Well I purchased the vehicle like a week ago and getting all the bugs out.. This new symptom came like 2-3 days ago. I figured it was an cv axle, but they look fine ( visual inspection looks for tears in the boots). Also I jacked up the car thinking is was the tie rods shaking the tires from side to side and seemed fine. I am stumped on what to look for on this car. If you guys had the same problem I would appreciate the help.

 

obvious one, are all your lugs tight?
if not, perhaps pop your tie rod ends out and see how loose they are. new ones are only like $20 each.

 

its its not your crossmember or engine mounts completely unbolted, its blown shocks.

 

shocks are good. I just checked the play on my wheel bearing after replacing it holding my hands at 6 an 12 and shaking it and theres play :/. Which i dont get cause the bearing was pressed it like 2 days ago and is making no noise... Maybe a bad hub??

 

bad motor mounts...i have the same problem...!!!

 

Bad motor mount. or axle nut not tight

 

The symptom you describe usually comes from bad wheel bearing/s. The engine mounts typically have other symptoms on top of your problems.

 

this is more of a upper ball joint issue. shake the knuckle and put your hand over the balljoint.

to check the wheel bearing, you rotate the wheel/hub. not by wiggling it.

and triple check the axle nut.

 

i just had this problem. i changed all the ball joints and tie ends because they were loose but it still wasnt my problem. i then changed my axles and it still wasnt it,all it ended up being that my alignment was off

 

Since when does shaking a wheel apply solely to ball joints? Spinning the wheel is only one way to check out of several. Typically when you have problems with rotation to the point you can feel or hear it - you didn't pay attention to the previous symptoms and it got that bad.

Having a vibration during acceleration is a classic example of the beginning of a bad wheel bearing; not the stereotypical screeching/ growling and blueing... A bad ball joint typically exhibits clunks during suspension travel and possible vibration at cruising speed typically due to slop in steering/ misalignment... A bad engine mount may have chassis vibration at certain speeds/ engine RPM as well as jerking of the car during acceleration or deceleration - not vibrations (only when idling for the most part will there be vibrations from bad motor mounts).

I even spent the time (it was on top in Google) to find you a How-To that even describes it...

http://www.ehow.com/m/how_6408296_ch...l-bearing.html

 

i firmly disagree. obviously.

i have diagnosed bag wheel bearings by simply feeling for the roughness. long before any significant wear would occur.

and you absolutely diagnose bad balljoints by turning the wheel at the 3 and 9, and the 6 and 12, for the outer tie rod end and the upper balljoint, respectively. if you have some other way, go right ahead.

so even if a wheel bearing was so bad it had play when you shake the wheel, youd still have to determine if its not the balljoint.

 

I will take a better look on the weekend when i have time off work. Its hard to diagnose something when you already replaced it.. Only thing I can think of is a bad cv axle( like going to break anytime) or a bad hub caused from the previous owner driving around with a bad wheel bearing. Although visually it looked fine, but who knows.. I appreciate all the help and ideas it could be..

 

Tyson - You must have severly misread my post... I 100% agree about detecting dead spots by spinning a bearing in hand or the sorts, I was saying by just the wheel spinning down the road... Oh well.

OP - Yes, do some more checking.

 

Well I fixed the problem. It was the cv axle on the inboard end. when you rolled the joint there was metal on metal noise and rough turning.

 

howd you fix it?

 

replaced the whole cv axle. I suspected it cause it happened when turning left only not right and that is normally caused from a bad axle so i took it off. Everything works great now and hopefully it will be a reliable car. Also I was thinking why it happened going straight is that fact its an open diff tranny an the cv axle is shorter on the passenger side

 

what kind of axle was this? it was completely the axle's fault?

do you have the hub ring still in there?

im not sure if your open diff explanation makes sense.

im just asking to get a clear answer so others can be helped later.

 

The open diff explanation i was talking about is like doing a peg leg burnout. The right side will give before the left unless you have a half shaft cause of the length of the axles.

I just bought an 26 spline autozone cv axle. All the ball joints were fine also.

I dont know what PM was done from the previous owner also so i dont know if it what caused it other than just wear an tear.

 

huh. cuz i cant imagine the joint going out of axial symmetry.

no, i think its more of a loading issue. in that case it is more of a bearing thing. so im not really sure youre out of the clear... it just doesnt make complete sense yet.

if you had play like you said earlier by shaking the wheel at 6 and 12, then it could not have been JUST the joint... unless like we said earlier, the axle nut was loose and in the process of changing the axle you ended up tightening it and now problem gone.

so i dunno, im glad you got your problem fixed. but it just doesnt make complete sense to me.

 

^^^ Me either... A improper explanation always leads to improper diagnosis... Oh well.

 

How is it either??

I explained what i did to check what was going on with my vehicle.. I diagnosed it to be my cv axle.. My problem was shaking during acceleration and turning left... Problem solved. My car makes no noise when turning or driving. Cv axles dont have to make a clicking noise to be bad.

Also like I said I dont know what caused it.. I just purchased the car. For all I know its just wear and tear it is a 20yr old vehicle and unknown axles..All suspension is at stock height and everything is bone stock.

 

I just want to add to this thread:

I replaced the following on my passenger side and STILL had a bad shake on the pass side ONLY while turning LEFT. Only a very slight shaking under acceleration, but it came and went.
All parts are OEM Honda Parts and ALL work was done by Honda unless otherwise noted:
-Wheel bearing
-Lower ball joint (I did using a BJ press)
-Lower control arm bushings (Machine shop did press work)
-Upper control arm (i replaced)
-Radius rod bushing (i replaced)

The only thing left was the axle, or the transmission itself. I replaced the axle (Napa unit) and the shaking is gone.

http://www.raxles.com/troubleshooting.aspx