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Re: Shaking/Squeaking
Im no expert on suspensions, but my guess is that the rubber suspension bushings on one side (or maybe both sides) might be chewed up. This can happen from a long standing oil leak that softens up the rubber inner part of the bushings, plus some cornering at high speeds. I would check for this by a close inspection, looking for chewed up or swollen rubber insulators. Though I havent done it, I need to check this on my daughters 97. There is a slight side-to-side shaking as you accelerate through 25-40 mph. And of course there is wheel based vibration at 73 mph.
Though I dont recommend anyone try it, the scheme I would use is to run the car up on ramps, placed so the bumper is up against a good sized tree. Thats so it wont move forward: While I would lie under the nose of the car on one side, and have someone put it in drive and give it a little gas, gently, with the brakes off. I would be looking for any uneven movement of the front suspension parts.
A good way to check for a bad wheel bearing, is to get one front wheel off the ground (with a jackstand or pile of 6 by 6 lumber, not just the little scissor jack) and having the engine running, the transmission in low gear. Turn the wheel so you can see the hub, and listen with a mechanics stethoscope touching the steering knuckle. Do it to one side of the vehicle, then the other . If there is bad wheel bearing, one side will be much noiser than the other.
A bent wheel or bent hub, or a wheel mounted to the hub unevenly will give you a slight feel of side-to-side movement. I even had this effect on a car where one of the front tires wasnt completely seated; the bead of the tire wasnt fully forced onto the rim of the wheel.
I think of wheel bearings as making growling noises, not squeaks. The squeaks I have heard on FWD cars were bad struts and/or bad thrust bearings at the top of the stuts.
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11-27-2007, 07:46 PM
