High speed shake, '95 Escort, driving me nuts.

Hey guys,

Can anyone shoot me some more ideas on this...

Got a high speed shake on the Escort, seems to "switch on" right at 60mph... I guess there's a verrrry slight trace of it occasionally at 55ish, but hard to be sure it's that and not just our usual crappy roads...

I've bounced on all the corners like an anarchist trying to flip a cop car, and can't fault the struts, found a loose balljoint on the front and changed it, no change in vibe...

One of the tires seemed to have less tread depth on one side than the other, which had been on the front with the bad BJ, so that was switched off. Got 2 snow tires on the back now..

Seems to be damped with weight in the back, but dunno if that's because it loads up the back more or because it unloads the front.. can't decide whether it's coming from a particular side or corner, just seems to be from all over. Feel it through the steering more than anything...

Did wonder if it was an engine mount/vibration issue, and have driven 2800-3000 RPM in other gears to see if there's any trace of vibration at lower speeds at same RPM, but no.

Just had the back in the air trying to find any trace of play in the back suspension or the rear wheel bearings but nothing...

I'm gonna get the front jacked onto stands and blocked real secure and try looking for vibrations with the front wheels spinning off the ground...

Can't find anything that I just wanna gamble money on that being "it" I mean everything looks well used, but not damaged/loose/leaking or exhibiting any other visually, aurally or tactilely obvious sign...

Front alignment seems to be at the low end limit (it wasn't, had it zeroed I thought, before the BJ went out, but couldn't be assed setting it back yet, since it was in the "okay" zone) , I'm out of ideas so might tweak that more to the middle of the range and try that. Thing is, bad BJ should put it too toe out, and this has it on the limit of acceptable toe in, so having the same feeling vibration at both ends seems a bit too coincidental.

Also guess I'm gonna have to go find a hill, stick it in neutral, see if it's a drivetrain thing.

Daft thing is pissing me off.. .

Guess I'm not writing some stuff off completely yet, like bad struts or bearings just stuffing them in the "unlikely" category until I get any evidence against them, but can't fault them so far.

I've got a strange idea that it's gonna turn out to be something weird like the PS pump pulsing, anyone know how to test that?

thanks for any help,


RW222

Okay, got the front end up, and it seems like every frigging wheel I had on it is out of balance. Got the two least worst on now and vibes don't get bad until 75-80 (indicated while blocked up) ...

Either that or there's something funky with the driveshafts and I managed to compensate with teh wheels clocked accidentally the right way, but they look okay...

The two worst seemed to have been on the passenger side... guess they hit more potholes... then the way the swaybars are set up, I guess it transmits opposite force to the other side and they get worn opposite or something.

Approx. 99% of the time shake like that is from tire/wheel balance. I've been balancing mine with antifreeze the past few years but don't tell any body.

Thanks
Randy

I was going to suggest balance the wheels but find someone with a machine that can actually be calibrated and its been done recently.

Try another set of known good tires and wheels, if still bad, cv axles would be my next guess.

It's a ford escort, they all do that.

Only the ones that don't shift at WOT. LOL

Thanks
Randy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GLHNSLHT2

It's a ford escort, they all do that.

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Any weird diagonal wear? Could be one wheel with bad toe causing it to hop

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GLHS60

I've been balancing mine with antifreeze the past few years but don't tell any body.

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Wow, never heard of that before, just did a quick search, but it was all Chevy guys talking about it, so you know, no intelligent details :D

Did we ever have a thread here? Guess I'd better search before starting one.

Started an antifreeze in your tires thread.

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/sh...her-substances



On the road test after I figured out the two "least worst" ones, with snow tires on the back it was a lot calmer...

Think I'm gonna remeasure everything on the arse end though, I did get outside wear on those, with an indication of feathering on the outside, but nowhere else, so dunno if there's a toe change when cornering hard or something, or just normal scrub. Odd thing is, it looks slightly negative as it sits, and goes a bit more with weight in, and you have to jack it up a ways to go positive, but then when I'm going into a corner hard, I'm braking and the arse is high... so dunno whether to call it normal or what...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RoadWarrior222

Okay, got the front end up, and it seems like every frigging wheel I had on it is out of balance. Got the two least worst on now and vibes don't get bad until 75-80 (indicated while blocked up) ...

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Do I understand that you took the time to check the balance of the wheels, found they were indeed out of balance, and them put them back on without balancing them?

Yes and no, they all seemed to be good for static balance on the free spinning back wheel bearing, but all I could do for dynamic balance test was put the car in gear with the front wheels in the air and floor the throttle, so I was able to tell which were badly out of balance, but not having assistance, was not able to mark them to try balancing, and the "least worst" were not showing imbalance until 80mph anyway, so figured they're safe enough to drive 60mph on for the moment. Also Monday was a holiday here, no chance of getting weights or taking them to a tire shop.

Wow you can see a tire out of balance one a car , i dought it if you can see somthing it is a bad tire or rim or hub

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RoadWarrior222

Yes and no, they all seemed to be good for static balance on the free spinning back wheel bearing, but all I could do for dynamic balance test was put the car in gear with the front wheels in the air and floor the throttle, so I was able to tell which were badly out of balance, but not having assistance, was not able to mark them to try balancing, and the "least worst" were not showing imbalance until 80mph anyway, so figured they're safe enough to drive 60mph on for the moment. Also Monday was a holiday here, no chance of getting weights or taking them to a tire shop.

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Ahh ok. I thought maybe you took them off the car put them on a balancing machine, found they were off and walked away satisfied. :)

LOL, yeah, they'd have gone on the balancer right away if I had one :D

So, just to see, went to a parking lot and drove some full lock donuts...

... spookily quiet :D

Until I gave it enough to get all the tires singing at the same time of course.

No, driveshaft noise, no whirr from one end before the other, no skit, skit skit of something scrubbing before the rest when the speed got up....

Well anyway, just a check.