Any Ideas

[amanda34434]

I have a 94 ford escort, I have 2 problems with. One is being fixed and I still haven't figured out what the other one is. If anyone can give me any ideas, I would really apprieciate it. When I am driving sometimes the car will shake and make a vibrating noise kind of like the motor mounts are broken. I replaced the motor mounts and transmission mounts so I know its not them. I will have to let off the gas or push down on the accelerator to make it stop. I am having the bearings replaced right now. The bearings are the other problem. Any Ideas? One more thing, do you have to have a hub puller to take off the hub to get to the bearings?

[mightymoose_22]

No special tools needed. There is a locking nut on the hub... it will be obvius how to take it off when you see it. I believe the driver side has a reverse thread... if I remember correctly.

[amanda34434]

Thanks, we got the passenger side off but we haven't gotten the driver side yet. I will let them know about that. Did you have any ideas on the noise my car is making. It would'nt do that because of the bearings would it?

[93 Freshcort]

How fast is the car traveling when the vibration starts? Could be something simple like an out of balance tire.

[MRMonteith]

Well, with the car shaking I'd say either tire out of balance, flat spot on the tire, a knot on the tire. To best tell I'd take it above that speed, take it out of gear to let the engine quiet, then as it goes through that speed that it normally shakes at see what you hear. That at least eliminates engine & transmission for the most part and you can hear the sound and possibly locate it better.

If you've ever had to lock up the wheels without ABS that will produce a flat spot and I had to replace my tires as it drove me nuts. Also I've lost a weight a couple of times and had to have it rebalanced.

Now, if it's not too fast a speed you could spend some effort swapping out the spare for a suspected tire and see when it goes away. Again if it's not at too fast a speed. At least narrow it down. If it's a flat spot, balancing won't help. If it's a flat spot you'll have to replace it. They used to have machines that would shave a tires tread to get it round again. But I haven't seen those in years.

If all else fails try balancing. Start with the least expensive options first. Keep us posted on what you find out it is.

Michael

[amanda34434]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have been having this problem for a while. I had a new motor put in, new motor mounts, new tires, and a new coil. When the coil went out it made the same noise and hesitated the same way. If you put the car in Drive instead of overdrive it doesn't do it. The shop said that it would stop when we replaced the coil but, it hasn't. The bearings are still being replaced because the nuts are frozen and it is taking a lot longer than expected. We also have to have the bearings pressed in. We can't get the stupid thing apart. Could the bearings be the problem? Thanks again for your responses, and all of your help.

Amanda

[johnny ro]

Based on being OK in drive this sort of rules out things that do not relate to overdrive.

Bearings make noise, rumbling grinding noise when bad, they have to be very far gone before a wheel will hop or it will make a car or motor shake. At that point you should feel very bad steering due to variable alignment. If bearings need work, why not remove the knuckle assembly, let a real autp parts place do the pressing? You will need an alignment on reassembly but this is prob needed anyway.

My ideas below are good but N/A if its OK in drive.

Sounds too easy so it cant be true but if the CV joints are worn they do wierd things like make things shake. At this point they dont last much longer. Usually you notice the clicking they make before wear gets too bad, or more likely notice the grease everywhere when the CV boots get ripped and then the wear commences fast.

If your wheels were bent, and some prob are, they shake too, but slight bend gives aslight shake or hop, two can make he shake fade in adn out as they go in and out of synch. Most cars have bent wheels fter a few years. VW manual states they are considered a basic replacment items, for example. Same deal on tires, all are somewhat out of round, its just by how much, and if within spec they get shipped, they can develp hops. Based on shake coming andgoing in respnse to throttle I dont think its wheels/tires

[brianatccm]

Thanks for the information about wheel bearings Johnny Ro. I have that problem right now. It slowly getting worse, you can kind-of hear it. After I got my outer tie rods and an alignment done, most of the bearing noise went away but two weeks later it is almost back to way it was. Any idea on how much they would cost to be replaced professionally? Thanks again for the info.

-Brian

[amanda34434]

There is no clicking from the cv joints and the boot is not torn. The noises it made was like a clunking and grinding. Thats why we are doing the bearings. We are going to take it apart and have the shop press them. They said it would be about $30.00 a side. We already have the bearings. They were about $40.00 each. They said it would be around $200.00 to take them apart and press the bearings for us. We are a little short on money this week so we thought we would take them apart. We are having a real hard time getting them apart though.

About the noise and shaking, if it doesn't do it when the car is in drive does that mean it could be transmission problems? It seems like when the car is switching between Drive and Overdrive is when it starts. If I slow down because someone has turned in front of me and then try to speed back up it does it too. It does it a lot more when I run the A.C. also. Like I said before I have a new motor with 20,000 miles on it. I know it can't be that and if its not the wheels causing the sound the only thing I can think it might be is transmission. What do you think?

Thanks for all the help
Amanda