503 has a semi-new vibration

[IncorpoRatedX]

Quoting turbowop:
I'm bringing this back up...

I ended up replacing all three u-joints and the problem is still there. I replaced the saggy front motor mount as well. Then I took brianawd's known good driveshaft off his car that he's parting out and swapped it tonight. Still f***ing vibrates at freeway speeds under load. I checked the front half shaft bearing while i was under the car and it's good and tight.

Could the rear pinion bearing cause this? The flange feels normal back there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif I'm getting sick of the paint shaker feeling the car gives when I go to pass somebody on the highway. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif



A rear pinion bearing could cause the vibration, that was why i originally swapped my rear diff. Ive put 3, good working 4 bolt LSD diffs in my car making sure i wasnt crazy. Also check the drivehaft angles, a worn clutch disc can cause some weird stuff, especially if the inner splines are worn.. chasing these vibrations are so annoying. I'm happy to say mine are gone and my car is butter smooth. But it sure was a lot of work.

 

[Wizardawd]

If you are running a welded center or equiv, try removing the rear driveline completely and narrow it down.

Only time I had an accell only vibration was when my clutch hub had come apart due to the transmission mounting bolts being loose.

Bad inner cv joints cause it too as well as bad motor mounts, but looks like you hit those already.

Wiz

 

[WaRrIoRs16]

Did this car have frame damage at one point? Could it be something to do with that possibly?

 

[turbowop]

It's been free of vibrations for a few years though, so I don't think that has anything to do with it.

 

[fuel]

does it still have balance shafts?

 

[turbowop]

No balance shafts.

 

[mooserage]

Ok, I read most of the replies, and I think I have a couple of suggestions for some things I've experienced, but hopefully you can eliminate them.

-I too had a bad rear U-Joint that did exactly what you describe, but that's been eliminated in your case I believe.
-I recently had my crankshaft sprocket separate, which made the car vibrate under load, although not as much as the u-joint or transfer case did.
-Lastly, when I first got my car, I noticed it vibrated more at speed and under load. I also got a low speed thump when cornering. I finally found out what was causing all that when my t-case locked up at 70mph in the middle of S. Dakota. Luckily it just ground it self to a slow halt, but oddly it did something similar 2 weeks before when it felt like it was dragging itself along for a few minutes (40mph) before I pulled over and let it cool. It went back to being its normal self for two more weeks before it locked up. I had been driving the car like this for about 6 months, it was just a really slow t-case failure. Fixed the t-case and didnt have vibrations again for 3 years, then the u-joint started going.

So if you know your t-case is good, you can ignore that, but it may also be worth looking at the rear diff as others suggested.

 

[turbowop]

I have a spare t-case I got from Brian. I'll swap it in and see what happens.

 

[turbowop]

I can't f***ing believe this, but it was the front CV axles. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

I've been underneath this goddamn car so many times pulling out driveshafts, replacing u-joints, etc. When this first started occuring last fall, the frequency of the vibration made me think driveshaft. I still checked out other things like the axles, but the boots were good and shaking them didn't really cause excess movement...at least I thought. After pulling them off the car, the driver's side inner CV had a little play, but not enough that I would have thought it would cause the horrendous shuddering the car was doing. I was wrong. I went down to O'Riellys and picked up a couple of new lifetime warranty front axles. Took them home, installed them, went out for test drive on the freeway. Smooth as butter. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Oh well, at least that's fixed now. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Gombos]

Wish I would have seen this earlier, but I had the same issue in my 2g eclipse that I used to have. Also found this to be the issue in a friends '03 bone stock honda accord. Nothing seemed out of order upon visual inspection, but sure enough when I changed the axles, the vibration vanished.

 

[mooserage]

Glad to see you figured it out, these threads are what I search for whenever I have a problem. I know what you mean about thinking of something at the very beginning. I hate when I forget a good idea only to have it re-appear after trying out a million other things /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsugh.gif

 

[uncleben4rice]

Dude, I just had this same problem. I changed entire drive shaft from parts car, had balance checked for tires, checked rear diff, I had just changed my axles so I was thinking it could not be them, they looked to be in good shape with no sign of damage. I changed them anyways and the vibration went away. We opened the boot on the axle and sure nuff one had come apart. Just my .02 cent.

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

Quoting turbowop:
I can't f***ing believe this, but it was the front CV axles. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

I've been underneath this goddamn car so many times pulling out driveshafts, replacing u-joints, etc. When this first started occuring last fall, the frequency of the vibration made me think driveshaft. I still checked out other things like the axles, but the boots were good and shaking them didn't really cause excess movement...at least I thought. After pulling them off the car, the driver's side inner CV had a little play, but not enough that I would have thought it would cause the horrendous shuddering the car was doing. I was wrong. I went down to O'Riellys and picked up a couple of new lifetime warranty front axles. Took them home, installed them, went out for test drive on the freeway. Smooth as butter. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Oh well, at least that's fixed now. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif



worse part of having AWD: so many points of failure.

but it's nice having it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif