I tried search but it was all about bent wheels, brake rotors etc...

Basically, I have a wicked bad shake on HARD acceleration. Usually the car will start a little right after I shift and if I stay on the throttle, the entire car will vibrate until I back off the gas and then it smooths out. I can be cruising around and hit the gas to pick up some speed and the vibration will slowly increase with the speed. Also happens on downshifts and upshifts. It didn't do it at all this morning and just started about 3 days ago and it's never done it before.
Wheels are straight, tires are balanced, brakes are fine. This, i'm thinking, is either going to be axles or bearings but i'm not 100% sure. Any ideas?

 

the vibration will shake the crap out of the whole car, like almost make your vision blurry if you stay on it long enough.

 

Any codes thrown? Almost sounds like your aren't running on all 4 holes.

 

Motor mounts okay?

 

I know this is just another guess and not a solution, but could it be related to your transmission? Did you mis-shift? Good luck.

 

I plus many other have had the same problem. It seems to be the axles, link to the axle thread. I just ordered my axles from excelerate, one of the vendors on this board, for a good price. PM him and he will hook you up.

 

Sounds like a bad CV joint - on a lift with the tranny in neutral shake each driveshaft on both ends - the bad one will be obvious.

 

no codes, motor is running fine. Actually with this cold weather, it's running super nice. No misshifts and mounts are good. I def. need to get this thing on the lift. Are removing these suckers just like any other honda's or something special involved? If it's normal, i'll knock this out in a sec.

 

ive done plenty of tsx axles for vibration while accelerating, also a pull to the left on acceleration, i replaced both front axles..youre good to go..

you dont need any special tools.

a pair of dykes,17,14 if you put in an intermediate shaft too, 36mm huge hammer and a nice prybar. air hammer works great too.

 

Well I've been having the same problem as a lot of you with the mystery shake or just a wicked bad vibration under load at certain speeds.

I took it to get the axles checked by a local shop that specializes in axles. He drove the car then brought it back to the shop and jacked it up.
He felt the shake at 55-62mph and felt how it lessened after 62mph or when he backed off the throttle.
When he jacked it up, he felt for any play or anything that could signify a bad axle. nothing. He actually said both inners and outers felt fine and he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. He also said that usually if the axles were bad he could get them to start vibrating at low speeds and mine wouldn't do anything but be normal at low speeds.

He wants me to take it to a trans shop and see what they say and still if nothing, he said i can pull them out and he'll open the axles up and see whats up and if nothing he'll put the axles back together for free and i'm stuck using more time to put them back in. Now this trans shop will look at them for free but i have to have time to take them out tonight, in my driveway, to get them there early in the morning. I live on a farm type deal so it's wide open and i don't really want to be outside when it's 20 degrees and windy, pulling these damn things out. I'd be a little pissed off to say the least.

I need your guys help because i have until tomorrow to do this. He goes on vacation from sat until the 2nd and my car is getting worse it seems. Reason 'm having him rebuilt them is it's only $60 bucks per axle and 3 hours time from dropping them off and picking them up. Plus i'm going on vacation and i'm scared to even drive out of my local area.

When you guys had the axle problems, could you notice any play? Should I even try the trans shop or just pull them and cross my fingers and hope that fixes it?

Me, i'm kindof leaning towards the have them replaced and see what happens just because that's going to be a whole hell of a lot less then a trans.
Opinions, suggestions??

 

So, what year and transmission? Give us a few more clues to the puzzle to help you get it sorted, mate.

Earlier life: 1966 Datsun 1600 Sport, 1972 BMW 2002tii, 1973 Volvo 142e, 72 Datsun 240Z, 72 Mercedes 250, 73 BMW 2002, 73 Datsun 260Z, 73 Volvo 164e, 71 BMW 2800cs, 77 BMW 320i, 82 Mercedes 300D, 84 BMW 325e, 86 Acura Legend, 90 Miata, 00 Acura TL
Current life: 06 TSX 6sp, 05 Mercedes SLK 350 7sp, 03 Toy RAV4
A car is an expensive PITA; get one you like.

 

oh, sorry. it's a 2004 6spd. with 85 k on it.
I went ahead and pulled the axles since it wasn't a big deal, the guy opened both inboard and outboard joints on both left and right side axles. When he had them opened, he called me and said that they looked brand new and there was no need to repair/rebuild them, so he slapped on some new CV boots for me and regreased the joints and gave them back to me for free.
Went home, put them back in, realized i had mismatched tires on the front. Rotated the oddball tire to the rear then drove the car. Shake went down alot but still there, figured ok, now i'll rotate the other side real quick and see what's up. Shake again went down but now at 60-63 you'll fell it but it's not even near as bad as it was at first.
So my options now are motor mounts.
Checked motor mounts-they look fine, not alot of movement and no knocking or anything
Tires- Kelly Navigators and 1 Sceptor (?) They suck in general so possibly a problem.
1/2 shaft- seemed fine and no play or noise.
Bearings-No noise, no play
Rotors- fine, no vibration during braking at all
Tie rod ends-No play, boots are still intact

I'm guessing tires now but i'm tired of guessing. nobody knows especially after i eliminated the axles. Or did I? could this be a design problem where everything looks fine but the design is flawed?

