Vibration when accelerating and turning right

[BillDCat]

Title says it all. The vibrating becomes noticeable accelerating around 2k, or from the start when I'm making a right turn. Left turns don't make the vibration. Ever had a flat-spotted tire? Kind of feels like that. Vibration/shaking increases in frequency with speed. It happens on and off, but I can't find a correlation with temperature or driving conditions... I've been paying attention for over a month now. I drove to Colorado and back for the holidays (1000 miles each way) and didn't notice anything.

Since this problem started, for various reasons, I have replaced the following with new parts, so therefore I can assume that they are NOT the source of the problem:

Struts/shocks
Shock bushings
Right front CV axle (left was replaced not long ago)
Front calipers/rotors/pads
Both front upper control arms
Right front lower arms (both lateral and compression... recall denied but that's another story!)... left ones look to be good

Also, this occurs with all 3 sets of my tires, so it's not those either.

Somebody please help me figure out what's wrong with this POS! As always, thanks in advance.

 

[MrBoxx]

From the sounds of it, it might be your wheel bearings. They're easy to check; just jack up each corner and try to wiggle the tire, putting your hands on the top and bottom of the tire. If it wiggles, your bearing is going out. I've gone through three of them, and they're no fun at all to replace, especially if the axle splines are corroded on the bearing.

 

[Old Mitsu Tech]

Also, just because the axle was replaced doesn't necessarily mean it's still good. Can you tell which side of the car it's coming from? Is the thumping the only associated noise you can hear? Like MrBoxx said, check wheel bearings. Usually though they make a growling noise because of water marking.

Good Luck

 

[mr95gst]

I had that same problem the faster I went the worse it got. It was a axle you should also jack up the car and check for play in the wheels.

 

[MrBoxx]

What exactly is water marking? I admit, I don't know exactly how or why they fail, I just know by the sound and the feel when they DO fail.

 

[BillDCat]

From the sounds of it, it might be your wheel bearings...

Well I got out in the daylight with a jack and shook some wheels. All four corners are solid. I wasn't thinking wheel bearings because there wasn't that customary roaring that shows up when they go bad (I've had it happen on other cars), but I went and checked anyway.

Also, just because the axle was replaced doesn't necessarily mean it's still good. Can you tell which side of the car it's coming from? Is the thumping the only associated noise you can hear?

Both of the axles are from Raxles (they use brand new joints in their rebuilds). One is less than a year old with < 8,000 miles on it, the other I just put on last week. The boots are in near-new shape, so I assume the front axles are fine.

The rumbling/shaking/vibrating seems to be coming from the front right, but you know how sounds can bounce around in the interior... so I'm not 100% sure. It's the only out-of-place sound that I can hear.

What exactly is water marking? I admit, I don't know exactly how or why they fail, I just know by the sound and the feel when they DO fail.

Bearings fail usually one of two ways: heat or lubrication. Large concentrated or sustained load can cause heat that deforms the bearing, and the deterioration of seals in sealed bearings can lead to loss or contamination of the lubricant.

Thanks for the suggestions so far... please keep them coming!

 

[Old Mitsu Tech]

Water marking is when a bearing gets wet, sits and where the rollers contact the other surfaces, they pit just a little. Over a period of time it gets worse. Eventually instead of a smooth survace, they look like railroad ties. Little lines across the travel of the bearings and the faster you go the higher pitch and louder they get.

Good Luck

 

[BillDCat]

Okay, you've sold me. The problem has gotten worse since I got back into town. I was driving today and now I can hear the roaring... wheel bearing it is.

I have no fear taking on any job on my car but seeing as 1) all my glorious air tools, press, and such are in a garage 1000 miles away and 2) I've gotten caught twice working on my car in the parking lot (against my lease... was threatened eviction for changing my spark plugs?!), I'll have to take it to a shop to get it fixed.

Now the question is: how much should this cost? I don't often pay people to work on my car so I don't know what's a good price or if I'm getting screwed.

Thanks for your continued help.

 

[MrBoxx]

The bearing itself is relatively cheap; about $65 dollars from the dealership, if I remember right. If everything goes smoothly and the bearing comes off the axle like it should, it shouldn't take longer than an hour or so to finish the job. The problem comes when the bearing seized onto the axle splines. If this happens and it doesn't come off with the puller tool and multiple banging with a heavy hammer, the only real fix is to cut it off with a torch. This will usually destroy the axle and sometimes the speed sensor. (My usual tech at my usual dealership once said "Thanks to you, I've gotten good at not burning the sensor, so this time I think I can save it.") The sensor is about $100, an aftermarket axle is about $100, and the labor costs at least triple. I'll see if I can find one of my old estimate sheets and get back to you.

 

[v2ner]

While your doing the wheel bearings, check on the tie rods as they're notorious for getting rusted and loose.

 

[BillDCat]

Well got my car fixed. But I'm kind of suspicious of the conclusion. I took the car in to a shop that was well reviewed at cartalk.com (assumed it was a good place to start). They told me that the driver's side axle that I replaced a over a year ago was improperly installed and was sliding off the intermediate shaft when I turned right. They said it damaged the intermediate shaft which needed to be replaced.

First I thought it was weird that it took over a year and a half, 10,000 miles, and a half dozen autoX events for it to work itself loose if it was "not installed correctly" (and that I didn't notice it when I had the car apart recently). Also, since it was a Raxles axle that holds a lifetime warranty I told them I'd pay the core to get the axle back. The axle has NO damage whatsoever on the end that was supposed to have shredded the intermediate shaft. The shop said that they somehow couldn't get it on the new intermediate shaft all the way so they had to replace it.

In hindsight I wish I asked for the intermediate shaft too so I could really know what is going on. Maybe it just pisses me off that this is only the second time I've paid someone to work on my car in my life and now I am $600 poorer because of it ($150 axle, $70 core, $250 intermediate shaft, $120 labor).

Oh well. At least the car is OK now to drive this Sunday.

 

[Old Mitsu Tech]

But, at least that part has been repaired. Although when you install axles, the length should keep things from sliding apart. I am not sure about that one. But I wasn't there to see it either.

 

[Quicksilvergsx]

I had this same problem. The half shaft was coming out. In my case the half shaft had come out most of the way but was still locked in with the splines so when I accelerated it must have twisted the splines on the end of the intermediate shaft so the strait splines of the halfshaft would not fit into the (now)curved splines of the intermediate shaft. I ended up filing down the splines on the intermediate shaft( probably not a good idea) to let the halfshaft slide onto the intermediate shaft. It has worked for about 6 months, but it came off last night while doing some hard driving. I guess the next step is to find an intermediate shaft. If anyone has one let me know.