Shaking upon acceleration and higher speeds

LINDA80100

MEMBER
HONDA ACCORD

INFO: 1993 Honda Accord with 175,000 miles.
My car starts to vibrate/shake when accelerating over 50 mph, and at about 65 mph it shakes continually. However, it's perfectly fine when driving UNDER these speeds. The steering wheel shimmies slightly, but it's more of an "up and down" vibrating. We have taken this car to several shops, including a Honda dealer, but nobody has been able to figure it out. We have had bent wheels replaced, new front end parts all replaced and front end alignments done, brakes done (including rotors), new tires and still it shakes. My husband is now thinking it is the struts, which are original, even though all the shops have said they are "good". Any ideas out there? I'm going on a 5-hour trip next week and would love to have this fixed before then!
Thanks in advance,
Linda

3 Replies

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,753 POSTS

When you took it to the shop did they check to see if the motor mounts were ok?

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Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 AT 9:57 AM

LINDA80100

MEMBER
2 POSTS

No, and you know what - I mentioned this as a potential problem long ago and my husband kind of dismissed it, so he didn't have the mechanics check those, and as far as I know they didn't take it upon themselves to look at them either. I still do think we should have those checked. And, from doing some searching on this site, it seems CV joints are a big possibility. Even though we have had them replaced (one 4 years ago and 1 a year ago) we are definately getting those looked at again. Any other ideas would be great - something maybe that we're totally missing. Thanks for the motor mount suggestion! At least I know I'm not totally amiss with that idea! :)

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Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 AT 10:43 AM

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,753 POSTS

Losone described his technic about testing the motor mount. You should search and read it. But basically the way I would check it out is to put the car in gear with the engine running and your foot on the brake. Try hitting the accelerator and having someone watch the engine. Do this in forward and reverse and as you watch the engine see if it rises. If it moves a noticeable amount then a mount is shot.

The CV axles are not what I would worry about. They go out but only when the boot is broken and the lube has left. Then they make their presence known by clicking when a corner is made. Usually at high speed and straight motion they perform well. They really only get the extra stressed workout on corners.

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Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 AT 5:40 PM