94 z26 shaking / vibration at 40mph+
Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2003 11:31 am
Hey everone... it says this is my first post here, but I've been on this board several years ago.  I just can't remember my password and my email has changed... anyway.
I have a '94 Z26 with the 3100, it has 122K miles.  I'd say maybe 6 months ago and 6K miles ago, it started making this vibration at speeds above 40 mph.  It's not really coming from the steering wheel or the brake pedal, but the whole car kind of shimmies and shakes.  Once I get up to around 70mph, it becomes much less noticable, but it's still there.
So far, here's what I've replaced: front struts/mounts, stabilizer bar links, front brake pads/rotors, one tie-rod end, all four tires (balanced), both motor mounts, front passenger hub/bearing, 4 wheel alignment... I think thats it.  My passenger side motor mount was completely collapsed, and the mount was actually hitting on the car's frame.  The driver's tranny mount was kind of worn, so I replaced it anyway. When I had the front end tore all apart, I inspected and greased and replaced everything that was worn. The balljoints felt tight.
This problem is driving me crazy, and I'm *really* close to getting rid of this car because of this.  The only thing I can think of is a worn CV joint, but my boots are fine and they don't make any noise.  Could the bad motor mount have messed up my CV joints?
The shaking does seem to be worse when I make high-speed left turns, and when I hit the brakes the whole car shakes, but I have new brake rotors...
Any ideas?  I hate just replacing parts until I fix the problem... I mean, the next thing for me to do is replace both the half shafts and hope that fixes the problem.  Is there an easy way to check the CV joints w/o removing the half shaft?
I have a '94 Z26 with the 3100, it has 122K miles.  I'd say maybe 6 months ago and 6K miles ago, it started making this vibration at speeds above 40 mph.  It's not really coming from the steering wheel or the brake pedal, but the whole car kind of shimmies and shakes.  Once I get up to around 70mph, it becomes much less noticable, but it's still there.
So far, here's what I've replaced: front struts/mounts, stabilizer bar links, front brake pads/rotors, one tie-rod end, all four tires (balanced), both motor mounts, front passenger hub/bearing, 4 wheel alignment... I think thats it.  My passenger side motor mount was completely collapsed, and the mount was actually hitting on the car's frame.  The driver's tranny mount was kind of worn, so I replaced it anyway. When I had the front end tore all apart, I inspected and greased and replaced everything that was worn. The balljoints felt tight.
This problem is driving me crazy, and I'm *really* close to getting rid of this car because of this.  The only thing I can think of is a worn CV joint, but my boots are fine and they don't make any noise.  Could the bad motor mount have messed up my CV joints?
The shaking does seem to be worse when I make high-speed left turns, and when I hit the brakes the whole car shakes, but I have new brake rotors...
Any ideas?  I hate just replacing parts until I fix the problem... I mean, the next thing for me to do is replace both the half shafts and hope that fixes the problem.  Is there an easy way to check the CV joints w/o removing the half shaft?