I have 82k on my 95 DX with Auto Trans. I recently replaced the passenger and front & rear motor mounts (not the trans mount) becuase of a wicked vibration issue (the passenger side mount fixed the vibration issue completely).
About a month or so ago, I noticed that when I gave the car gas or let off the gas, I could hear a slight "click" or "clunk" originating from what I could tell was the front right wheel. I went under the car and tugged at everything I could think of and everything was tight. I then rocked the car back & forth (while in Park) and could hear a clicking sound every time the car would come to the end of a rocking cycle (forward and backward).
No clicking when turning, no grinding while accelerating.
Then, this weekend, I am on the highway going about 60mph and I go to accelerate to 70mph and all of a sudden I get this wierd shimmy and grinding noise coming from the the front end. As soon as I let my foot off the gas the shimmy and grinding noise go away - a few cycles of this and then all is well again. I then try to replicate the shimmy and grinding by accelerating at the same speeds as before, and I can't make it happen.
I then drive another 30 miles at highway speeds and come to my street. i then notice that there is a metallic squeeking sound (I think from the front end) that gets worse when i apply the brakes and/or turn the wheel. I turn around to duplicate it, and I can't make it happen again.
I took it to a shop and they said that my trans mount was bad. I realize that this could be the cause of the clunking when taking my foot on and off the gas, but could it be responsible for the other intermittant symptoms?
Any ideas out there what could be causing these symptoms? I initially thought my CV joints or wheel bearings were going bad, but due to the wierd intermittant symptoms, I am clueless.
Thanks for any and all replies!!!!
A CV joint or wheel bearing joint wouldn't generally be intermittent like that, but possibly could happen. If the transmount is deteriorated badly, it could cause enough of a shift in the powertrain, drop down or get cocked slightly sidways, where it could be unusually loading the wheel bearings and/or driveshafts enough to cause the weird noises. Since you replaced the motor mounts - you probably ended up making the car "tight" enough that any slop elsewhere is probably the cause of the noise.
This exact symptom occurred on my 95 DX.
My driveway had a steep incline from the garage. As I left the garage one day I put my foot into it in reverse and the left axle let go. The car would not move and it made lots of ratcheting sounds.
Replaced the axle and all is well. I did have a lot of trouble with the rebuilt AutoZone axles though. I would recommend new replacements vs rebuilt. You'll get a lifetime warranty at Advance and not a lot more money than rebuilt.
Good luck,
Jay in MA
sounds like the inner bearing or the balancer on the passenger axle.
Hi All - thanks for all the replies on this. I just wanted to close the loop on this one....
Turns out the problem was the drivers side wheel bearing & hub. With the car on the lift, the drivers side tire had a bit of movement (but not a ton). When they took the hub out and tugged on the bearing, there was a LOT more movement. Upon removal of the bearing it was discovered that the mating surface on the hub was all chewed up.
Aside from the clunk at load/no load which happened all the time, the chattering/shaking/vibration only happened after I drove for 20-30 minutes. I bet that once the bearing heated up, it became a lot looser and was causing all sorts of havoc which caused the chatter/shaking/vibration.
New hub and bearing assembly and no more clunk, and no more chatter.
Problem solved!
Thanks
Bikeman982
Good to hear that you got it fixed.
How much was the repair? I think my 93' have similar symptoms as well.
Good to hear that you got it fixed.
Total was $250 and included them having to press out the old one and put in the new one.
Good to hear that you got it fixed.
Total was $250 and included them having to press out the old one and put in the new one.
Thanks, gives me a ballpark to work with if mine turns out to be the same problem.
Bikeman982
Good to hear that you got it fixed.
Total was $250 and included them having to press out the old one and put in the new one.
Thanks, gives me a ballpark to work with if mine turns out to be the same problem.
I did mine a little cheaper by buying the parts myself and then taking the parts to a machine shop to remove/install the bearing.
I put the parts on the car and it has worked fine for many miles.
