exalto

First noticed a small vibration last November after the final PH hoon of the year.

Sensation was similar to tyres losing traction on a greasy road. The problem never got any worse since and I had been planning on getting them swapped over when I got round to fitting new suspension/HS spacers.

However, this morning I was out and about enjoying the weather - no change in the minor vibrations. Got home, regreased the front offside caliper sliders and washed the car. Set off for a jaunt and as soon as I gave it some real beans the car started to shake quite violently. Eased off the accelerator and the vibration subsided. Reapplied gas and there it was again.

Felt like driving over small cobbles.

Been trawling through the search feature and found a couple of articles detailing the swap over, but I think this may be out of my league. I've more enthusiasm than skill and the extent of my tools is a 90% complete halfords socket set.

If I get under the car tomorrow, what should I be looking for to ascertain if it is indeed the buckets - or rather what else should I check to rule out. People have mentioned half shafts, splines and diffs in other posts, but no-one has given a clear description of what to grab, wobble, twist etc to verify other bits are OK. At least none that a halfwit like me can understand.

Finally, on the assumption it is the CVs, does anyone know of any in good condition lying around? What would be the estimated garage time for a swap over? i.e., how much is this likely to strip me?

Thanks for looking.

martin j

Not 100% sure myself but I reckon you will be looking for undue movement/ play in the joints, either rotational or vertical/horizontal movement.

exalto

Right, I'm under the car now.

Having rotated the rear wheels whilst in first, both at the wheels and via the half shafts, there is no play there.

However, my drive shaft has play at the gearbox end. Maybe a couple of mil. If I jiggle the wheels rotationally, there is a little clunking.

Is this the cause of my shakes?

Is the drive shaft gone? Or can I tighten it somehow? Seems to be Alan key bolts here.

Please advise.

Kitesurfer s2000

Ive got the same on my remaped 2.0tdi when the tq comes in. Is it worse when you have more weight in the car ie one more person .
Audi new dick all .

exalto

I turned round and drove home the moment it got all funky. Not driven it since. Daren't untill I find out what it is.

Damn my mechanical ignorance. So frustrating!

I think it's just the age of the car - 70k - that stuff's just starting to go on it. It's reached that point where work's required. I suppose this is where the love is tested.

nomadicS2k

70K and 6 years, possible. I was still on an OEM clutch at that mileage! 136k and the first diff has bitten it.

CV joints would be the first, next could be the diff.

Sanchi_ProjectR

Hi mate,

I've got the same problem and its your cv inner joints having excessive wear. I've read there is a short fix by swapping both inners from left to right or right to left, but am unsure to how long that will last. I read about it on the U.S forum.

It does sound as though its your cv inners as when you shake it at the diff end they should make a knocking noise. If so be prepared, I bought them brand new, at trade price at 175+ vat each and then the cv boot kit which is extra.

It maybe cheaper to source a low mileage 2nd hand driveshaft for a cheaper option for the meantime, but again not sure how long it will last.

Hope that helps.

PaulF

I had a similar issue a couple of years ago, I thought the car would shake it's self to pieces! It always seemed to appear in third gear under acceleration. At the time, I had a warranty, do had my local Honda stealer strip the whole thing and check it all out. It turned out to be a manufacturing defect with one of my rear tyres. Once it got to below 4mm it went away.

Do you have access to/borrow of a spare set of wheels? Changing them over for a set known to be good as a test has to be a much cheaper/easier place to start.

HTH

exalto

Its going in for a bucket swap over on thursday.

If anyone's got any half shaft spacers lying around, I could get those thrown on while it's there...

Interesting experience Paul. I'll bear that in mind should Thursdays work fail to solve it.

Dembo

I had terrible judder at anything over 80mph a while back, and I was quite relieved when it went away with a new set of tyres. The next set did it too. These were the normal RE050MZs that were very, very worn.