Preylude99:

Gee, I'm glad you're willing to experiment and try things to get the problem fixed!! I'm cheap by nature, i guess. I don't have instant messanger or anything like that, I'm just here at work!! My computer at home no workee. But please let me know. If that is the cause of my "vibrator", then I will get it fixed also!! I'm here at work from 5:15 am to around 4:00 pm EST, so if you don't hear from me I'm at home (probably asleep )

 

I got the mount in today but wont have time to do it, I will do it tommorow and let you know....my front mount looks a little worn so hopefully thats what it is....... inspect the rubber on your mounts and see how they are....

 

Yeah Preylude99, let me know how it goes and if it helps (fingers crossed). By the way, do you do all your own work on the car or does the dealer work on your car? Believe it or not, I have an associate degree in auto repair and maintenance and a good set of tools, but I've been letting the Honda dealer do most of the work on my car. I don't have the time or energy to do any of that stuff anymore.

Later

 

hey 2000prelude....... well the front mount had a crack in the rubber, i replaced it, and it made the shaking go away drastically......... hopefully thats what your problem is also.... check out the rear mount even though its hard to see...... also..... when you let it sit and idle and it is shaking.... feel the front bumper and see if it is vibrating/shaking, if so than it is most likely your front mount, even so the engine will vibrate/shake a little at idle, you shouldnt feel it on the body panels/steering wheel because the rubber in the mounts soak up the vibration..... it took away MOST of the shaking/vibration..... there is a TINY bit left now but i think that is normal especially when you turn the wheel cause of the power steering etc... and its probably also because now im looking for ANY sort of vibration or shaking but it was drastically improved because the rubber on the mount was cracked........also, I have a question for you..... when your car is warm and it is idling.... what does it idle at? or should I say how many bars below 1,000 rpms does it sit, because I cannot figure out if the second big bar after 0 is worth 500rpms or if it is still 0........ one last thing......I could not see the rubber broken when inspecting the mount from the outside, it was after I took the mount off that I saw the rubber cracked in the middle, it also makes the car accelerate a little bit smoother. If you are going to do it yourself.... take off the fan in front of the mount and it should be no problem, and if you have a jack then jack up the motor a little bit and have a 17MM wrench for the bolts.....

 

Hey Preylude99, that's great!!

Glad to hear the prob is solved. I guess it's my turn now, by the way, how much did the front mount cost, and where did you get it? Cann't wait to get mine done and return to a smoooth idle. Thanks a lot dude, I'll let you know what happens to mine.

Silly me, I didn't answer your question. It's early here 6am and I haven't had breakfast yet. I'll go out to the car and look, and I'll post back in a couple a minutes.......

 

the second line above 0 would be 500 rpm preylude99.

 

hey 2000prelude...... it cost me 58 dollars from the dealer...... but hold off on that right now...... it was cracked..... but i dont know if it solved it completely yet, tommorow i need to fix the mount a little bit because it seems to be touching the piece that holds the tranny on, so that could be the problem why i still get some vibration then I will let you know..... but it was definitely cracked on the rubber....

 

hey 200prelude..... also....let me add that, the vibration on mine before I changed the mount was a lot, I dont know how it is on yours but it may not be as bad as mine was. However, mine still vibrates a little bit and people are suggesting it could be dirty fuel injectors.....Since ive owned the car at 45K miles (now has 52K) ive only used the highest octane I could find at the pumps, but who knows what the previous owner used........ So what I am saying is that by changing the mounts it may have reduced my vibrating to what YOURS is right now if you can understand what im trying to say...... im going to run some fuel injector cleaner through a bunch of times and see if that helps and then ill let you know, the reason im saying this is because id hate to see you spend the money on a mount, take the time to do it or pay someone to do it, and it not be the prob...... if worst comes to worse when you get some free time you can take the front mount off (since it is fairly easy to do once you get the fan out) and inspect it but id hate to see you spend 58-70 bucks plus labor/time and have it not be the same prob as mine.... didnt you say that you did not try fuel injector cleaner yet? if so we should try that next since it is obviously a cheap and easy thing to do......also, i dont know how bad your vibrating is, mine used to be really bad before the mount, it is still a little obvious, but just annoying, its probably the same as yours is now, the hard part will be trying to find what will make it ALL go away

 

Thanks Preylude99,
My "vibe" is not terrible by any means, just a little annoying to me. Most people don't even notice it!! It certainly vibrates less than other 4 cyl cars I've riden in, it's just that it was very smooth when the car was new, and is not now.

Oh, I should say, I've owned Fiats 4 cyl before, a X1/9 (1200 cc) and a 124 coupe (1600 cc twin cam) and they were v e r y smooth. Fiat also used the soft engine mount approach, so that probably helps to mask some vibrations.

I guess I'm very picky and I expect a lot from Honda. Keep up the good work dude!!

 

Have either of you done a compression test? That would allow you to trouble check a lot of your assumptions. If you haven't yet done the compression check...why? The testing equipment is cheap, especially in comparison to needlessly buying parts that are perfectly fine. Compression test, compression test, compression test!

On to the motor mounts, you always want to check the motor mounts before buying new ones. $58 might not seem that much, but if you don't need it, don't buy it. All you have to do is raise the car on stands, then raise the engine just so that no weight is being applied to the mounts. Visually check the mounts for cracks (they generally crack in the center) and looseness in their plates by using a large screwdriver to attempt to move the mounts. It could be that the fasteners have come loose.

If you do have to replace the mount(s), always be sure to apply rubber preservative to slow deterioration.

Once again, COMPRESSION TEST.