problem with car....mechanical help! - Honda Prelude Forum

jsmooney · 07-17-2005, 12:41 PM

so i am coming back from panama city beach and as soon as i start slowing down in montgomery while in 5th things start violently shaking. I get worried, because i am only like 100 miles away from home. So i 'test' it again and it seems to do the same:

when i an coasting in gear, no gas applied, rpms ~2-4k the car starts shaking a little at first and then violently shakes. it seems like its from the front end, possibly the passenger side.

any ideas would be helpful!

i drove a straight 4 hour drive today whereas i normally take it in 2 segments with a break. i dont think that has anything to do with it. when i was coming in me neighborhood, i was in second gear and something started, almost like clunking together is what it sounded. metal + metal sound. i stopped and it stopped, then i just drove home and parked.

i am going to change the oil, tranny fluid, and check the axle nuts. anything else?

see the post below, towards the end:

SolRayz · 07-17-2005, 01:18 PM

man your having all kinds of issues...sorry dude!

jsmooney · 07-17-2005, 01:21 PM

the car was running fine until today......i dont even want to look at it for a while. damn, this is what i get when i start to like this girl. we plan something, then my car breaks and she doesnt call me back

damn this prelude thing. but hey, i get 32mpg!

LudemanDan · 07-18-2005, 09:54 AM

Weird. Might wanna make sure your brake rotors are all straight and tight.

jsmooney · 07-18-2005, 10:05 AM

well, i examined my rotors, they have had little "fissures" as i called them in there for a few years but now i noticed the passenger rotor is CRACKED through the outside half. when i noticed that, i came in here and immediately ordered some brembos and nissin OE pads.

what doesnt make sense is why was not shaking when i was going at a constant speed? why was it only shaking when i was accelerating (very little shake) and when i was letting the motor slow me down?

oh, do i need to bleed the brakes when i replace the pads? ive never bled them before when replacing the pads and i recently replaced the master cylinder.

yield · 07-18-2005, 10:48 AM

don't need to bleed if you're replacing pads.

Could a broken motor mount cause this possibly?

jsmooney · 07-18-2005, 11:30 AM

i had the ES mounts in there for a while and recently took out the back mount, i felt up the car (hehe) when i was changing the oil and the mount felt fine....i may need to take it apart and check it out, but with the STB in there its a pain to work with now

motor mounts arent cheap either...

red92s · 07-18-2005, 11:59 AM

CV boots look OK?

jsmooney · 07-18-2005, 12:42 PM

i just replaced the drivers side axle....again and replaced the passengers side a year ago. and yes, they both look a-ok.

oh i forgot to add, i was taking a back road at the beach, ran it up to 6k in first gear and it was almost like it wouldnt go into 2nd gear.....it was hard to go into 2nd. not sure why, but it is normally okay during "normal" driving

UWNTSUM · 07-18-2005, 01:32 PM

if its having probs going into gear at high rpms, i would suggest changing out ur tranny fluid 1st to see if that helps. If not it could be ur synchros that are going bad which is a common prob with honda gear boxes.

LudemanDan · 07-18-2005, 04:28 PM

If it's only doing it under acceleration and braking and the crack in the rotor is the cause, it could be because the backward and forward force on your front axles causes the split in the rotor to separate a little. But that's hard to imagine. Just brainstorming.

Dan

jsmooney · 07-18-2005, 05:49 PM

i have a feeling that it may be the tranny, but........i changed the fluid and no problems so far, it still grinds like a mofo in 3rd though

jsmooney · 07-22-2005, 09:18 AM

i think i found the problem:

i was up under the car feeling things and seeing if i noticed anything wrong. first of all, was the motor mount just to be sure since i just took out the ES mounts. motor mount was fine. next was the passenger axle. it would move (the stick part, axle, shaft, etc) about 1/2-1" up and down. i thought this was unusual. (considering i just replaced it TWICE) I then noticed that when I moved it up and down the CV joint clunked and then it rotated a slight amount as well. when i rotated the tire just a little bit it clunked and then the shaft moved around after moving up/down/around about the 1" i stated above. i thought maybe this was normal, so then i played with the right side.....nope. right side is solid as solid can get, wouldnt move around the slightest bit. should i replace the axle a third time?

notes: i think my axle is fuxxored again.

jsmooney · 07-22-2005, 09:20 AM

edit: red92s, i think you found my problem

red92s · 07-22-2005, 11:30 AM

you might try something from raxles.com, which are typically better than the remanufactured units from parts stores.

achemze · 07-22-2005, 03:05 PM

Axles are the abusee in the lowered-car/highspeed/performance driving equation.

jsmooney · 07-22-2005, 06:19 PM

the thing is, since i have replaced this axle i havent driven wild or crazy or anything. i may have redlined it twice at most with this "newer" axle in. my car cannot break axles because of too much torque. im about to get another one since its under warranty and hope that this works.