RotaryBzzzz

Hi Forum

I'm trying to figure out what is causing a vibration (felt on the driver-side floor pan area). I'm getting this "clunk-clunk-clunk" and feeling a slight "thump-thump-thump" through my floorpan on anything beyond light throttle @ highway speeds. The vibration gets worse if I'm going UP a moderate grade (5+ degrees).....none if I go DOWNhill or flat. At local street speeds <50mph, the vibration is rarely felt.

I don't have much experience w/ troubleshooting rack and pinion problems so thanks in advance for any insight.

My question: Can the rack & pinion system be serviced individually? Or is it better just to replace the whole thing (labor-cost-wise) once the rack & pinion drivers' boot gets ripped (and contaminated)? Like doing the water pump when changing the timing belt? I'm pretty sure it's something related to the rack and pinion but I don't know what's serviceable / fixable.


Car speed: >20mph
Medium / Heavy Acceleration:

Here were the results of my once-over:

Driving:
Steering is power-assisted correctly. No PS Groaning can be heard from inside the car on turning.
Vibration is made worse w/ any kind of turning motion.

Stopped
PS Leaks / PS Fluid Trails? NO
PS Fluid Level? FULL & NO LEAKS
Wheel Lugs: TORQUED CORRECTLY

Jacked up
Side-to-side / Front to back play in wheel when car is up? NO
Out of Round tire? NO

Steering wheel all the way right to lock
Outer & Inner axle boots: GOOD (UNRIPPED)
Grabbing and pulling/trying to rotate axles: GOOD. No weird play.
APEXi Coilover setup: good - no apparent movement of spring perches (I had torqued these down myself after the shop that installed them did a half-*** job tightening down the perches )
Misc Nuts & Bolts: Good - no apparent loosening of nuts that I can see.
Tie Rods: Good. No play when pulling / pushing on them
Rack and Pinion Boot, driver's side: TORN with some weird wear on the bottom of the inner tie rod end

http://catalog.buyautoparts.co...29337

RotaryBzzzz

bump. No one has any thoughts?

HondaTechPro

As a vast generalization - here is some information about vibrations. Usually when a vehicle vibrates or shakes... it can be any mumber of things. However, as you think about it in a logical manner, using the symptoms, you can quickly rule things out. Vibrations that get worse the faster you go are usually related to the parts that spin at road speed (meaning the faster you go the faster they spin - like a tire or a brake rotor) If your vibration is happening at 50mph, and not at all at say 25 mph, you can pretty much rule out the entire steering rack. The rack does the same thing at 5mph as it does at 75mph... Next, think of a tire that is out of balance, you might not feel it at low speeds, but you would feel it more and more the faster you go BUT, it would vibrate regardless of accel or decel... so the tires are pretty much out (never a bad idea to have them balanced though, it's cheap)

Now, what spins at road speed and is "related" to accel and decel?
How about the drive axle? It spins and has torque being transfered through it. Imagine that one of the CV joints was damaged somehow, and binding a little. It could give you symptoms very similar to what you are experiencing. Unfortunately, you can't just look at a drive axle and tell if it is bad, nor is it easy to tell which side is bad - but the noise should give you a clue that the left side is at fault.

Based on what you have told me, I would suspect the left hand drive axle, however... you didn't include the year or model of your car. If it is a 98-02, the differential bearings inside the transmissions wear and cause this exact nose and vibration.... and the only fix is a reman trans. Write back and let me know what you find.

RotaryBzzzz

Oops...I don't have my year up in the text.

1994 Accord Ex 5spd

172k miles
no collisions / off-road excursions
same engine / tranny since new - nothing rebuilt
tranny sychros good (as in I can engage gear well)

much thanks for your expertise

deserthonda

sounds to me like u got a problem with an inner cv joint,,,,,,,,lift car up, grab the axle shaft close to inner joint and chk if there is any abnormal play,, compare it to the other side ....has car been in frt end rack at all???

RotaryBzzzz

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by deserthonda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sounds to me like u got a problem with an inner cv joint,,,,,,,,lift car up, grab the axle shaft close to inner joint and chk if there is any abnormal play,, compare it to the other side ....has car been in frt end rack at all??? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Frt end rack? You mean accident? No...no front end accidents.

Over the years, I have put alot of stress on the axles via hard driving.
Not drag racing but hard turns / sweeping accelerations / etc.

Thx

RotaryBzzzz

So I looked alittle more closely with my car up on jackstands this time. Yes indeed it was my inner drivers' side CV joint; the boot had ripped some time ago.....the joint was contaminated with road gunk.

Replaced the drivers-side w/ a rebuilt axle at a friends' shop....thanks for everyone's expertise in narrowing down the prob.

deserthonda

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RotaryBzzzz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So I looked alittle more closely with my car up on jackstands this time. Yes indeed it was my inner drivers' side CV joint; the boot had ripped some time ago.....the joint was contaminated with road gunk.

Replaced the drivers-side w/ a rebuilt axle at a friends' shop....thanks for everyone's expertise in narrowing down the prob. </TD></TR></TABLE>

glad we could help.........happy it is fixed ..