Steering wheel vibrating, front end vibrating.

[95 legacy lsi]

i know, i know, your thinking i need an alignment. but its not that kind of vibration. sometimes it will do it and sometimes it wont. it does it mostly when accelerating and it vibrates so bad i have to pull over. going down the interstate i almost had an accident because i couldnt even steer the damn thing. a while back my ABS was acting up and sounded like a little motor running under the hood and im thinking the problem might be related. when it vibrates the wheel goes crazy and it sounds like your running over the notches cut in the road that are supposed to wake you up if you start drifting off the road. any help will be appreciated, i dont like sending my wife off to work if its doing this.

[httrdd]

Possibly feeling the pulsing of the abs kicking on. That makes a vibration.

[95 legacy lsi]

so, can i unplug the ABS without harm? it was not doing this when i posted earlier about the buzzing sound.

[Huffer]

You can disable your ABS by pulling the ABS fuse. If the problem goes away, you've found the issue. Likely though, your brakes are messed up.

[d1giPhux]

Does it do anything differently when applying the brakes? I WOULD say that this is warped front rotors.. but since you didnt mention it only happening while pressing on the brakes.. it could be ABS related. However, warped front rotors could still be causing the ABS to act abnormally. I would guess warped rotors in the front. Check and see what it does when you apply the brakes and report back..

[harrymaneuvers]

Check the tone wheel for pulsing ABS problems...

He said it is mostly on accelaration though... I am thinking it is something wheel or suspension related... especially if it is so bad that at freeway speed... it is jerking the wheel back and forth sharply and as fast as the "drunk bumps" on the side of the road.


I am picturing in my head... one of the front wheels. Most of the time it is spinning in line and on balance... but under acceleration... there is play within the _________ (steering knuckle, ball joints, tie rods, ect ect) is causing that wheel to shake back and forth until it starts to spin in line again.


Does it happen at all around corners or after corners? Hard acceleration vs soft?

Can you get your front end up on a jack or lift?

If so I would have you make sure that you could grab you front wheels at all positions and try to move them in and out, or rock them back and forth checking for any type of play at all. Then do the same for your suspension... It might be a shifting part that only causes the problem when it is shifted one direction vs the other.


Just my mid day .02

[jey]

Check your CV boots too - if it's ripped and been exposed for a while it can start binding and making all sorts of clickity-clack noises under acceleration.

[95 legacy lsi]

i know my cv axles need to be replaced, when i turn sharp one way or the other it makes a loud click-clack like a shoed horse walking down the road. it does not do it under braking though. and my passenger side caliper hasnt been working since i recieved the car a few years back. in other words i can tell the caliper isnt gripping the rotor or the pads havent made contact with the rotor. also, i have no strut on the rear drivers side, well its there just completely shot.

[Okin DaVanh]

i know my cv axles need to be replaced, when i turn sharp one way or the other it makes a loud click-clack like a shoed horse walking down the road. it does not do it under braking though. and my passenger side caliper hasnt been working since i recieved the car a few years back. in other words i can tell the caliper isnt gripping the rotor or the pads havent made contact with the rotor. also, i have no strut on the rear drivers side, well its there just completely shot.


Ahhh..... ummmm :smt006 Hello!?! No wonder you're having problems. You've been driving the car for almost a year like this, AND you haven't even fixed the brakes yet??? :smt023 Good Job! ughh..... Normally I'd help, but I'm sensing some sort of disregard for your own safety here. Park the car, and get cracking at it with a jack, some jackstands and another buddy for a second set of eyes. In other words: Stop driving it and get a hands-on second opinion asap.

[d1giPhux]

Yeah.. that sounds wicked sketchy. Your gonna end up totaling your car and or killing yourself from crashing when one of those parts breaks.

This is whats going to happen to you (except you will be moving):

http://enterthelaughter.com/images/01-broken-wheel-07-02-07-thumbnail.jpg

Ive actually had the pleasure of seeing it happen to a truck right in front of my driveway. Ripped his whole front bumper off, mangled his front fender.. etc. Oh.. and he was going about 3 MPH in reverse.

You may seriously want to fix that.. like NOW!

Not to mention.. it was a HUGE pain to get off the road, and his truck basically got dragged on its front end to move the car onto the lift. Then again, the truck driver was a complete idiot too! :smt023