Major Shaking in my car Help!

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 5:44 pm

I'll try to make this long story short. This all happened when i installed a glasspack onto my midpipe. After the install was done, i noticed the car shook just a bit and gradually got worse over time. It drove me nuts so i started to troubleshoot the problem.

The sound seems to be coming from the downpipe. I replaced the downpipe yet the shaking is still there. I then figured it could be the motor mounts. I replaced my stock ones with srt mounts and it didn't help much.

To make matters worse, I was hit from behind just a few days ago. The pipes to my RT muffler were bent back. I brought the car to the exhaust shop and got an estimate. I wanted them to go ahead and give me their opinion on my downpipe situation and what they could do to fix it.

They put the car on a lift and inspected my exhaust setup. He immediately told me that the downpipe was not my problem and pointed the blame on my motor mounts. I told him that i recently replaced the mounts with new ones.

while still on the lift he told me to go ahead and pop my hood to have a look at the mounts. while there he instructed me to put the car in drive and hold down the brakes then hit the gas and release it quickly. I did so and he told me the travel on my mounts is too much. The guy told me to put the car in park so i can see the travel myself. I went out and noticed the travel was alot.

He gave me a great quote on the work i need right now but told me that i really should get my mounts fixed first. Now i am just a little confused. I have replaced the downpipe and the mounts yet the shaking is still there. What can i do now? I followed the DCX FSM for the downpipe and the motor mount install.

Finally on to my questions. Is there something i may have missed that can cause this rattle? Am i possibly doing something wrong with these installs? I really need to get all of this sorted out asap. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Wisher2 · Post by **Wisher2** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 6:30 pm

Yeah take your mounts back out and fill them with 94a urethane. When you do this dont forget to do your trans mount as well. Dont F*@K around with inserts just go strait for the solid fill here is a linky....I am sure your problem will be solved.

Sounds like when your mounts move to much shit starts to rattle and vibrate against things

http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/Ab ... nserts.asp

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:27 pm

Thought of that already. But again, i already have enough vibration as it is. The noise inside of the car is quite loud. There has to be something i am missing or some sort of other option.

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:25 pm

anyone else have any suggestions?

Wisher2 · Post by **Wisher2** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:33 pm

When you fill your trans mount everything will quiet down dramaticaly....I Promise.....And why do you have so much vibration in your car as it is if you have standard mounts with no inserts then you shouldnt have any vibration

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:38 pm

Wisher2 wrote:And why do you have so much vibration in your car as it is if you have standard mounts with no inserts then you shouldnt have any vibration

that's what i'm trying to figure out here.

Wisher2 · Post by **Wisher2** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 11:24 pm

I think it's your trans but I am not there so I cant really diagnose the problem but imo just fill all your mounts and see if that takes care of it. Also one of the bolts could be broken inside like the lower mount

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 8:31 am

well yesterday i went ahead and swapped out motor mounts for the second time. Same problem. I am really at a loss of what to do here now. I am starting to think i may have the same problem that paralyzer has in this thread below. Going to check on that bolt later today.

http://forum.2gn.org/viewtopic.php?t=19404

Does anyone have any kind of ideas on this? It's driving me nuts.

Wisher2 · Post by **Wisher2** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 2:27 pm

If you swapped out mounts then you would know if the bolt is broken or not. What mounts are you replacing? just the passanger side upper and lower? Like I have repeated already " check and replace your trans mount" That is the only other thing that would make your car shake. Making your car shake would have nothing to do with anything but your mounts and that is that. A downpipe would never be able to shake your car. That is my only solution for you and since I am the only one answering you then it looks like everyone may be in agreeance with my solution. I know it may take a little bit of time to get the trans mount out but it is worth it and with the trans mount broken it could cause severe noise and vibration.

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 4:08 pm

Wisher2 wrote:If you swapped out mounts then you would know if the bolt is broken or not. What mounts are you replacing? just the passanger side upper and lower? Like I have repeated already " check and replace your trans mount" That is the only other thing that would make your car shake. Making your car shake would have nothing to do with anything but your mounts and that is that. A downpipe would never be able to shake your car. That is my only solution for you and since I am the only one answering you then it looks like everyone may be in agreeance with my solution. I know it may take a little bit of time to get the trans mount out but it is worth it and with the trans mount broken it could cause severe noise and vibration.

I never doubted you. I just figured since the motor mounts showed no damage, the tranny mount would also be the same so that part was the last on my priority list. Just tried to have a quick look at the cars tranny mount. Unfortunately i cant see anything since the tranny bracket is also in the way. My friend has a urethane filled mount that she used on her srt. The swap is going to have to wait until the end of next week.

I will keep this thread updated.

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Sun May 20, 2007 9:48 am

well, changed the transmission mount. still the same shaking. I am completely out of ideas now. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

lilschmied · Post by **lilschmied** » Sun May 20, 2007 10:09 am

is the shaking always there or just under throttle? also is it a vibration you can feel in the wheel and/or the car or just alot of noise from something vibrating

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Sun May 20, 2007 10:22 am

lilschmied wrote:is the shaking always there or just under throttle? also is it a vibration you can feel in the wheel and/or the car or just alot of noise from something vibrating

the shaking is always there and yes i can feel it in the steering wheel too. As soon as i begin to drive, you can hear noise.

