Koko4

I have been chasing down a strong vibration for about a week. It's been giving me some VERY strange symptoms, which have had me pretty confused. At first, I would be coming to a slow stop (say in neutral, for example) and put the car into first right before I completely stopped. This also happened a few times while scooting up at stop signs..always in first gear. There would be a loud "clunk" underneath my clutch foot and the best way I can describe it is that it felt like you took your foot off the clutch and stalled out the vehicle. That same type of lurch forward feeling - except the car never stalled out and the clutch was pressed the whole time. The car never actually jumped, either.

This symptom only happens every once in awhile, and it has never happened in any other gears. Always at a complete stop / almost at a complete stop, in first. This symptom led me to bleed my clutch fluid and replace it, and then I ended up replacing the slave and master cylinders as well.

I am also getting a strong vibration, which actually rattles the stick shift. It usually happens towards higher RPM's, or when the car is under a load, like driving up a steep incline (also at high RPM's). I suspected it was the motor mounts, and I replaced the three that had not been replaced before - now all 5 are new, and it is still doing it.

I crawled under the car, carefully looked at the bitch pin, and the rubber bushings, as well as the rubber spacers that are under the shifter on the bottom side of the car. Everything looks fine and tight.

The clutch does not slip one bit, which leaves me fairly confident that it's not transmission / clutch related. It will vibrate in all gears, but moreso in 2nd, 3rd, and sometimes 4th.

I looked at my CV axles, and the boots on either side are intact. They are showing SOME signs of age - the rubber is not shiny and new, but it's starting to get that worn rubber look to it. Is there a way to test whether or not my axles are actually shot before going out, buying new ones, and just seeing if it fixed my problem? I'm tired of throwing money at things without being sure they are the culprit.. I was always told to look for a ripped boot and slung grease, but would there be a way to rock the wheel or axle and see if it's got play? Thanks for any advice..I don't want to spend another $100 if I don't have to.

Marvin1985

iTrader: (5)

Check the steering rack. Only thing that I'm leaning towards

X E Ryder

I don't like the fact that it happens "when you are scooting up to stop signs" - that would be slow and straight, only a few mph right? But you are in and out of the clutch.

Did you look underneath to see if the CV boots have sprayed the grease out anywhere? It leaves sort of a "line" of snotty grease where it has thrown it out. Once the grease is out the joint wears faster.

What about a bad motor mount? That would definitely give you a clunk.

Koko4

Boots are not torn, and there is no slung grease around that area. Also, all 5 motor mounts have recently been replaced, so that rules that out!

How would it be the rack, though? I would think it would cause my steering to be all messed up, or if the seals were bad the PS fluid would leak out. I replaced inner and outer tie rods when I got the car (last Sept) and the rack wasn't leaking at all. I would think that the steering wheel would rattle if it were the rack, and not the shifter..right?

EG love

He clearly quoted that the CV boots are intact and that the motor mounts are new..

Is the car physically hard to put into first gear while you're almost stopped? That's what I picture when you say it clunks in

I couldn't see it being the CV joints from my personal experience with them going bad. I'd like to say something clutch related but I can't say for sure..

X E Ryder

Crap! Yep. I blame that on the drinking tonight.

A huge clunk in 1st only - busted tooth in first?

Koko4

Car is not hard to shift into gear at all - it doesn't clunk while I put it into gear. I'll be stopped, already in gear, with my foot pressing down on the clutch. Then the loud clunk happens while sitting still, and it feels almost like the clutch pedal goes even harder against the floor, although I'm pretty sure that's just my knee-jerk reaction to the clunk. I don't think it's actually going down any farther. I tried to replicate the problem in a parking lot, and was scooting forward a dozen times or so, and it never happened. It has probably only happened 3 times in the last week, but I think it's a sign of worse things to come...

One friend thought it could be internal-transmission related, but he hasn't witnessed it happening, so it's just speculation. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like it would if you were sitting in the car, in first gear with the clutch pressed down, and then you take your foot off the clutch suddenly. It has that same jerkiness to it. BUT the car doesn't lurch forward, and it doesn't stall, so I don't think the clutch is actually slipping / messing up.

I thought throwout bearing at first, but it would make a noise when shifting, and it would happen in all gears, right? There's no noise when I shift from gear to gear. If you were to get in the car and drive it around, you probably wouldn't have it happen to you (even if you drove it for 1-2 hours). You would definitely notice the shifter vibrating while you are accelerating through 2nd and 3rd, though. It feels as if all of the vibration from the transmission / engine is coming straight into the shifter ****, but I have been under the car multiple times and looked pretty closely at the shift linkage, bushings, etc and can't find anything wrong.

So this has never been a symptom of a CV-axle problem for anyone?

EG love

No worries lol

I've had multiple go bad, and they always simply clicked for me. I couldn't afford to change a bad wheel bearing last fall on my winter car and let it go for months and after finally changing it, my cv joint was terrible. Even the slightest turn of the wheel under acceleration I'd have a loud and fast clicking sound like the axle was going to snap off, lol. I replaced the whole axle and it was gone. Never had any clunking before. I'm no expert, though.

Koko4

I have always had miscellanous clicking in the past before too..or if it was really bad, a click while driving slow and straight. I don't have any of that now. I'm wondering if it would be worth a shot to change them just in case it is the problem. It's like $100 from AutoZone after cores, but that's a limited lifetime warranty so I could keep replacing them for the life of the car. I don't know at this point. I'm just afraid all of that vibration will screw up something else, and then I'll be in deeper ****.

axis11

Vibration under load, possibly a worn inner CV joint. The clunking could be the inner bearings hitting the outer walls of the cv joint. It usually happens when there is excessive clearance between inner bearings and outer walls.

Try putting the front on jackstands.
Rotate the axle shaft back and fort while holding the CV joint on the other hand trying to keep it steady.
Do you hear clicking or do you feel the play?