I was driving back from my dads when a sudden "sensation" went thru the car. It's an 84 4 door sedan and currently in 4x4. How do I explain sensation... Well ever ran over say three or four 3in diameter sticks in quick succession? That's what it felt like. Seemed to be more passenger front related but not 100% positive and was a quick expirience. Has happened twice going around 55 mph. Nothing was on road but my tires. Any idea what that bumpy shake may have been?
Its called death wobble. a new steering stabilizer will mask the problem. however somthing is most likely wore out on the front end
Another thing that may cause it would be a bad CV axle. I had a similar thing happen the other day while driving my Cadillac (front wheel drive). It happened after turning. The next time I drove the car it got much worse, and bad enough that I thought I would not get the car home without a tow. I replaced both CV axles, and no more problem.
The usual suspects are the strut rod bushings and tie rod ends. Both are inexpensive but if you change them an alignment is a good idea.
Death wobble? Not sure that sounds too terribly festive. Defined as in ditch if im not careful?
I suppose turning the 4x4 off and testing if that's effecting it might me in order. Time to strip down front end too and check. Not that I will know exactly what I'm looking at since I cannot seem to find repair manuals anywhere but should be a fun adventure. Will take pics. Maybe someone might see better than I.
Thank you for your time!
Funny you should mention this because I've rather put my car in 4x4 and the other day I figured I'd just keep it on for awhile and there was a strange vibration I could feel when I started getting up over certain speeds and the engine even sounded different.
I know what the death wobble is cause in 2wd at speeds 60+ I can get it at any moment...though it seems to be at any number of random speeds.
The feeling and noise when in 4x4 is completely different from this death wobble I get in 2wd at 60+ speeds.
I had that happen in my first Eagle wagon and after carefully checking everything out, I paid no attention to it. Then one day I rolled up to a traffic light and the motor revved, but it didn't go anywhere. Converter neck snapped off!
Wahoola, I'd be curious to hear what you found out when the car was in 2wd. Did it still do it occasionally or is it only happening in 4x4?
carnuck, that doesn't sound good at all!
Quote from: carnuck on February 25, 2012, 08:58:35 PM
Converter neck snapped off!
Same here on my SX4. It is a common problem with these transmissions.
You guys have me worried!
Quote from: Prafeston on February 25, 2012, 11:34:19 PM
You guys have me worried!
No need to worry, it only happens after about 39,000 miles.
I got 8,000 after the vibes started. Probably would've got more if I didn't haul a trailer.
Quote from: rollguy on February 25, 2012, 11:49:01 PM
No need to worry, it only happens after about 39,000 miles.
Sweet I have a whole 1000 miles to work with before things go sour! :)
Quote from: Prafeston on February 26, 2012, 03:31:55 PM
Quote from: rollguy on February 25, 2012, 11:49:01 PM
No need to worry, it only happens after about 39,000 miles.
Sweet I have a whole 1000 miles to work with before things go sour! :)
I was mistaken, it is 38,000 miles!
Well this is the wierd part. Everything looks pretty nice under there except for a few things. Boots good, bushings good, rods look good, calipers look like they may turn to dust, break pads good, rotors tiny bit marred. Decided to take it out of 4x4 and only heard one pishhh sound so thought hmm didn't take so put it back in 4x4 and heard only one pishhh sound so tried again till I got the double pishhhh sound that let me know it was fully engaged. So far nothing has happened like that again. Knock on wood. I wonder if that wobble may also occur if the car is only partially engaged? Odd thought and possibly improbable, but had it anyway. What do you guys think about that?
I've never heard of this having to make a double pishhh sound to engage...
I asked awhile back about this noise because mine just makes the single pishhh sound and most of the comments were saying that their switches made no noise at all. Others also had the noise, but no one said anything about it having to making it twice in order for it to be engaged.
If you have the axle vacuum, there is sometimes a double noise because it's moving 2 vacuum servos.
Tried the 4x4 again today. Could kind of hear the double pishhh noise, but it still doesn't run right in 4x4.
When I get up to 30+mph it starts getting a very subtle vibration up front and it seems to be even worse when I'm just sitting at idle. There is even a noticeable difference in how the engine sounds. I'm not sure what is going on here.
Quote from: Prafeston on February 27, 2012, 03:00:20 PM
Tried the 4x4 again today. Could kind of hear the double pishhh noise, but it still doesn't run right in 4x4.
When I get up to 30+mph it starts getting a very subtle vibration up front and it seems to be even worse when I'm just sitting at idle. There is even a noticeable difference in how the engine sounds. I'm not sure what is going on here.
It sounds like a vacuum leak somewhere is the first problem.
Put in 2wd and it sounds fine and gives no vibrations until speeds over 60+. I'm sure it needs some front end work. New bushings all around probably.
Made a short video of my car running in 4x4 and 2wd. Sorry it's dark it was at night. You can hear the vibrations though in 4x4.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vIYCzAlFmA
So, I listened to the video...
How are your motor and transmission mounts? When the transmission mount collapses you can get metal-against-metal, and it would definitely be torque-sensitive.
If they've gotten oil soaked they can soften and separate. The motor mounts won't come apart completely, there's a metal catch. It's not dangerous, but it will transmit noise and will be affected by acceleration, deceleration, or going in reverse depending on how they have worn.
Interesting...I do have a pretty leaky valve cover. I'll have to take a look at the mounts. I don't even know where they are so I'll have to go investigate.
Oddly enough after I put it back in 4x4 To date nothing has reoccurred. Knock on wood.
Prafeston,
They are on either side of the engine about 1/3 of the way back on the engine block bolted to the side of the engine, and the bottom is bolted to the cross member(there is one motor mount on each side of the engine) that runs side to side between the frame rails it's dark & cold out or I'd send you a pic
The rans mount is actually on the bottom rear of the transfer case & bolts to the rear/transmission cross member
Prafeston did you ever get that vibration figured out?
Suspecting I may need a new tranny mount. I haven't really ironed anything out yet though. Might also have some vacuum leak in my 4x4 system that is causing it not to fully engage properly.