Shudder when accelerating?

[lateshow]

Hello!

I'm sorry for my bad english. I'm new and writing here all the way from Finland. The reason is that we don't have too many vr4's here (or the knowledge) and I thought that someone here might have experienced the same problem.

I haven a Facelift auto Vr-4. I get this nasty/irritating vibration/shudder when I'm accelerating on driving uphill and the speed is 30 to 50 km/h. If I'm doing more than that it doesn't vibrate. (Or less than that.) It doesn't matter whether im turning or not. Or which gear I'm on. Ok maybe the shudder is a bit different when im on 4th gear on 2nd gear. Difficult to say. When I am applying only little throttle and doing 30 to 50 km/h it doesnt vibrate. I got the car last july and it has been acting just like this all the time. No other problems.First I thought that it has to be the inner CV joints.

Well, i switched the CV joints (not new ones, ofcourse, switched the cups that hold the spider assembly from side to side). That should take the shudder away but no(then it should shudder when braking, right?). It didn't even alter the shudder. The cups that hold the joints didn't look too bad. Yes they were worn but I couldn't sense anything when i tried to feel the inner surface of the "cup" with my bare fingers.

I hope that problem isn't in the transmission. I have checked everything else. My mechanican said the driver's side wheel bearing seems a bit worn out, could that do the shudder?

And one thing, every time I lift the car up so that the wheels don't touch the ground the shudder stays away for a little time (maybe 2-3 first accelerations can be done without shudder and then it starts again.

So has anyone else experienced this, I already tried the search but couldn't find anything useful. Im grateful for any hints or tips!

 

[godzilla]

When was the last time you changed the AT fluid and what/how much did you use?

 

[naughtika]

shagged engine mounts?!

 

[lateshow]

I've changed the transmission oils last summer twice. We don't have such a hostile environment for automatic transmissions here in Finland. It didn't affect anything. I don't think that this kind of problem could be caused by bad oils. Just yesterday I took the oil out and put it back in again and it seemed ok. The box shifts quite normally. The amount of oil is correct, I have checked it the right way. The oil seems mostly clear red, not brown.

I've replaced the driver's side engine mount. The old one was clearly broken. No effect whatsoever ( Well, Ok it stopped te shudder for a while because i lifted the car again) The co-driver's side mount seems ok.

 

[godzilla]

I would check all mounts.

What fluid are you running in your tranny.

 

[lateshow]

I would check all mounts.

What fluid are you running in your tranny.

I can't see the front and back mounts if I don't lift the damn thing up again ( in my parking lot as usual)?


I'm running Mitsubishi fluid as usual. Planning to change the fluid again this summer.

 

[godzilla]

The front mount is easy to see. Just get underneath. The rear is a little harder to see. You can see it if you take the passenger side wheel off.

If your car is like mine, if the front is shagged the rear will be too.

 

[lateshow]

The front mount is easy to see. Just get underneath. The rear is a little harder to see. You can see it if you take the passenger side wheel off.

If your car is like mine, if the front is shagged the rear will be too.

Did your car shudder too? Off to see the the mounts....

 

[godzilla]

Yes, somewhat. Now, after replacing all four mounts with prothane inserts, it feels a ton better.

 

[lateshow]

I checked the rest engine mounts. They were OK. So I'm putting my hopes on the wheel bearing now. Otherwise it has to be the end part of the transmission (or how do you say it). Well the part that is nearly the same in auto and manual.

 

[kymbo]

Mine's doing the exact same thing. however mine was fine with stock suspension and only started when i put in the coilovers (like first drive after) and i cant for the life of me work out why. if you figure out whats causing it please PM me so i can give it a try
also for reference mines a manual

 

[lateshow]

Mine's doing the exact same thing. however mine was fine with stock suspension and only started when i put in the coilovers (like first drive after) and i cant for the life of me work out why. if you figure out whats causing it please PM me so i can give it a try
also for reference mines a manual

Ok. Nice to know that a manual can do the exact same thing. Here is a link to my pictures. http://lateshow.1g.fi/kuvat/vr4/vetonivelet/HPIM8434.JPG The cups of the inner CV joints looked like this. Has ANYONE here looked their own. Can these cause the whole thing. Because as I said, they don't look too good but I couldn't sense anyting with my fingers. I changed those from side to side. And nothing changed.


Is your car now much lower than it used to be, mine is lowered with shitty lowering springs (put in japan). I have the original springs too but couldn't be bothered to put them on. Does your car shudder with all gears? Second and third and fourh? Maybe first too?

 

[kymbo]

its a fair bit lower than standard. rears flush with guards and fronts about an inch from the guards. it does it in first and second. cant say if it would do it in 3rd as by the time i get into 3rd its already stopped

 

[lateshow]

Could wrong camber or caster cause this problem? One guy in Finland got the exact same problem just yeasterday as he changed to a coilover kit and the car got 10cm lower.

It has got to be either the the inner cv joint's cups or the wheel isn't aligned properly. That's my opinion at the moment. What do you people think?

 

[Guest]

we lowered a friends commonwhore, superlows and it shudders like crazy,
changed the springs back to lows and no more shudder,
only thing we could think of is the angle of the shafts themselves...

 

[lateshow]

we lowered a friends commonwhore, superlows and it shudders like crazy,
changed the springs back to lows and no more shudder,
only thing we could think of is the angle of the shafts themselves...

yes the tripod then touches different section of the cup. I tried to put little pieces of rubber to support my springs that the car would go higher. BTW. How much does a new spider assembly + the cup cost in your country?

 

[steveP]

any idea if the shudder is coming from the front, rear or both?

 

[lateshow]

any idea if the shudder is coming from the front, rear or both?

It is coming from front. And now i'm almost 95% certain it's those damn cups. :001_unsure:

They're very expensive here. If you buy them for both sides it's the same car's original auction price in japan. (The set comes with the spider assembly and the cup.)

I'm putting this link again here. So the following picture shows two pretty fucked up cups.

http://lateshow.1g.fi/kuvat/vr4/vetonivelet/HPIM8434.JPG

I had the exact same shudder in my '89 gti galant (fwd) and the reason was another one of these cups.

 

[bradc]

I'd ask VR4WGN for the parts, he will almost certainly have them.

 

[lateshow]

I'd ask VR4WGN for the parts, he will almost certainly have them.

I'm not yet too familiar with this forum. VR4WGN is a user and he has extra driveshafts or just the cup + spider assembly? Im sorry for my stupidity but I couldn't locate a list of all users. I think that the cost for getting those parts from Australia to Finland could be quite much?