Driveline Vibration? 1989 240sx 5spd

[ricebike]

well, just a tad after 206,ooo miles my car starts to vibrate while going down the road.

...like you're inside a washing machine & it's on spin-dry...

I was driving back from my sis when my daughter & i started to notice a slight vibration, then progressively getting worse.

@ 1st, i thought it was a flat tire & looked to see-- nope. then, i thought if i had just a tire imbalance cause i feel the vibrations @ higher speeds... Ok, i'll just get my tires rotated on the weekend to see if that was the problem

then, it got more pronounced @ all speeds & when shifted to neutral to coast, like i'm goin over a couple of mini speed bumps. I didn't want to drive all the way home to Bordentown from Deptford, so I took a detour & limped this back to parents' driveway in Cherry Hill until i have time to look underneath on the weekend. anything above 45 mph is just too much vibration.

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when i pulled off 295 to take a quick look @ my tires/under engine/undercarriage, I didn't notice anything wrong. A cop stopped by to shine his spotlight so I can see underneath my car (it was 1030 2 night), while my NICOtot sit in the back seat, waiting to get home...

soo, going down rte 38 w/ flashers on to announce that i'll be going slower than the speed limit, i limped it to the driveway.

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I just need some ideas to look for/confirm my probable causes so when I do go back to look underneath, i'll have some plan. (no internet there).

I checked the oil levels n stuff under da hood; all good. when started and standing still, it's idling smoovly & revs steadily. no signs of engine misfire...slight vavle cover leak

trans: it shifts smoovely w/ no grindage or anything sticking. this was a replacement transmission from a 91 that was installed summer 2004 when my original died on me @ 197,000 miles... i'll check/ change fluids this weekend. of course, i'll check the differential and change the fluid as well... it's due this spring.

tires: ole pepboys futura gls 205/60R15 still have good tread on them... thought the vibration was from 1 or more of them since I used tire plugs to quickly repair nail holes on tread area... <shrugs> will rotate them & see...

I'm guessing it's a driveline vibration: soo i'll check the u joints & driveshaft carrrier bearing on saturday... just want to confirm that the u joints aren't serviceable?

anything else I should keep an eye on?

thanks

[240TweakerNewbee]

Well, sounds like you’re looking in the right areas. I do know from experience that the carrier bearing can be a serious vibration factor, but mostly when you’re pushing it at higher speeds.

You may want to also check the bolts where the driveshaft meets the differential.

I had a buddy who had a driveshaft put on his car and the mechanic didn’t tighten down all 4 bolts and he was getting the washing machine effect at 50+Mph.

[ricebike]

thanx for the confirmation... yup another possibility & hope its going to be a simple fix...

i dunno how to really check for u joints as well... pointers?

[ricebike]

after doing some mo research... (found a couple over the infinit section archives)

seized u joints? i'll remove the driveshaft & try to move them around the full range of movement...

trans/engine mounts? i guess a visualization would be a good thing to check for

someone said tires can be a factor if it had flatspots... but i don't see anything like that on the treads. would using those tire plugs lead to a condition i mentioned above?

[jdm_master_X]

its highly unlikely that a u-joint could seize. the best way to tell is to just remove the driveshaft and flex it. see if it looks straight. more than likely, either the whole driveline is out of phase, or the hypoid gear bearing in the diff has a load of shaft/end play.

a u-joint is serviceable most of the time. u just have to press out the pins somehow.

as fire as tires go, u might have some dynamic or static imbalance. check to see your tire weights didnt fall off.

ill try to get you driveline specs from alldata tonight, if i can.

[ricebike]

oh uh, hopefully the prob is not in the differential... i'll check out that thing when i see the oil during my drain/fill...

as for the joints on the driveshaft of this n similar nissan cars, they're not servicable & would need a replacement/rebuilt shaft w/ aftermarket ones... (from what i've read)

[ricebike]

UPDATE:

well i used the K.I.S.S. Method

it was the tire; (it was easily seen during the light of day) had a huge bubble on the tread area! will post pics of it later tonight... 1st one i've seen B4. I always see bubbles on the sidewall, but not this way?

is this a manufacturer's defect? there is a small hole near the bubble... didn't buy road hazard when I purchased the tire, i believe so I'm out some $

PS: anyone in the south/central jersey area have a full size steel rim w/ P205/60R15 wif @ least 3/16" tread left?

thanks all


Modified by ricebike at 9:49 AM 4/6/2006

[Zilverado]

Glad to hear you found the cause - and it was that visible. In the future, a good way of checking if vibrations are tire-related is simply to rotate the tires from front to back. Since tire vibrations typically feel different from front to back (front = steering wheel shake, back = shaking in the seat of your pants), this method is a fairly quick check.

Interested to see the photos later.

[ricebike]

In the future, a good way of checking if vibrations are tire-related is simply to rotate the tires from front to back. Since tire vibrations typically feel different from front to back (front = steering wheel shake, back = shaking in the seat of your pants), this method is a fairly quick check.

Yup, that was part of my K.I.S.S. Method (keep it simple stupid)

i'm reading other threads of similar symptoms & hopefully they see this one

[ricebike]

well, here's da pics...





in comparison to the normal side:





enjoy!

[Zilverado]

WOW!!! Nice pics. No question what was wrong here. It sure is nice when a problem is that easy to find.

As for whether this is a manufacturing defect, and under the tire warranty, I imagine that would depend on the age of the tire and what kind of warranty it had to begin with. By the look of it, the tires have been on the vehicle for a while.

But good luck and thanks for the pics.

[JNM240]

As far as that tire goes, it is called a seperation. Tire seperation is what happens when the inner steel belts break or change position. This is usually covered under the manufacturers warranty for the tire itself. I say usually, because it depends on the age of the tire (rubber rots as it ages), and, in your case, the fact that there is a tire plug in the tire. Plugging a tire (as opposed to patching the leak from the inside) almost always voids the tires warranty (at least it does where i used to work).

The bubbles you see on the sidewall of tires are actaully the same thing, called impact breaks, and are almost exclusively caused by pinching the tire by hitting a curb or a really bad pothole. Those are almost never covered by the manufacturer warranty, since they are almost always cause by driver error.

Well, at least you have the stock sized tires on there and it shouldnt be too costly to find a replacement.