All (Mods please keep here until I get some responses)-

Here is what is going on:

1) Accelerating under moderate load (4k+ RPM) the steering wheel is shaking
quite a bit. Furthermore, I can feel the shaking through the accelerator pedal
and via the actual center console.

2) While car is stopped, if I move the steering wheel back and forth I hear
clunking from the front of the suspension.

3) Every now and then I lose a little bit of power steering fluid.

Possibilities of what is wrong

1) CV boot. I took it to Acura a while ago, they said it looked like there was
some liquid internally. They said they massaged it and it should be fine.

2) Axle

3) Warped rotors (they are slightly warped). Although I doubt this.

4) Bent control arm or other suspension component (damn potholes)

5) Tire balancing has already been done, so I want to say it is not this.

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to be organized. Please post advice/experiences. Thanks.

 

Sounds like an axle issue. I had very similar symptoms (minus the loss of PS fluid) and new axles did the trick.

Unfortunately the problem just came back recently (about 2k miles after they were replaced) which I am going to have checked out again, because I have not launched the car or done anything aggressive. I'm thinking a CV boot might be the culprit for this reoccurance, but I believe they said they checked it.

 

Any update?

I'm getting mine looked at again on monday.

 

you can take 3 and most likely 4 out of the equation. Sounds like a bent or bad axle. As for the loss of fluid, ?? a leak in the system? Do you ever see fluid spots where you park?

 

I thought new axles come with new CV boots?

 

I should know tomorrow or Saturday, I'll give an update

I might have missed the spots, over a year and some odd months I have put 3/4 bottle of power steering fluid in. A while back I thought something was up, Acura said that the CV boot was slightly soaked, but nothing to worry about. The thing is wouldn't I have noticed a bent axle instantaneously after hitting a pothole or something?

 

well PS fluid doesnt go thru the CV, so if it was soaked, id say either the leak was by the CV or the CV had a tear in it and it was the grease from inside the boot

 

That I do not know...do they normally? Either way something is f-ing up. After I came back from working out today it was vibrating very very bad when I was moderately accelerating onto US-27. I am not gonna drive it until I have to on monday. Both times (now and the time before) it has been the passenger side with the vibrations.

 

I hope they don't blame it on the car being lowered, because the two times I took the car for suspension clunking, etc the car was not lowered. I purposefully had them check it all out because I knew I would lower it. Now it has been lowered, I guess we'll see.

 

my first thought is leaking cv boot from it being off or torn. my second thought is a bad wheel bearing.

when you are driving at about 60mph, turn the wheel slightly to the left then straight then slightly to the right. see if the vibration lessens or disappears when its turned to either side.

if it seems to dissappear when you turn to the left then the wheel bearing on the passenger side is bad. and vice versa.

while i dont have a 2nd gen cl, i had the same issue just recently with my Eclipse.

mine was a all encased piece only attainable from the dealer.....$198. Bad thing was i have a 1995 and the axle was fused to the bearing with rust, so it had to be trashed and i needed a new end axle.

 

Well they couldn't see anything wrong and ofcourse with the car being lowered they couldn't run the alignment checks(?) to see if everything is in spec and nothing is wrong. I don't know, I know something is up.

Does anyone hear noise (read clunking) if they turn the wheel slight left to right rapidly while parked? Its like I get something to wobble and jiggle that way.

 

I have almost your exact same symptoms but when I turn my wheel while parked, it's more of a grinding noise, like metal against metal. I'm rotating my tires this weekend to try and solve the vibration aboe 40mph and if that doesn't work I'll let Acura look at it...

 

the grease is usually pink in color and has the consistency of lotion. a lot thicker than ps fluid.

 

most deff not the CV boot it wouldnt feel like that if it were the problem.

 

^ What makes you say that? I spoke to another mechanic, he said it may be the CV boot?

 

{semi rant}
I took mine in today as told but they were short staffed, so I gotta go thursday (popular honda/acura specialist). This is really starting to piss me off, makes me feel like ditching my CL. Everytime I accelerate it drives me crazy! On top of this, I think my new tranny is tripping. I just want my damn shit fixed correctly and before I start commuting to college{end rand}

 

My issue seems to be the right front wheel bearing, which is where the majority of the noise seemed to come from before the shaking started. I'm going to try and fix it myself this weekend...

 

possibly a bad balljoint of tierod end if it isn't the axle.

 

Wow ! Now I feel like a genius since my suggestion was a bad wheel bearing.

Good luck on fixing this yourself. Its a pretty straight forward process, just remove the wheel, inspect the axle nut to see if it can freely be removed. If so, you should have no problem removing the wheel hub assembly. If yours is fused together by rust like mine was, be prepared to purchase a new outer axle shaft. Be sure to preserve or replace the axle seal. Before putting it all back together, be sure and use tons of antiseize.

Good luck.

 

i say that because my CV did need to be replaced and i never felt anything like that

 

Dropped the car off at Acura this morning and they stated what I already thought was wrong. Bad wheel bearing, wheel bearing hub and surprise...axle!!! I got a turbo RDX in the meantime. I like the boost, it's pretty quick for a SUV. Can't wait to get my car back though....

 

I got an update for today as well: Not tranny, Not Axle...but my passenger tire was way out of balance. Got that fixed and the car is definitely better, but still acting up.

Occasionally (haven't found a pattern) I'm still getting the shaking wheel issue and some odd behavior when I accelerate (Engine is purring smooth as usual), the tech at acura who drove the car for the trans today with me said he didnt notice it, but I did as a passenger. He wasn't a dumb dude either. I'll figure it out soon enough. It's probably one or two of the things mentioned above.

 

This is what I expected myself, but the dealer said everything looked ok. Out of curiosity was it the cost to get that fixed? Also do you have a drop on your car?

 

Not sure on the cost but I'll ask when I go to pick it up. It's all covered under the extended warranty I purchased so I just have to pay the deductible. Also, no drop on my car.

 

Mitsu is probably a bit different, but close to price as AC, but mine cost me $180 for the part itself(Wheel bearing assy), $70 for labor, and $40 for them to re-work the axle end. $290 total. I watched him do the work, thats how I now know that its pretty straight forward. You only run into a problem when the axle is so rusted that it wont release from the bearing assy.

 

Random thought could motor mounts be causing any bit of this?