[96 Green Trep]

Hi all,
yes another vibration question. I've been searching this site for a while now about this, and have taken note of whats been said.
I have a 96 Intrepid 3.5, 145K miles. Under acceleration at 30 mph, and at 50-60 Mph there is a severe vibration. not in the steering wheel or the brakes. It feels like its right under your feet. The whole car shakes quite violently. Doing s turns at that speed does not diminish or enhance the vibration. So to me it does not appear to be caused by one side of the car or the other. If youre going 50-60, and let off the gas it goes away.
I have replaced the cradle bushings, inner tie rod bushings, rotated and balanced the tires, checked engine and trans mounts, theres no freeplay in the front wheel bearings, or strut rod bushings...I am about to change axles..
The left front strut pops on turns, but I've never had a car that had this problem caused by a bad strut.
When I changed the cradle bushings, the vibration was much less for about 50 miles, then came back just as bad as before.
Anyone with info, please reply. My wife loves this car and drives 150 miles a day to work and back. I can fix it, but dont want to replace all the front end parts to keep it going.
Thanks!!!

 

['98-ESer]

loose exhaust system?

 

[BCintrepid]

By the sounds of it, I had a simular problem. turned out that I had a burnt plug wire. Easy enought to pull the plug wire off and see if any are chared on the contacts.

 

[96 Green Trep]

I checked the exhaust to be sure it is not loose, and checked the spark plug wires. 2 on the right side of the motor have oil in the tubes. That can definitely be a miss...
i'll change the valve cover gaskets and wires, and plugs too.
I'll add the result to this post....(fingers crossed)

 

[D76G12]

Welcome to DI.net!

Rotating tires will not solve the problem if you have a slipped belt. Did you do that yourself or have a tire shop look at them?

How many miles have you put on the current set of struts?

If this were RWD - and the things mentioned above are OK - then I'd think is was a U-joint. Don't know what it might be on a FWD. Usually CV joints click on turning when they're bad ...

 

[96 Green Trep]

OK,
it wasnt in the motor, changed plugs and wires. Thought maybe the oil soaked plug wires were shorting out...nope.
I wouldnt think its the tires, the vibration is not in the steering wheel, and is not constant. Unless you are going 30-40, or 50-60, and accelerating. If you let off the gas it stops, step on it, it comes back.
Should there be any play in the trans mount? If I jack under it, it moves some. Maybe its sagged out? Possibly enough to change the geometry of the axles to cause binding? They dont click. Boots arent torn, etc. I dont know the history of the car, it could all be original parts.
Anything inside the trans do this? Converter? It all seems to work ok. Theres no excessive play where the axles go into the trans.
I'm going after the trans and axles so much because it is a vibration under the car at acceleration, obviously a rotating part affected by torque. I would think I would feel bearings, tires, and other wheel issues through the steering wheel, and bubbled tires at all speeds, whether or not accelerating.
I am willing to spring for axles, and maybe a trans mount. After that I will contemplate **** canning this car...

 

[bobtent]

Vibration

I have a 96 intrepid and have the same exact problem you're having. All my mounst sub frame bushings have been changed and i've also changed many other front end parts and still get the same vibration. I took it to a tranny shop and they said that the only thing that can cause this would be the axles. Usually,it's the axle on the passenger side that goes bad. Did you get yours resolved yet?

 

[96 Green Trep]

No,
I havent put the axles in yet. I may do it tomorrow. Another 150 bucks...
Hopefully thats it.
I will post the result of that repair here.

 

[BCintrepid]

When my wheels bearing went south, it didn;t viberate at all, just made a hell of a howl.

 

[jfsram]

I had a Shelby Charger that had the same symptons as you described.
Replacing the CV's cured the problem.

If the inner is worn it the ball will get stuck in the wear spot not allowing the axle to stay centered.

 

[96loaded]

I've got a 96 3.5 with 190k on it. Same problem. A tune up and fresh tires/alignment helped a lot, but it never went away. Get it up to highway speeds and the whole car vibrates.

I'd be interested to know how your axle replacement goes.

 

[96 Green Trep]

All Fixed Axles did it!!

Thanks everyone for your input, and hopefully my post will help someone with a similar problem.
I replaced both axles, with some reman units from Autozone. I would say go with new ones (around 120 bucks each) because these ones make noise. Nothing serious but its there.
This job takes about 10 minutes a side. I popped them in and vibration is gone.
Upon inspection of the joints on my old axles, the driver side looked OK, the passenger side inner joint was pretty dry, and one of the 3 rollers inside had lost all its needle bearings.
So for $69 bucks, replace the pass axle first, then the driver side if the vibration is still there.
Thanks again!!!

 

[JE.Electronics]

I know it's old thread, but what is it exactly that you replaced?
The whole axle that comes out of the trans?
What about the CV joint, that too? Or is that part of axle assembly?

Where to go for new ones, cheap and good?

 

[gordo2448]

I had the same problem and it was the struts.