D A 9

Need a little help, guys.

Yesterday I was test driving my car pretty close to home when all of sudden it started vibrating badly on the front, seemed like passenger side at that time, I figured my pass side wheel was loose since I had just done the brakes...

To my surprise it wasn't, I put the car on jack stands and took a close look at all the bolts related to suspension and steering (I just recently got the car running from building it from the ground up pretty much, I did have the subframe all related parts removed at one point).
I figured the subframe was loose, it wasn't. Every nut and bolt was tight as it should be.

I started the car (still on jack stands) and it seemed fine idling, no problems after all, turned the steering wheel left and right to look for problems there and no obvious issues.

Once I put it in gear it was a different story, the engine and tranny seem to be rocking back and fourth more that it should have, in second it shook it even more, in third even more, in 4th a ridiculous amount an it fifth it was just plain scary how much the whole thing was shaking.

I though about it all night of what it could be and figured maybe something had happened to my clutch, or flywheel or bearing...

This moring I remvoed it all from the car, evetyhing seemed perfectly fine but the shaft bearing (in the flywheel), it seemed a little rough even if I spun it with my finger, even though it was brand new with less than a 1k miles I went ahead with replaced it it with another one I had, also brand new that had come with my clutch kit. Figured I solved the problem!

Not, I put everything back in the car and about an hour ago went for a test drive, same exact issue, the entire front end of the car shakes like crazy in gear, especially in a higher gear.

Any ideas? Could it be my tranny? Axles?

Here's a quick run down on what I got:

95 cx hatch
built LSVTEC Turbo/ GSR Tranny (has plenty of oil in it)
36mm ITR 5lug with matching axles. (used, from a local JDM importer)

As I mentioned before, the car was built from the ground up within the past year, all the work was done by me and well done, I really take my time with stuff, no corners were cut. I had everything removed prior to sandblasting/painting the car inside and out. I've had it running for about 3 months now, the e ngine was in my old car, it has less than 5K in it, it sounds good, no issues with it.

Tranny was bought used about 3 months ago, I've used it for only about 1k miles so far or less. Was perfectly fine, no issues with it.

Thanks for treading my entire story!
I'd greatly appreciate some input! I'm kind of at a loss here sine I now can't enjoy it...

Rusty22

how are the brakes can you spin your wheels by hand on jackstands?

D A 9

yeah, I sure can. what were you thinking?

Rusty22

wheel bearing? dit it dont make sense to me that it is only when its in gear im sure there is someone that had more expirence with honda than i do.

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

did u get an alignment?

D A 9

I haven't gotten it aligned yet, it was actually the next thing on my list after fixing a couple small wiring issues.

Someone told me there's a good chance it could be and axle, I got another one that I know is good. I'm going to change it this evening a see what happens!

Thanks guys

95EG2

-if ur saying the motor is moving more then it should be the possible a bad motor mount(s) if ur running ls/turbo i would suggest upgrading ur motor mounts (innovatative, or hasport are a couple reputable companies)

-it could be a axle check to see if the axle poped out it joint(u should be able to tell with car lifted and run it in gear)

- last lift up the front end and check for any play up front
BTW: alignment will not cause a vibration or shake

D A 9

No play or movement at all, everything is straight there. I was certain the R axles was bad, it wasn' t the issue, I pt a new one in and the problem persists.

My mounts are good quality new Hasport mounts, I know that is not the problem.

I'm pretty certain now the tranny is bad, upon running it on jackstands yesterday I can some kind of noise coming from the transmission around the axle area. I'm looking for another one now, I'll let you guys know once I changed it.

Thanks again guys!

hyperblu

Yes, it will. I'm just curious... How does a transmission go bad because you removed it? You need to grab your inner/outer cv joints and rock them around a bit. Vibrations are generally from the CV's.

D A 9

I agree bad aligment can cause vibration. If that was my issue I imagine it would have showed up before, not all of the sudden the way it did.

As far as the transmission question, I'm not saying it is bad because I removed it... it could have an issue prior to it being removed, I've only used it for about 300 miles or so... something could have happened to it before my time and I got screwed...

The CVs are new, I replaced both, the problem continues...

thanks for the reply. I'm borrowing a good known transmission, will let you guys know how it all worked out, I'll probably change it this weekend.

hyperblu

Generally, you should get an alignment anytime you do anything with the suspension, but it wouldnt be so far off that it would cause violent shaking... You would need some serious toe out/in to make that tire scrub that bad. I have a bad input shaft bearing and I am getting vibrations at 65-70mph, but I can't quite point the finger at anything right now. My car has been seriously neglected and half *** fixed... My hatch is on a frame machine right now getting the strut housing pushed back in because the last guy didn't repair anything correctly after he wrecked it. BUT, because of this, messes up the geometry of the suspension and will cause vibrations,understeer,etc. Plus the cut springs arent exactly helping it performance wise. But I wouldn't be so quick to point the finger at the transmission, as it's pretty simple. The symptoms sound more like a clutch issue. If you have a bad seal somewhere, it can cause a leak on the flywheel and cause the clutch to slip...

D A 9

Thanks everyone who's helped me with your ideas!

I finally got it all take care of.

I wanted to buy another tranny anyway so i could use change gears/syncros and put it back in my car, since I could easily make my money back I didn't really hesitate...

Yesterday A god buddy helped me look everything over, with the car on jackstands we ran it in all gears and figured out the clicking I kept hearing wasn coming from the halfshaft, I ciuld actually see the bearing inside of it moving left and right about 1/4" or so!

I replaced and guess what?! SAME PROBLEM, finally came to the conclusion the Left axle was messing up, took it out to inspect and found the outer end to be completely locked up, no movement whatsoever!, I had a few axles laying around, took one apart and made a good one out of 2. Car ran perfectly. problem solved.

Bought some pizza and a cold coke, me and my buddies were happy!

so in the end: My car was shaking, took the motor and tranny out, replaced the imoput shaft bearing, put it all back in. Got another R axle, no difference, got me another tranny, replaced it, nodifference, got me a halshaft, no difference. changed the outer end of the L axle, fixed the problem! I felt dumb, but happy