I have a 96 accord lx and over the past month or so there has been a vibration in the front end that has gotten progressively worse. The vibration only happens between 50-70mph under hard acceleration and goes away above 70mph. Also goes away if you let off the gas or put in the clutch between 50-70 At first, it felt like a classic wheel bearing symptom, so I checked it and sure enough there was a good amount of play in the bearing / hub, so had honda replace it.

Got the car back and there was still the vibration, so I swapped the front tires to the back and the back to front, thinking that it might be a balance or warped rim issue, that made no difference. So sent it back to the dealer and they now thought it was the drivers side, inner cv joint, it had alot of play in it and or the balancer belt was off by a notch. Since I had screwed up balancer belts by one notch before I knew that wasn't it (the whole damn motor ran rough all the time, wether the car was runing down the road at 70 or sitting in the driveway).

Honda didn't have an axle in stock, so I got an aftermarket one from the local carparts store. When I removed the axle from the car, it came apart in 2 pieces, so immediately, I thought that was the problem. Put it back together w/ a new axle and test drove it to no avail, the problem was still there.

I jack the car up again, and start going over everything in the front suspension(car has about 200k on the suspension so I couldn't assume it wasn't the dumbest little thing). Upon checking for play in the suspension, I wiggle the wheel (that had the bearing and hub replaced) right to left, and sure enough there is a bit of play in it :angry: I first thought it was the bearing going bad after 2 days, but then had a friend wiggle it while I was under the car and the tie rod looks to be the culprit.

It is Sunday and honda is closed, so before I take it back and seriously bitch, I am wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem. I have seen shocks cause an under acceleration vibration, but only when u are commig out of a light or something. I also thought about a problem internal to the trans, but I have never seen a problem(except syncros) go bad on a honda 5spd,
especially since it only has 65k on it.

If it is of any relevance, the motor and trans were replaced about 10k ago(they both had 65k on them), wth clutch/ pressure plate, resurfaced flywheel, timing belt, balancer belt, water pump, new right axle, new front brakes / pads, and new tires all around(dunlop sp5000 205/55/15)