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:38 pm

well, i think i am actually having some motor mount problems here. After running out of ideas. i popped my hood and just began to look around while i left the car on. I put my two fingers under the top motor mount and gently lifted up. Suddenly, almost all of the shaking was gone!

now my problem is, i have looked over the DCX and haynes manual over and over again. I have done the motor mount adjustment procedures at least three times now. I have a feeling i am doing something wrong here or there is something i am missing in my adjustment procedures.

Does anyone have any tips or have some experience in doing this? I'm desperately trying to get rid of this noise.

Wisher2 · Post by **Wisher2** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:23 pm

What all do you have done to your car? What type of engine mods do you have? Arent you Turbo'd.....If so go for solid mounts and bolt it to spec and you should be fine

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:43 pm

Wisher2 wrote:What all do you have done to your car? What type of engine mods do you have? Arent you Turbo'd.....If so go for solid mounts and bolt it to spec and you should be fine

only intake and exhaust has been done.

Wisher2 · Post by **Wisher2** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:40 pm

Then maybe your car is a lemon. If it has been in an accident that would cause you to not be able to align your engine properly

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:35 pm

Wisher2 wrote:Then maybe your car is a lemon. If it has been in an accident that would cause you to not be able to align your engine properly

this never occurred when i got the car. It only began when i installed my exhaust. The entire story of how this happened is in the first post of this thread.

Wisher2 · Post by **Wisher2** » Fri May 25, 2007 1:24 am

Take it to a muffler shop and have them weld some extra hangers to the undercarriage of your car

StreetEviL · Post by **StreetEviL** » Sat May 26, 2007 3:35 am

Did you ever hit a GIANT friggin' pot hole in the road like I did? That caused my vibration, only under throttle though. But good luck on your problem anyways.

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Sun May 27, 2007 12:30 pm

StreetEviL wrote:Did you ever hit a GIANT friggin' pot hole in the road like I did? That caused my vibration, only under throttle though. But good luck on your problem anyways.

so what did you do to fix your problem back then?

kc2005ptgt · Post by **kc2005ptgt** » Mon May 28, 2007 3:14 am

I wonder if when they installed your glasspack they did not "cut enough" pipe out... I wonder what would happen if you just cut out the entire mid section up to the bend and just reinstall all of it, including glasspack??? Maybe it is just tweaked ever so slightly causing some stress on the engine, pushing it forward JSUT enough to force it to vibrate? I dunno, just throwing out ideas

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Mon May 28, 2007 6:34 am

kc2002acr wrote:I wonder if when they installed your glasspack they did not "cut enough" pipe out... I wonder what would happen if you just cut out the entire mid section up to the bend and just reinstall all of it, including glasspack??? Maybe it is just tweaked ever so slightly causing some stress on the engine, pushing it forward JSUT enough to force it to vibrate? I dunno, just throwing out ideas

i removed that entire midpipe a long time ago and am running a stocker. One would think that shaking would have gone away by now.

Post by **occasional demons** » Tue May 29, 2007 8:47 am

Maybe try loosening the adjustment bolts on the top "brace" (not really the mount as that is down by the wheel well) I'm assuming you ghanged that one? Anyways, try running with that loose and move it to where vibration goes away, tighten it down and test drive maybe you'll get lucky. Might not be adjusted to spec. but if it resolves the issue I don't think you'll care at this point.

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:04 pm

occasional demons wrote:Maybe try loosening the adjustment bolts on the top "brace" (not really the mount as that is down by the wheel well) I'm assuming you ghanged that one? Anyways, try running with that loose and move it to where vibration goes away, tighten it down and test drive maybe you'll get lucky. Might not be adjusted to spec. but if it resolves the issue I don't think you'll care at this point.

the only mount i have not replaced is the main one in between the two torque struts.

atom · Post by **atom** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 5:53 pm

I think the reason you notice the rattling more after changing to a glasspack is because you are losing at least one less rubber exhaust hanger, maybe two if you are simply using one of those band clamps. I had the same problem when I had a glasspack, although my mounts are fine. Just a theory!

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 2:30 pm

atom wrote:I think the reason you notice the rattling more after changing to a glasspack is because you are losing at least one less rubber exhaust hanger, maybe two if you are simply using one of those band clamps. I had the same problem when I had a glasspack, although my mounts are fine. Just a theory!

even with a stock midpipe it still shakes.

kevo · Post by **kevo** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:32 pm

well, i finally figured it out for myself. I spoke to a few guys at work that have auto mechanic experience. They told me to have a look at the main motor mount (support). I did however with the limited view, i couldnt see much there.

Today, i just got desperate and started to remove the main bolt that holds the mount to the engine. After just simply lowering the passenger side and raising it to put the bolt back on, i noticed that the engine had shifted back almost 1 inch.

At first i panicked and wondered if i did anything wrong. I grabbed the top of the engine and began to pull it forward in hopes that the engine would come forward. After a few hard attempts at pulling, it worked. I then raised the engine up to level again and after pulling just a bit more, it got it aligned.

I put everything back together and noticed that the shaking was practically all gone. There is some clunking noise that seems to be coming from the fact that the mount is quite possibly damaged. I did order a replacement and should be completing the install later on this week.

w00t!

FTWNeon · Post by **FTWNeon** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 12:06 am

Congrats man!