 

well wtf?

I went ahead and pulled the axles since it wasn't a big deal, the axle guy opened both inboard and outboard joints on both left and right side axles. When he had them opened, he called me and said that they looked brand new and there was no need to repair/rebuild them, so he slapped on some new CV boots for me and regreased the joints and gave them back to me for free.
Went home, put them back in, realized i had mismatched tires on the front. Rotated the oddball tire to the rear then drove the car. Shake went down alot but still there, figured ok, now i'll rotate the other side real quick and see what's up. Shake again went down but now at 60-63 you'll fell it but it's not even near as bad as it was at first.
So my options now are :
Motor mounts-They look fine, not alot of movement and no knocking or anything
Tires- Kelly Navigators and 1 Sceptor (?) They suck in general so possibly a problem.
1/2 shaft (intermediate)- seemed fine and no play or noise.
Bearings-No noise, no play
Rotors- fine, no vibration during braking at all, w/ in spec
Tie rod ends-No play, boots are still intact

I'm guessing tires now but i'm tired of guessing. Nobody knows especially after I eliminated the axles. Or did I? could this be a design problem where everything looks fine but the design is flawed? If so then the only way to get rid of this is to actually replace the entire axle.

 

DOH- more info- It's lowered on Tein S-tech's and Tokico blue struts. Tire pressures seem to affect the vibration a little as well.

 

When was the last time that you had your alignment checked?

Did you have any unusual wear patterns on the tires?

 

Honestly, everything is pointing at the tires. It seems these cars are on the picky side about tires. It probably comes in part from how tight the steering is. The upgraded suspension might be aggravating that condition too.

 

alignment was ac ouple weeks ago. only tread wear i'm getting is a slight choppiness/feathering on the inside of the front tires. Assuming the alignment is still straight, I've been figuring this wear is because the tires are bouncing bad enough to cause that vibration.

 

Spring for a set of 4 matching new tires, and have the wheels re-weighted / road force balanced. I think it could be all in your wheels. 1 wheel off and you could feel it everywhere!

 

but before you do this try rotating your wheels (tire & rim) front to back. A slightly out-of-balance wheel will be a little less noticeable on the rear.

 

Honestly, you have the same symptoms as my axles did on my 04 6mt. I replaced my axles with something a little stronger and the shake is gone. It is your inner CVs that are shot and replacing them with something better will solve it. I priced Acura OEMs and they wanted around $1k for them. I went to Excelerate on the forum here and got these: http://www.driveshaftshop.com/item167462.ctlg. He gave me a hell of a good deal and I put them in myself. It was a job: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40227

 

Front drive cars with a bad tire (somewhere) will shake worse with the bad tire on the front.

Try this: swap left side tires front-to rear and check both for out off round. Then test drive. Any better/worse? Then do the same on the right side. This will help you eliminate one tire that is out of round, out of balance, or has a failed belt. If you have two bad tires, you'll just end up confusing yourself ...

 

Moda- just curious, but if there is no play in my inboard joint and the bearings are fine, what would cause the shake? I'm curious because it doesn't make sense, to me, about the axles. The tires i could see because honestly they are crap tires. they came on the car and then the one odd ball was when my wife picked up like 4 nails driving through a parking lot.

Reach & Jlukja- I rotated the tires after I re-installed the axles. First I rotated my pass. side which lessened the shake then i did the drivers side which lessened the shake even more. Now i have less of a shake but it's still there and it'll vibrate from 58-62mph where as before was 52-65mph and very violent. The shake changed from being totally violent, shaking mirrors, seats, whole car feeling like it was bouncing up and down to a mild shake that'll rattle the interior rear view mirror and shake the car a little bit.

 

After i reinstalled the axles, i rotated one side then drove it then i rotated the other side. Each time lessened the amount of vibration but it's still there. More worried about the vibration causing stress on the car more then anything else.
before one of these threads get's locked because I have 2 going on the same subject, I'm going to keep replying to my other post. Thread title is Need you guys help asap in the problems & fixes forum.

I appreciate all your reply's and it seems like you guys are suggesting the same things i've either tried or are thinking may be causing the problem. maybe i can pin point this damned thing otherwise i guess it's time for axles new wheels and tires.

THANX GUYS!!!!!!

 

Sounds like axles. Been posted before, but I had the shakes from 52mph-67ish.

 

^^I couldn't feel the play in my inboards either, but my Acura mechanic could, so maybe the play is something you and I couldn't detect. Again, you have 100% the symptoms I had before I replaced my axles. Wheels bearings would get worse as you accelerated and you'd feel it the entire way.

BTW, going to merge the other thread with this one since it is the same topic.