its FWD. AT

 

when I start forward there is a shake in the car, its fairly wavelike and peaks at 25 mph then over 40 goes away as far as I can tell, I was at 60 and didnt notice it. The engine is very smooth , no misses, the trans shifts nicely. It reminds me of my bad axle, but the axle was much less a shake, but I had both front replaced about 7k miles ago. I reved the car and the engine is stable. I looked at the suspension and visually nothing, I shook the tires hard and there is no give at all. any ideas? I have no clue.

 

Only work I have done was put in a new o2 sensor a week ago

 

Only strange thing there is a canister with 2 hoses, its under the battery/washer res. the hose is all greasy, 1 hose goes to the radiator inlet for the trans cooler. Could this be the problem? What is it? thank you

How old are your tires? Do any of them have a slow leak? (requiring air to be added on a regular basis)

Or have you ever used Fix a Flat or silimilar leak sealer in any of them?

Tires have 3-4 k on them I checked them and all seemed solid, never had to fill any.

 

Only strange thing there is a canister with 2 hoses, its under the battery/washer res. the hose is all greasy, 1 hose goes to the radiator inlet for the trans cooler. Could this be the problem? What is it? thank you

 

this sounds like an inline trans fluid filter. these were an add-on in the early 90s, i think. and done away with by the mid 90s. by 99 thay designed them back into the auto trans by having the thread onto the side of the trans housing.

 

does your shudder occur while decelerating as well???

Ok, that should rule out water or leak sealer goop settling at the bottom of the tire when stopped and throwing off the balance as you accelerate.

 

How long has the shake been going on? Does it change depending on temperature at all, or is wheel speed the only factor?

 

You just had the axles replaced, did you make sure both are completely seated into the differential housing? If you pull out on the inner cv joint does it slide out of the diff any?

 

Have you ever had any of the engine mounts replaced?

this sounds like an inline trans fluid filter. these were an add-on in the early 90s, i think. and done away with by the mid 90s. by 99 thay designed them back into the auto trans by having the thread onto the side of the trans housing.

 

does your shudder occur while decelerating as well???

 

 

It seems to gradually increase to 25-30 then decrease above that

Ok, that should rule out water or leak sealer goop settling at the bottom of the tire when stopped and throwing off the balance as you accelerate.

 

How long has the shake been going on? Does it change depending on temperature at all, or is wheel speed the only factor?

 

You just had the axles replaced, did you make sure both are completely seated into the differential housing? If you pull out on the inner cv joint does it slide out of the diff any?

 

Have you ever had any of the engine mounts replaced?

 

I changed the o2 sensor saturday and drove the car twice , it was fine.

 

I cant tell about the axles and the mounts are orig, but when I rev the engine hard it is stable.

Your rotors might be warped, how does it feel at high speed when you apply your brakes?

These are my 2 observations after checking the car today. Car brakes ok.

 

If I get it to 35 mph where the max shake is and shift to neutral it seems to improve( but I am also taking foot off gas). I thought trans but trans usually slips , this trans shifts great.

 

I jacked up each front and the passenger side has definite play when I grab the front and rear of tire and wiggle it. There seems to be a slight outer edge tire tread wear .

 

I am not really sure what it is:confused:

That's a good clue. Did you try to move the top and bottom of the wheel?

Did you check the lug nuts? I have left lug nuts loose a few times after doing suspension or brake work, and driven down the road a half mile or more before I realized what was up.

If the movement is only fore/aft then it would be a bad tie rod end, or possibly a severely worn lower ball joint. Either of those would make a noticeable clunk though when driving.

It could also be the wheel bearing. It would have to be REALLY bad, rephrase that, a completely SHOT wheel bearing to throw off the alignment of the wheel enough to make it wobble noticeably and it would make a terrible noise.

Edited November 1, 200916 yr by Fairtax4me

Only side to side motion, I had my wife do it and I looked unfer and it looked like the area where the axle boot met the wheel looked like it had some play, the ball joint was solid.

I have a similar problem. The wobble only occurs during turns at low speeds.

Braking helps stabilize the wobble and so does accelerating. I have a 92 automatic transmission legacy, the 2.2 L non-turbo, and the transmission has a "power" mode (opposed to manual) that is out. When I pin the wheel to one side and drive slow it is not very smooth and the wobble becomes intense.

The work I have done to address the issue:

replaced lower ball joint

replace half shaft

replaced brake pads and rotors

replaced knuckle assembly that contains bearing

replaced bearing

replaced wheel and rim

 

Nothing has improved the issue

 

I am thinking it is possibly:

power steering rack

steering ball joint

steering pump

automatic transmission bearing??(does this exist??)

(after reading this thread) motor mounts

 

any help would be appreciated.

What ever happened with this problem?

It was a 2 year old left drive shaft unit that went bad.

I am thinking it is possibly:

power steering rack

any help would be appreciated.

What ever happened with this problem?

 

Check the bushings that hold the rack in place.

I am pretty sure it is the steering rack. I can rock the wheel with one hand on the front of the tire and one opposed. There is a slight knocking sound and the steering control arm moves in unison with the knock.

 

I have a parts car and need to yard the rack out of it yet. I have never done any steering rack work so I am hesitant to start. I will probably finish this weekend and post results.