alright before everyone tells me to use the search button, I have and haven't really found anything exactly like my issue so here it is...

Last night when i was driving home I hit the gas hard in first, second, and third to keep up with the cars on the interstate feeder road so i can make it to the far left lane for a U-turn. after I made the U-turn I noticed that my car had lots of vibration in the peddles/steering wheel/ and everything else, so I pulled off the road to check it out. Sitting still with the engine idling the car was vibrating everything and it did so as I revved the engine but with different frequencies (obviously). It will vibrate when i'm in gear or out of gear so wheel weights are out of the question...

I'm leaning towards the theory that my harmonic balancer went bad from that launch. I read that old balancers will just give out without warning and that oil can make them die out faster as well.... I have had a pretty bad oil leak for a while and haven't been able to fix it, so that can contribute to the this probable cause. I have also read that if the balancer does go it can sometimes cause problems with shifting, but my car shifts fine...

I just want to get some other opinions on if i'm right or how to visually detect if the balancer is bad.

Thanks everyone for the help I really appreciate it!

 

Its just a pulley on the crank that drives the accessories and also has a rubber insert to absorb engine vibrations. If its bad, from what I have seen, the outer pulley will have separated from the inner hub. I'd grab hold of it and wiggle with the engine off, yours may be hanging on by a thread, also watch it for wobble with engine running.
GL
Mike

 

I was checking out the car yesterday... I went to wiggle the crank pulley and it was solid. Even with the car on the pulley didn't wobble at all.

Then I got to thinking CAN IT BE A LOWER MOTOR MOUNT? I know if those give out all the vibration from the motor is sitting on either hard rubber or no rubber which won't absorb any vibration... I also heard though in most cases of motor mounts, the driver will feel an increase in vibration leading up to a failed motor mount because of the rubber getting harder or deteriorating over time... I'm not sure what a normal motor mount should look like compared to a bad one so I couldn't tell if mine was ok or not...

So these are my 2 suspects... Any thoughts fellas?

 

have you even inspected your engine mounts yet?

 

I did check out the engine mounts after I checked the crank pulley and all the mounts looked fine. I have been tossing ideas to my dad and some friends who know what they are talking about and I think we found a viable suspect for this vibrating that I would have overlooked for sure.

THE TIMING BELT... it is a vary good possibility that my timing belt could have jumped a tooth on a cam, or is on it's way out causing it to be out of balance and vibrating. I did some research and vibration is a symptom to a bad timing belt system... I use this car as a daily so I can only work on it during my weekends so I'll have to check then.

Hopefully this is the case so I can fix it, but I will for sure keep those who are interested informed if that is the problem or not...

 

would bad injectors/ bad spark plug/ or an off balance shaft cause this?

 

which generation prelude do you have?


I know my damper that's attached to the front bumper broke - and caused alot of vibrations. I just removed it and solved that problem.


If you have aftermarket mount inserts or something - and the top metal bracket is still on the rear mount - that can cause vibrations.


But it is also possible you're not firing on all cylinders.... I'm not 100% positive - but i think that can cause a vibration issue... but you would also be throwing a code if you're obd2


have you checked your oil level?
something internally could have broken - valve spring or bend valve, but i'm sure you would hear that banging around...

 

also could be the balance shaft belt broke or came off? behind the plastics with the timing belt

 

Thanks for the input flip, I have a 4th gen (94). I have checked all my mounts and they are fine. all of them are stock mounts.

I'm firing on all 4 cylinders and my oil level is where it should be...

I'm really leaning toward the balance shaft jumping out of sync with the timing belt, so my plan of action is to replace the timing belt/ balance shaft belt/ timing tensioner (swapping to manual)/ and water pump since I'll be down there working on it...

I borrowed a car from my parents for a few weeks so that should give me some buffer to not rush this job... Thanks to all of you who have shed some light on this situation and hope that my plan fixes the problem!!

 

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