[Robb]

Ok Ive had this problem for over 1 year now with my crx. Im getting sick of it.
I have replaced several parts.

- New steering rack + inner tie rods (couple months ago)
- outer tie rods (couple months ago)
- New front + rear wheel bearings
- new PIC coilover Suspension (installed 2 days ago)
- New brakes all around (rotors + pads) (last month)
- Numerous alignments
- Balanced tires 3 times...
- also changed out wheels/tires for another set...

The steering is shaking alot at 60 mph (100kph) , then when you go faster it goes away ....
I had my front upper control arms check and they seem ok.
My mechanic told me it could be my axles... ?
Also, my steering wheel is off abit. I cant get it straight. I tried driving and taking it off and aligning the splines, with no success..

what can I do ? Im thinking of selling this car now cuz its eating my money slowly!
I dont want to cuz it's mint... but these finicky things bother me.

Here's what 1 person on another forum suggests it is..

---> I had a very similar problem and tried all of the things that you did and it didn't fix it. Then i changed my clutch, resurfaced and balanced my flywheel, sure enough the problem was gone, but my flywheel desperately needed to be balanced.
When i first got my swap, i regrettedly didn't change the timing belt/water pump/clutch and after about 3 months of driving my clutch was so cooked that the rivets in the clutch disk were badly scoring the flywheel and pressure platel. When i had it resurfaced/balanced the machine shop said it was a good thing i balanced it b/c it was really out. At 60mph what rpm are you at in 5th?
Try doing the same rpm in 3rd/4th and see if the same shake occurs, if not i doubt its the flywheel. Before i changed the clutch i had a shake at what i thought was a certain speed, but it turned out to be a certain rpm range. I tested the theory, sounds crazy i know, and by no means am i suggesting that you go through the trouble of balancing the flywheel to try and solve this. But if you do happen to change your clutch soon, make sure to resurface the flywheel and balance it while you are at it. Hell, for a little more you could purchase an aftermarket lightened flywheel that would come resurfaced/balanced and increase throttle response.
I've also had a shake go away from changing the axle, didn't expect that either, i just replaced the axle b/c the boot was ripped and grease all leaked out. I recommend getting an axle that has the little rubber balancer on it, if you're gunna replace them.

 

[jmart]

I tend to agree with the other guy's post. If your steering rack is tight, suspension bushings are in good condition, and your brake calipers aren't siezing up due to rust (which it definitely doesn't sound like based on your symptoms), then you should look to a balancing issue. In fact, your symptom is that at a certain rotational speed you get a vibration. This is exactly what happens when part of the rotating mass is out of balance. You hit a resonant frequency at a certain rotational velocity, and the vibration is amplified. This is not a far fetched concept at all. It makes sense to me based on what you've doen so far to inspect the axles and flywheel to ensure they are balanced.

You definitely shouldn't let a little wheel shake make you get rid of your car, unless there is a ton else wrong with it.

 

[Robb]

You definitely shouldn't let a little wheel shake make you get rid of your car, unless there is a ton else wrong with it.

ya I guess. My car is pretty mint except for these lil issues and engine burning a lil oil..

 

[jfrolang]

Slammed! I love it!

 

[Robb]

Slammed! I love it!

off topic but...this is slammed

:shock:

 

[ComposiMo]

Due to your ride height, i'll put my moola on the axles...

 

[stick]

Due to your ride height, i'll put my moola on the axles...

Same. It's about all that you have left to work with after all those replacements.

If it were engine parts that were vibrating badly, it's likely that you would feel the vibration in the entire cab and not just the steering wheel.

 

[SETI20]

Axles, and more specificly the CV joints go out quick, fast, and in a hurry when you're low like that. Turn the wheel in, and check out the crazy angle you probably have on the boots.

Find a parking lot, turn the wheel in to full lock, and accellerate a bit to put power on the axles. If it's statrs clunking a little, or ticking, or whatever... the joint is (really) bad. However, due to your stance, the inner joint could even be damaged. These are not for sale seperately, wich would mean a new axle.

This is what you've been warned about on several occasions.

Also, on the axles there are what looks like 2 stabiliser bushings. These tend to jitter the lot up a little if one of them is moved, worn, broken...etc.

Another thing that can cause odd behavior is the tie-rod bushings. Oddly enough, low-mileage cars tend to have this problem more due to them drying out. It's a $20 fix. Worth a try.

To align your steering wheel, you might need yet another alignment. Tell them to do it right this time. Put the steering wheel straight, so they can adjust the rods on the steering adjustingly. You should not have to take the wheel off to correct their fuckups.

