Honda Civic Shaking, need help quick!

Tiny
ASHTREY634
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  • HONDA CIVIC
I have a 1996 honda civic dx hatchback, automatic transmission, it has 84,000 miles and hasn't had any problems before. Since yesterday after driving on a highway to go to work, when I parked the car, the front end of the car would shake very violently. I drove the car home and it felt fine, but it felt as if I had lossed some horsepower. I drive it this morning on the way to work and felt fine for the first 10 minutes then everytime the car would come to a stop it would again shake violently. I got my cv axles replaced on both sides, and a new transmission mount put in today and it still shakes. It seems as if the front end shakes when the engine is warm and when the car is going under 10 mph. Please help, it's very scary. Thank You
Saturday, November 11th, 2006 AT 1:49 PM

10 Replies

Tiny
BRUCE HUNT
  • MECHANIC
  • 3,754 POSTS
I would look at the brakes as a starter to see if a rotor is warped or bent.
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Saturday, November 11th, 2006 AT 8:38 PM
Tiny
ASHTREY634
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Thats what I was thinking also but I had the brakes checked out at my shop at work and they are fine. My brakes are worn but other than that, they told me they were fine.
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Saturday, November 11th, 2006 AT 9:45 PM
Tiny
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Also, they told me that my oil was very low, so they put a quart of oil in it for me and the vibration has gotten less severe but I can still feel it a little. They told me I definatley needed an oil change, transmission service, new transmission filter, and said it would be wise to get a tune-up to be on the safe side. Would low/dirty oil, low/dirty transmission fluid and filter have to do with the front end vibrating violenty after getting warmed up? Does that make any sense?
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Saturday, November 11th, 2006 AT 9:50 PM
Tiny
BRUCE HUNT
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One of the things that might make sense is that a main bearing could be going out on the engine. Is the vibration there idel and low speed? Watch the oil consumption or loss. See if there is any leakage as a main bearing will eventually make the seal go out too.

I guess what I would do is one as a time. For instance, determine if I am correct and don't throw money in the hole if the engine is failing.

Now another thought comes to mind and that is another motor mount. Check them all out. I seem less suspicious of the tranny if the car is not moving but it is possible. If the tranny motor mount failed and I am not sure the extent that it failed, but that could have caused stress on another motor mount.
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Saturday, November 11th, 2006 AT 11:36 PM
Tiny
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Yes your right, vibration only occurs when idling and/or at low speeds. The mechanic at the shop said that the rest of the motor mounts are fine.(Sorry I forgot to add that info)

how would I go about determining if the main bearing is the problem?
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Saturday, November 11th, 2006 AT 11:58 PM
Tiny
ASHTREY634
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Please any other advice on my situation would be greatly appreciated, the car is still shaking.
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Monday, November 13th, 2006 AT 9:16 PM
Tiny
BRUCE HUNT
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If the main bearing is going it is something you determine by a trained ear, however, once the main bearing starts to go the seal will be affected since the crankshaft will be moving around. Thus you will slowly notice a loss of oil.
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Tuesday, November 14th, 2006 AT 2:21 PM
Tiny
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I have taken my car to a couple of local shops around my area and they all say to do the basics, ( oil change, transmission service, tuneup). A friend of mine just told me he had the same problem with his chevy a couple of years ago and he got a tuneup, which replaced all the wires and plugs and so forth and the problem went away. Is a tune-up needed to fix the problem?
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Tuesday, November 14th, 2006 AT 11:06 PM
Tiny
BRUCE HUNT
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Have you tried this yet? Pull a plug wire off the spark plugs one at a time while the engine is shaking see if the shaking gets worse. What I mean is that should one of the wires make no difference while the others make it worse, you have a failing wire. I have known a few cases where the wire was borderline and would fail to fire sufficiently and this was especially noticeable at low idle. Another way to address this is to use another wire if you have one to replace them one at a time.
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Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 AT 8:30 AM
Tiny
ASHTREY634
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I got the car fixed, the air filter was disgustingly dirty, (light wasnt penetrable) and my fuel injectors needed to be cleaned.
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+1
Thursday, November 16th, 2006 AT 2:25 PM

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