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Strange front-end vibration: 94 SVX 2WD


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Not getting much action on this over on the SVX world network so I'm posting it here, too...
 

The front end of my '94 SVX front wheel drive (not AWD) has begun shaking
intermittently at about 60 mph on the freeway- more on curves. It shakes
hard for about a second and a half and then stops for half a second,
then repeats. It's perfectly smooth up to 60 and smooths out again
somewhat around 70. The other night I removed the front wheels and
checked the ball joints (with a pry bar), checked the tie rod ends,
struts, etc., and found no wear or play anywhere. Then I rotated the
tires front to back to see if that would change anything. I got the same
oscillation even after doing that. So, I took it to a nearby tire,
brake & muffler shop this morning. They spent about 90 minutes
trying to diagnose it and couldn't find anything deficient in the front
suspension either. They did show me that my right front tire had a
little wobble when spinning that indicated a tire with separating belts
and/or a bent rim. Tonight I swapped that one out with a spare wheel
& tire I had and it made no difference. Vibration seems to be worse
under acceleration than it is when coasting. I'm stumped-- any suggestions?

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Engine/ transmission mounts then? Lock the park brake, keep your foot on the brake, and go from drive to reverse with partial throttle with a buddy looking at the engine from the side of the car while you do this. Also, drive axles can go bad even with good boots on them, but I'd look pretty hard at the engine mounts first. 

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Probably not engine mounts: heavy engine and tranny, and engine is absolutely loafing at 60mph. 

 

Does it feel like the shaking is up and down, or fore and aft, or ???

 

Axles would be high on my list to check, particularly the inner joints.  Struts might also be the problem, or contributing by not dampening the oscillations properly.

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a bad half shaft would be a possible problem. My last car had a bad half shaft that would cause front end shake intermittently. I would take the car to a shop, and they could not find anything wrong. Finally, it got worse, and consistent to determine that it was a bad half shaft. A year + earlier, I had a cheap rebuilt half shaft installed. Are either of your half shafts rebuilts??

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I've had the car about a year and a half and it's got about 93,000 miles. I don't have any record of the axles being replaced or rebuilt. I've got a couple of spare axles (and struts too) so maybe I'll swap them out and see what happens.

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I got underneath tonight and checked the axles-- I didn't find any play-- they both look old enough to be original to the car but the boots are OK. Just on a hunch I grabbed the inner tie rod end near the boot on the right side and shook it hard-- it does make a slight clunking sound and feel. Grabbing the tires and moving them to check for play is difficult on this car because the steering doesn't lock for some reason!

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