinking it could be the motor mounts, esp the front, even tho i dont know how a car would feel with a bad motor mount.

Any input or suggestion is greatly appriciated.

[Vanilla Sky]

my car did something similar, and it turned out to be a bamaged inboard driver's side CV joint... i was being my normal nieve self and drove too fast down a washed out road and i put indentions in my joint housing... not wear, mind you... i have the "cup" still, i can snap pictures for you...

one thing that happened to me though was my axle would come out of the differential housing when i turn because the joint was grabbing and not extending itself...

i rebuilt the joint with parts from 3 joints and now i don't have the problem...

[carotman]

Yeah this sounds like an inboard Cv joint starting to fail.

[bertoaccord89]

try having your wheels balanced .thats also could when your wheel are out of balance.see it alot at work .

[smufguy]

Jean and Derick, ill check on the driver side axle, do u think pass side inboard cv joint could cause this too? Cause i noticed a small tear in it.


try having your wheels balanced .thats also could when your wheel are out of balance.see it alot at work .

the tires were replaced 7K miles back and were balanced.

[bertoaccord89]

really doesnt matter how long ago it was done could of lost a wheel weight going down the road hit a good pot hole and could cause the wheel to lose balance .I have seen alot cars come into my dealer with the same conditions you say you have and balancing the wheels takes care of it .let me know if the cv's fix your problem very interested in knowing.

[smufguy]

ill inspect it tonight, and ill change it tomorrow. When u guys say change it, do u mean just change the inner cv boot or the joint itself?

also if the joint inside is loose outta the tranny, wouldnt the tranny fluid just drip down? i dont have any leaks so i dont know what it is.

[carotman]

Usually, it's the bearings inside the boot that will fail. Just replacing the boot will do no good. If there is a tear in it. Water and any other small debris might have been trapped in there and caused the 3 bearings to fail. An unbalanced tire will show a similar effect but will not change much if you'Re accelerating or not.

[Vanilla Sky]

i would change the whole axle out... when i did my driver's side, i was ultra strapped for cash and i knew the rest of the axle was good, so i ordered the boot kit from honda and used the best synthetic greas i could find and i changes the bearings and the housing, repacked it all, then booted it all up and it worked like a champ...

oh, i do believe that the honda grease that comes with the reboot kit IS a sybthetic... it's a lemon yellow opaque color... probably some of the best grease out there, so i'd go with it...

[smufguy]

i was gonna go for the autozone boot kit. cause it is like $15 and the one from Honda is like $26. So i guess ill get the Honda. Today it was less noticeable i dont know why.

[Vanilla Sky]

the one at honda is a better kit... it comes with grease and MUCH better clamps...

anyways, the whole axle is only $60 after core exchange, which is much better if you have the extra $30...

[hondamanlxi]

after breaking two axles in two days, i started to feel a vibration under acceleration... and then, a week later, the diff blew out of my tranny! Mind you, this is on a way-to-low car that puts the axles in a bind, but keep an eye out!

[smufguy]

my car has been this low for over a year and 35K miles on it since it hit the road in oct 2003. I hope its not the diff cause i dont have the time to put a new tranny in or do i have the finance to do so. I dont know why the diff would blow, but god i hope its not that. Im gonna change the boot tomorrow and ill see if the teeth or diff from the outside look any funny. THanks for the heads up tho, If im gonna swap the tranny for this diff, im defenitely getting a fucking clutch.

[Blkblurr]

try having your wheels balanced .thats also could when your wheel are out of balance.see it alot at work .

Wheels and tires out of balance cause vibration at one speed range. Not at speed ranges within each gear. This problem sounds similar to a problem a friend had with his 97 prelude. A spring lever came off his pressure plate and lodged itself in the pressure plate causing an out of balance condition while spinning. The pressure plate evenually got jammed and he could not longer disengage the clutch. On my 89 SEi a bad cv joint caused vibration like your describing in second gear only. Mine is an auto though.

[smufguy]

OKay i got the boot from the Dealership yesterday, rebuilt the shaft end. Took out the clips, the rollers and cleaned them good in gasoline (used) took out all the old grease from them, inspected it to see any cracks or chaffing that were visible, and there were none. Used Synthetic blend, high temperature CV grease, packed it all up and bolt it back up and it rides smoother than before, no vibration or anything. I think i lucked out on the diff for now. Changed the tranny fluid too, the old one was almost new, cause i changed it like 10K back, but i had to pull the CV on the tranny so i drained it. Thanks for your help guys, took me about 3 hours to pull the whole knuckle and axle out, but its all good now.

PS: The clamp i used is the screw on hose clamp and that screw has a big enough head to friggin hit my tranny and make a tapping sound everytime i drive. Its not too bad, but its just annoying if you can hear it.