Good luck with that. You might have to come off the ground a bit. If it's the joints, new ones will be gone in a matter of months.

 

[Robb]

thanks guys. Im gonna put new axles then do another alignment.

 

[mattminerDOTcom]

I concur

When one of my crxs was slammed it ate inner joints like noones business. inner joints will cause a shake under acceleration and it a fixed range of speed.

thank god for autozone lifetime warranty

[email protected]

 

[SETI20]

That's retardedly low. What can possibly be the use of that?

 

[crxfisher]

Yeah, how can that possibly be drivable?

 

[mattminerDOTcom]

Drove it every day like that for like 10 months. it was either that or my truck, and my truck was more undriveable, im pretty sure i posted pics of that up here before.

honestly, with my super [email protected]^tm suspension fabrication, i had full suspension travel on that rex (until the car hit the ground) and didnt have much trouble getting around in it. i drove it all winter infact. lik ei said, it ate inner axles and such. but i got the toe and the caster dead on and the camber eventually i got out to a reasonale amount.

i am , however, a very tolerant and patient person when it comes to lack of comfort or lack of amenties.

anyway, i was only trying to help robb know what his problem is, not start a discussion on why i shouldnt have had my car that low

in any case, neither of my cars are anywhere near what id consider low now.

[email protected]

 

[SETI20]

oh....my...god. Why does it have a shift knob?

 

[mattminerDOTcom]

ha i think i gave seti a heart attack

[email protected]

 

[mattminerDOTcom]

to facilitate easier shifting then grabbing some threads.

[email protected]

 

[Kwicko]

New brakes all around (last month)

Robb:

Forgive me for not having read ALL of the replies in their entirety, but this jumped out at me. When you say "new brakes", what exactly do you mean? I ask because I just worked on a friend's '89 Civic Wagon that was having similar symptoms. I'd done some work on the car before, and informed her that her brake rotors were a bit warped. When she brought it to me this time, she said that in the afternoon, on really hot days (it's been around 100º most of the last 2 weeks), she was having some trouble with the steering wheel shaking on the highway at around 60-65mph. She noted that she'd had new tires put on, and she'd had them rebalanced TWICE to take care of this problem, but to no avail. She said that it also felt like the brakes were sometimes "dragging", and the car was having a hard time maintaining highway speeds (she lives out of town and commutes in, so she does a LOT of highway driving). We discussed it a bit further, and I told her I'd start by putting in new rotors and rebuilt calipers on the front if I felt it needed them after a road test, and see where that gets us. She'd been to Brake Check (a none-too-respected chain that's been the target of several fraud investigations), where they told her that in addition to those parts, she also needed a new master cylinder, new brake booster, new brake hoses, and new rear wheel cylinders, rear drums, and rear shoes.

I thoroughly inspected the car, noted that the master cylinder and brake fluid were new (she had receipts to back this up), noted that the rear drums look fine and don't drag and aren't "oblonged" (out of round), noted that the rear shoes ARE getting pretty thin, but still within spec, and noted that there are NO brake fluid leaks to be found. The master cylinder is not losing pedal pressure when driving, whether the car is hot or cold. I told her I didn't want to just start changing out huge numbers of parts, because the solution is probably simpler than that. I drove the car on Friday afternoon, and it DID feel like the brakes were dragging, but only after I'd driven it for a while and then stopped at a light. Upon launching from the light, the car felt sluggish, and at around 60mph, it started to shake. My guess is that the calipers were sticking a bit - not enough to stop the car, but enough to put drag on the rotors - and the warped rotors were causing the shakes.

She had me bring the car home to fix it, no matter what it took. She loves the car dearly, and has owned it from Day One. I put on new rotors and rebuilt calipers, flushed the brake fluid out and refilled with new, bled the brake system all around, twice, just to be safe, and then road-tested the car to bed-in the rotors and pads and to see how it fared. I'm happy to report that all seems new and fine with the brake system now. No more shakes, no more dragging brakes.

I still need to adjust her parking brake for her a bit, just as an added nice touch.

Anyway, sorry for the long response. Just wanted to let you know that you're NOT alone in this, and that there is a better solution than selling the car.

And, of course, it *could* be the axles, too. I've heard of it happening. Axles get out of balance, but only become noticeably so at certain RPM frequencies.

Mike

 

[Robb]

I basically replaced the front and rear rotors and pads. 1 caliper is new on the passenger side.
Im gonna replace both axles to see if that helps. Otherwise.....