Acceleration vibrations, FIXED! - CV drive axles. Options

[samir0189]

The mounts were changed really just recently, within the last 15-20k miles, i don't know exactly when it was. I plan on having a look at them again, but i surely doubt its them, i really try to baby this car, i know shes got extremely high miles and I want things to last as long as possible til i can get the funds to either swap the engine out or rebuild this old 5s, with more power of course.

I try really hard not to do hard launches or shifts or anything that would bust the mounts but i will check again.

The shaking only happens on the highway between 50-70mph, there is no noises during turning,

and well actually, there is a clunking sound coming from the rear still, i thought i had solved it, i thought it was a little rubber thing on the caliper pin but it persists. The noise is a clunkity clunk clunk from dead stop, til about 20mph, from the rear left. could some suspension thing be loose back there and vibrating at highway speeds?

The only thing that gets me is, why does it smoothen out at 70+mph? What could be so selective as to only bother during 50-70?

[samir0189]

A bit of an update i guess:

Today i had a 4 wheel alignment done @ goodyear, everything checked out fine, had some things a little out of wack but its all good now, so that eliminates it from being a suspension problem i guess.

About the tranny, i dunno where around here to really take it, and i also have a question, though i dont know much about transmissions so please correct me if im wrong, but wouldn't all the gears have a problem, or wouldn't they all vibrate at a certain rpm? or something? why just on 3-5 and at between that speed value of 50-75ish?

another question, can rims be bent? would they take a correct balance if they were? cause the balance was fine on all wheels. How can i check this?

[samir0189]

Well guys, I did some extensive research and i've learned its quite possibly the CV joints. A large number of resources online have stated that CV joints don't necessarily have to click, but a sign that they are bad is also that during highway speeds (45-50mph+) the CV joint can vibrate annoyingly as mine is.

Tomorrow I will be going under the car to check if the boots are busted and if this is in fact my issue. If anyone has any input to confirm this or any experience changing these please don't hesitate to post!!

[Remy]

^^^ yes thats true your boots don't have to be torn to tell you that you have a bad axle, internal damage cannot be seen or heard sometimes same goes for your transmission.

[samir0189]

+1 so far.

[CaliJeff]

update?

[samir0189]

update?

I was just in the garage actually, i jacked her up, but i could only see the left side cv joint by the tranny, and it doesnt appear to be busted, but i couldnt really see the other side well at all, my jack wont go high enough, ill have to think of some other way to get it up higher.


ooh and i checked the motor mounts JUST in case to rule them out, and they are fine, 100%.

This post has been edited by samir0189: Nov 4, 2008 - 11:36 AM

[nnesto]

I had a similar problem a few years ago it was only when accelerating at higher speeds around 75mph. My cv joint were fine, had new tires balanced and nothing. I realised that it stopped when I pressed the clutch so I put in a new clutch and had the flywheel machined and it went away. Also recently it happened again and I thought the clutch was going but I took my car in and had all my fluids toped off and I must have been leaking transmission oil because it was really really low, after it was filled back up the vibrating stopped. I'm not sure if the fluids (lack of) were the cause this time or if my clutch is just going again(real cheap clutch, couldnt afford better at the time). Anyway hope this helps, if nothing else it gives you something else to cross off the list.

[samir0189]

I had a similar problem a few years ago it was only when accelerating at higher speeds around 75mph. My cv joint were fine, had new tires balanced and nothing. I realised that it stopped when I pressed the clutch so I put in a new clutch and had the flywheel machined and it went away. Also recently it happened again and I thought the clutch was going but I took my car in and had all my fluids toped off and I must have been leaking transmission oil because it was really really low, after it was filled back up the vibrating stopped. I'm not sure if the fluids (lack of) were the cause this time or if my clutch is just going again(real cheap clutch, couldnt afford better at the time). Anyway hope this helps, if nothing else it gives you something else to cross off the list.

Thanks for your input, but I'm fairly certain its not the clutch. I only have about 50k miles on it and it grabs great. My problem does go away when i step on the clutch too BUT i think thats only cause i'm removing the stress of the engine on the joints. I also changed my gear oil a few thousand miles ago and everything was okay there.

I'm going to have my axles changed sometime next week I hope, I'll update if that solved my problem after i get it done.

[samir0189]

WOOT! I fixed it guys! I had both my CV drive axles replaced a few hours ago, and the vibration is gone!!!! The car is as smooth as butter, I remember why I love it so much.

So to sum this up i guess, if you have a vibration that is not poor wheel balancing, check your axles!

For the record, these were the original axles i replaced at 241,100 miles, and the boots weren't busted! Isn't that amazing?! But they were worn pretty bad and obviously they were due for a change.

[Cutrara]

I forgot about the tranny, and he's probably right...you'd probably feel stronger wheel/front shake if it was the engine, but a shaking tranny would be a centralized vibration.

What??? This would make sense if the Celica was RWD.