car vibrating violently when driving :(

[dbn]

hey guys,

well today i have had my first major prob with my lude

i was just driving along normally in pretty heavy traffic....all was going fine until i pulled up at a set of lights... then as i took off the car started vibrating really heavily once it was at a speed of above about 20-30kms...

the heavier the throttle i applied the more violent the car would shake (i basically couldnt go over 60kms cos it was shaking so bad)

if i pushed the clutch in it would not vibrate/shake and just roll along normally, and the problem was the same in every gear...

when in neutral the car reved normally no shakes or anything (acutally just serviced it)

so im thinking something to do with the drivetrain maybe?? or clutch (which was changed about 5000kms ago)?? or dare i say ATTS??(unlikely i guess cos i wasnt cornering or anything...)

the other thing i noticed was that when releasing my clutch it would make a loud clicking sound when it reached about half way...

i wont have a chance to take it into a mech until next week...

anyone had this problem?

[TonyD]

id hazard a guess and say buggered engine mounts man. theyre meant to transfer vibrations of the engine to the chassis, but if theyre broken the car will just rattle around like a tin can.

i wouldnt drive it till it goes to the mechanic though ...

[dbn]

hmm..the thing is it would only vibrate when in gear and driving, for example if i was rolling in neutral at 80kms and held the accelerator at 3000rpm it wouldnt vibrate...and if im just sitting in the drive way and free rev it theres no vibrations at all..

what i noticed was a loud clicking sound when i release the clutch (felt like it was at the point where it engaged)

it didnt happen every gear change but it happens often, and it could make the sound no matter what gear i put it into (including reverse) when i release the clutch..

[shadou]

engine light ?

[T-onedc2]

What clutch are you running?
Perhaps busted clutch centre?

[dbn]

no engine light...the engine is very smooth, starting first time as usual, etc, etc..

im not too sure what clutch it is but the previous owner had it done about 7000kms ago...

sorry ima bit of a noob, but what would it mean to have busted the clutch centre?

i read somewhere someone had similar symptoms and a spring on the clutch plate had broken or something?

[T-onedc2]

A clutch centre twists inside the friction plate and it's movement is limited by usualy 4 springs to help absorb drivetrain jerking. If these break/collapse/fail it's just metal clunking against metal.
However the vibration frequency will vary constantly with throttle adjustment.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b55/Tykie/Iso9002_Clutch_Cover__Clutch_Disk__.jpg

[dbn]

cheers for the pic,

ok, so if i take it to a mech and they open her up they will be able to see straight away if a spring is busted or something...or should i take it to a clutch specialist?

the vibration is stronger when i place more throttle

now..can they be repaired, or is it pretty much gonna mean a new clutch, and would that damage the flywheel aswell? (is that what it would be hitting?)

[T-onedc2]

Is the vibration the same frequency under any acceleration but more severe/violent with more throttle?

If so I doubt it's the clutch, but yes a good mechanic is your best bet.

[dbn]

well i took the car for a drive around the block today, and the vibration was a lot less, though still noticeable...

it was really bad yesterday after about half an hours driving in pretty heavy traffic,

but i'd say the vibration is more severe with the more throttle i apply

[T-onedc2]

Hmmm I'm thinking not clutch, get it checked out then let us know how you go

[dbn]

yeah, will do...

thanks for ya help!

[Bowzer]

i'd check your cv joints (drive shafts) before ripping out the gearbox

[dbn]

i'd check your cv joints (drive shafts) before ripping out the gearbox

ok so today i put the car on jack stands and got a mate to put it in first (gear) and take off slowly (i.e. wheels spinning in the air) and the clunk sound is almost definately coming from the right hand driveshaft..

though this isnt the usual cv joint sound when the grease dries out or something..

this is like one or two big clicking sounds and it doesnt look like it is spinning evenly, which i believe is whats causing the car vibrations..

i took the car for a drive and the vibrations are worse at higher speeds when applying throttle..

so im 99% sure its the driveshaft, and what i also noticed was, that even though the rubbers on the shaft had no cracks, there was grease all over the inside of the RHF wheel, which to me seems like the prev owner drove around with dried out cv joint for a while then just replaced the rubber...

now sorry that im ranting along a bit, i am a bit of a noob, but can just a bust driveshaft cause the car to vibrate badly, cos in my experience it just makes a clicking noise...

[tran06]

A busted driveshaft CAN cause the car to vibrate badly. This happened in my car, the exact same way u described with your car. Under acceleration, the car would vibrate violently, but once clutched in, it would be alright.

So yeah, it would be your driveshaft.

[dbn]

ah ok, yeh...cos with my old car it was bust and it didnt shake was just really noisy..

yeh im pretty sure its the driveshaft so i think im gonna change it over next weekend,

does anyone know if theres any difference in the drive shaft between a 'manual vtir' and a 'manual vtir atts'??

its the RH side one that i need

cheers for the responses guys..

[dbn]

all fixed :D

was just the RH driveshaft..so not too bad :D

[vinnY]

damn seems to be the same problem with my car
only vibrates on acceleration

glad to hear you fixed it, still trying to track down some driveshafts for my car :(

[migoreng]

i just remember a few months ago my car was jacked up and i could see a cv joint that looked oily and black. but i didn't have time to fix it and i've left it til now.
it's at the left front wheel and i noticed there were 2 joint?? well it's the one towards the front.

the thing is a month ago my car went in for a small service and an oil change but why didn't the mechanic mention anything about the joint? he would have seen the greasy joint for sure while draining the oil.

the thing is i don't hear any weird sounds while turning or anything.

[dbn]

if the rubber has cracked and the grease is leaking out of the boot it will only be a matter of time til you start hearing the noise...

just jack up your car carfully check the rubber boots are in good tact..

though i would worry too much cos at worst you'll need a new driveshaft which shouldnt set yyou back more than $100 and about $50 for labour (on my old eg civic i changed it over myself and only took bout an hour)

[vinnY]

what $100 drive shafts? where.....

[migoreng]

thing is i've done approx 5000km since i first saw the greasy looking joint.
but everything is still fine.
like i said why didn't my mechanic mention anything about it a month ago?
or could it just be some oil or something that no one has bothered to clean up?

[dbn]

what $100 drive shafts? where.....

for my civic i paid $90 changeover

my mech charged $125 changeover for the prelude..


thing is i've done approx 5000km since i first saw the greasy looking joint.
but everything is still fine.
like i said why didn't my mechanic mention anything about it a month ago?
or could it just be some oil or something that no one has bothered to clean up?

with my civic i did probably like 20,000kms before it became an issue...lol, i was very lazy, and the car had bigger problems for me to worry about

[migoreng]

so do you mean a dry cv joint can drive for like a year before it starts making noises?

[dbn]

hard to say exactly....like if you drive in the wet then water could force its way in faster and screw it up faster....also depends on how much grease is still in there, but yeah... with my experience you can go a while, but prob best to fix it next service

[J2daW]

My CV joint spat out all its grease on the inside of my RHS rim about a year ago and only now I have moderate - severe vibrations over 70kph in 3rd gear or higher under accelleration. Thanks for the info, i'll go get it changed. I thought it was going to last forever! Where's a good CV joint place in Sydney city/east/south?

[Gazz95Lude]

I had the opposite problem lol, my Prelude would vibrate a lot whenever no throttle or brakes were applied, it turns out i hadn't tightened my wheels nuts enough after painting my calipers and my wheels were shaking and moving about on the wheel studs :p

[Bludger]

I think you already answered your own question in the 1st post of this thread.

you're going to take it to the mechanic anyway....

your next post in this thread should be the results of going to the mech.