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Weird shaking/vibration

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Old Oct 23, 2005 | 11:45 AM
  #1  
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Default Weird shaking/vibration

I have been experiencing this problem for almost two years in my 1995 Civic DX coupe with automatic tranny.

When driving at a very steady speed at very steady low RPMs, sometimes the car would start vibrating and shaking violently. It doesn't matter what the speed is as long as it is steady, and low rpms. but most of the time it happens at around 30 mph (city driving) and 50 mph (highway driving). It doesn't happen above 60 mph, because the RPMs get pretty high on the 4 speed auto.

When the vibrating happens, it instantly disappears if i give the car a little more gas, or let off the gas. It happens absolutely randomly, and also, the higher the speed the faster the shaking. For instance, if driving at 30 mph, the shaking feels as if you are driving over a bump over and over, at lets say 2-3 bumps per second. When driving at 55, it is a lot faster, feels like driving over a scarred pavement on the side of highway. The longest I was able to sustain the vibrating was maybe 30 seconds. The speed and rpms have to be super steady, slight more or less gas and it goes away immediately. While it starts pretty much randomly, I notice that most of the time it starts after I run over a bump. The shaking is not in the steering wheel, it comes from the engine department. I am not sure from where exactly, but I feels like its coming from the right side, where the transmission is. But in all honestly I'm not sure what kind of shaking it is, if its engine related, or if its mechanical, or if something is loose, no idea. The only thing im fairly sure of is that it's coming from the front of the car and not from the back.

It has been happening for almost two years, and it doesn't get worse, but doesn't get better either. Since I first experienced this shaking, I have replaced the following parts (for different reasons, not to get rid of shaking)
1) Distributor/plugs/wires
2) Four tires
3) Completely replaced the whole front suspension, including lower/upper arms, ball joints, inner/outer tie rod ends, sway bar links. The only thing in the front suspension that stayed are the spings/shocks, knuckle and wheel hub. The mechanic inspected the hub bearings and said they seem to be in excellent condition.

About 6 months before I first experienced the shaking, I have replaced rack and pinion, and both axles (I used axles from raxles.com). I also replaced power steering pump belts.

I showed the car to several mechanics and nobody seems to find a cause. Motor mounts seem to be ok, suspension/steering is fine, transmissions shifts smoothly, no grinding, missing, etc. Engine is running great, no problems with ignition. Most are saying that it is likely something is going inside the transmission, but 2 years later it still works.

Anyone know what it might be related to?
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Old Oct 23, 2005 | 05:27 PM
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A friend of mine had a car that made a vibration. It turned out to be the CV shafts weren't perfectly straight. In the manual, they talk about runout being measured at the midway point of the shaft.

I assume your tires are balanced. Do you have a wheel or more that don't run true (are they bent from side to side)? If you but the wheels from front to back does that affect it?

Get a trunk monkey to ride up with the engine and see what he says.
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Old Oct 24, 2005 | 08:38 PM
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bump
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Old Oct 24, 2005 | 11:19 PM
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i had the same problem. i got some poly urethane motor mount extentions off ebay for like $25 and put them in and it has been running great ever since. that and changed my suspension....
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Old Oct 25, 2005 | 06:08 AM
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are they hard to install on your own?
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