what caused this??

im thinking and hoping its the weather, we had a pretty big snow about a week ago and it hasnt been over 10 degrees since, the days have had highs no higher then 10, and the nights with lows down to -20 (thats temperature, not wind chill) so yesterday, after sitting for about 8 hours, i went to start my car, i had to go into omaha (nebraska) for some shit, about a 30 minute drive, from my house to the freeway that takes me to omaha is about 5 minutes, i let my car warm up a minute or 2 as always, and drive to the freeway, now about the time im pulling onto the freeway, my car has warmed up a little bit, the temperature guage is a hair above bottomed out, and the heater is blowing slightly warm air, so i get up to speed and notice my poorly mounted tach is bouncing up and down, (NOT from being poorly mounted) from sitting in the seat i can feel the car kinda bouncing, its more of a vibration then it is a bounce i guess, right now im going about 60-65, so i speed up a bit, and the vibration gets a little worse, now im going 70-75, then after a few minutes at this steady speed (cruise control on) all of a sudden out of nowhere it gets 1000 times worse, driving on rumble bars would be a good way to describe it now, rumble bars that go on forever, HORRIBLE HORRIBLE vibrations, so obviously at this point im scared for my safety so i immediately pull the vehicle to the side of the road, leave the engine running the whole time, get out, look around, look underneath, make sure everything looks ok, i didnt see any problems, i get back in the car, sit for a minute, then take off again, everything is now perfect , and has been since, any thoughts???

Did it seem like it was missing at all and surging while trying to accelerate or did it just suffer to stay running?

the engine ran perfect the whole time, this was definitely not an engine issue

from sitting in the seat i can feel the car kinda bouncing, its more of a vibration then it is a bounce i guess, right now im going about 60-65, so i speed up

this is the part that made me laugh...:iceslolan

cars driving like its about 2 fall apart, and you speed up...:uhoh: :screwy:

im 95% sure its not this, but check your lug nuts on all your tires...last time i had a vibration problem (vibration got worse and worse as i went faster) in my cavalier i couldnt figure it out....so i checked my lugnuts and on 3 out of 4 tires, there was at least 1 lug nut loose....and it fixed my problem

Could be wheel bearings? I had a set go after I slid into a curb this winter, and after I went past 60KMs/hr my car would make a loud humming noise and vibrate a little bit.....spent the $300 and got the bears replaced and no problems since, also is it normal for the heater to blow colder air until the engine warms up?? Thanks and hope thsi helps you.

i thought about a wheel bearing, but wheel bearings dont fix themselves in less then 10 minutes, and yes, its normal for a heater to blow cold air until the engine warms up, where do think it gets the heat from?

as for the lug nuts, you're a GOD DAMN mind reader, one of my tires only has 3 of the 5 lug nuts and that is the first thing i checked on the side of the road, on all 4 tires, that wasnt the problem

is it possible that the extremely cold weather could have had an effect on the suspension somehow? this is the only thing i can think of....

i dont no ANYTHING about coilovers, shocks, struts, or the suspension on a cavalier but mabye if ur springs had been in that tempature it could of had some effect...

colder air = more dense air, and i know that struts are just spring compressed air....mabye theres something to that? i d k im just shootin in the dark here

Any chance there may have been some snow stuck to the rim,either side. Throwing a wheel out of balance and breaking away as you slowed to a stop ? Or a tire slightly low on air and flat spotting in the cold

the tire pressures are perfect, i had the oil changed 2 days before this and they check all of that shit, as for the snow being stuck in the tire throwing the balance off, im gonna have to assume this is exactly what happened, we had another big snow this weekend and the exact same thing happened again

maybe u should check ur wheels before drivin off...crazy bastard...lol

the tire pressures are perfect, i had the oil changed 2 days before this and they check all of that shit, as for the snow being stuck in the tire throwing the balance off, im gonna have to assume this is exactly what happened, we had another big snow this weekend and the exact same thing happened againif it happened again I`d suspect something else,what are the chances of it happening twice . Maybe there`s a brake hanging up . did you feel the rear brake drums to see if they were hot when this happened ? it`s not pulling to one side is it ?

it was the exact same thing in the exact same conditions (weather), and it stopped immediately all at once not to far into the drive, just like it did last time, this time it didnt get as bad as rumble bars though, it stopped before that but other then that, its just like before, it didnt pull to one side, stayed straight as an arrow, just a lil bumpy, if it does it again in different conditions, then ill start to worry

Definately a head scratcher.........Lol

oh yes