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My car is shaking!

Checked both axle nuts. I do have an extra interm. shaft. The rubber around the shaft looked fine when I was under there but I guess that doesn't mean anything. My rear mount is an OEM and it does sag due to it's softness. Sagged since I put it in but all rear OEM ones do to an extent. I just can't feel by driving where it's coming from. Entire front vibrates side to side almost. I don't know the age of the pass. axle so I wouldn't be too pissed about replacing it.

If you get a pop I'd guess an axle in your case.
 
I still dont know if I would put a lot of stock into it being an axle related issue if it shakes only under acceleration. I am still more inclined to say motor. plugs wires and coil no change at all? Is the shaking related to RPMs while you are driving or is it speed?

Or is the shaking the same regardless of speed and engine speed?
 
Shaking gets worse the faster you go until it hits peak around 65. Gets slightly better above that. Why the hell couldn't it be an axle? Have you seen a constant velocity joint without the boot?
 
Could be a bad wheel bearing again if you reused your original hub... sometimes they have enough wear on them that they have too much play in them when reinstalled.
 
Sorry for the lengthy post but this pretty much sums up what is going on. hopefully.

This vibration is not really a vibration. It is more like a violent shaking. side to side movement. only under acceleration. as soon as throttle is released it goes away.

It is completely transmission speed related.
Engine runs smooth as glass all the time. (just trust me on that one. Its taken a long time to get it there.)
It becomes faster and more violent as gears are changed and speed increases.
Shifting up seems to make the frequency of vibration double in speed. (that is a perception whether that is actually happening I have not looked into yet.)

I thought about the clutch idea however that would be consistent with engine speed.
A mount issue seems to be the most logical however I would think that would mean we have more than one mount completely shot.
A bearing is going to make a consistent sound directly related to speed and direction of travel.
Differential is ruled out because todras has a quaife and im have identical symptoms.
It cannot be bent suspension as my tire wear is perfect and has been for at least 6K miles.

What I dont understand is then this appeared on my car, I had just changed from a poly rear mount to a brand new stock SVT rear mount. that was what caused the symptoms to occur however I highly doubt it is directly related to the cause of the issue.

I cant think of anything else right now. I will edit this post if i think of anything.

Thank you to all who are posting. checking and double checking never hurts.
 
todras said:
Shaking gets worse the faster you go until it hits peak around 65. Gets slightly better above that. ...?
Click to expand...
I had a similar issue a year or two back. It turned out to be my rear struts and springs.

I tried new tires, balance, front struts and springs but it went away after I changed the rear struts and springs. The struts and springs "looked" okay and tested fine (with the push down test) but it was about 11 years old and it was time to change them anyway.
 
Talked to Terry and he thinks that my engine may have shifted a little. The rear bushing on my rear roller restrictor is no longer centered. I got stuck in the snow around the time this happened and the rocking may have done it. The rear RR bolt needs to be about 90 ft lbs and I know I didn't tighten it down that hard. So that's my next plan. I have the Ford alignment tool actually and will be doing that. you remove the front RR and bolt this in. Put the fron bolt in and then the rear should be centered for the rear RR to be installed. The mounts are more crucial then I have thought. I have done countless engine swaps in these cars and never had an issue but I have heard of others having issues after install. I must have just been lucky. Guess I'll be using my alignment tool again. BTW Tony there is no way this is from the rear of the car.
 
todras said:
Talked to Terry and he thinks that my engine may have shifted a little. The rear bushing on my rear roller restrictor is no longer centered. I got stuck in the snow around the time this happened and the rocking may have done it. The rear RR bolt needs to be about 90 ft lbs and I know I didn't tighten it down that hard. So that's my next plan. I have the Ford alignment tool actually and will be doing that. you remove the front RR and bolt this in. Put the fron bolt in and then the rear should be centered for the rear RR to be installed. The mounts are more crucial then I have thought. I have done countless engine swaps in these cars and never had an issue but I have heard of others having issues after install. I must have just been lucky. Guess I'll be using my alignment tool again. BTW Tony there is no way this is from the rear of the car.
Click to expand...

terry? i thought bagged told you that about a week ago:eek:
 
That is where I would put my money too...either the engine side hydromount, trans mount, or a roll restrictor (or any combination) is shot or out of alignment. I'm a mount engineer so trust me when I say that they are tuned for specific stiffnesses (sometimes in each axis of movement), and preload. Even a slightly out of spec preload can cause all manner of mayhem to the frequency response of the mount, resulting in speed dependent peaks in NVH.
Unfortunately, I can't tell you what the assembly sequence or critical alignment notes are for this car, but I guarantee you they exist in the engineering drawings. Hopefully some of it made it into the service literature, which you have a better (read: ANY) chance of gaining access to. Good luck.
 
I checked the whole thread and I'm not sure if you ever actually replaced either shaft. The problems you are describing are completely consistent with a bad CV joint. Shaking on acceleration (but not when you rev the engine) get better at around 65. A noise when you make turns. And I think you said it started when you got stuck in the snow. I'm assuming you had to rock the car back and forth to get unstuck. You won't necessarily be able to feel any play in the axle. And the boot doesn't have to be bad. Once again, Bad CV joint. Replace the axle and the problem should go away.
 
I don't have any noises consistent with a CV. Doesn't click around corners or any noise for that matter. I'll adjust the mounts first and then do the axle.
 
todras said:
Shaking gets worse the faster you go until it hits peak around 65. Gets slightly better above that. Why the hell couldn't it be an axle? Have you seen a constant velocity joint without the boot?
Click to expand...

Yeah I know what a CV joint looks like. The reason I said what I said is I have only observed 2 CV axles out of balance. The vibration was present accelerating or coasting.
 
It was a old dodge caravan but I had a customer w/ a bad shake on take off and it turned out to be bad engine mounts for FWIW
 
Todd, can you describe a bit more in detail about how the shaking manifests itself? Where specifically can you feel it? And where specifically can't you feel it? ie, is it a full body shake? Do you feel the steering wheel kick back and forth at all?
 
todras said:
Today changed wires, plugs and coil pack. No change at all. I'm going crazy. The only things left would be interm. shaft, pass. axle or rear mount. Just wondering if I bent a hub or something crazy. I've heard that happening to other Contours. I just don't want to keep throwing $ at it.
Click to expand...

bearing on the intermediate shaft.

KyleQ, you had this problem, remember! your the one that told me about it, because we noticed your intermediate shaft bearing was a little stiff last time we had it out. you called me and said you had a vibration and you replaced it, right?
 
Id go over removing/reinstalling and/or tightening everything! I personally installed my Suspension to save a a couple bucks and I had the SAME EXACT ISSUE you are having. It felt like it was shaking on the passenger side only tho!

EVERYTHING in my car was NEW as for the suspension! Within 250 Miles! When I went to Aircougar to get my transmission built/swapped, they removed the front suspension and reinstalled it! Everything was perfectly fine after that!

I know this may not be enough info for you but its a shot and it worked for me!

- amyn
 
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