Strange/alarming intermittent vibration through steering wheel ??

[unclespevie]

You say you are changing the discs ?? just as a side thing your calliper not sticking on and off a bit, could be the pulling you mensioned....

i just replaced my reasr ones and not a day too late.....all braking seemed fine, no noise and stopping, discs looked nasty from looking inwards, took them off and 3 of the 4 pads had no material on them, metal to metal and the discs were well f****d, cost me £36 for discs n pads and half hour of my own labour...

just pointing out that the obvious is not always visable....

kevin

[smithy602179]

really stupid question but was you on a motorway at the time it happened ???? reason i ask is because you may have run into a hgv tram line and they can often be deep and grab the steering even in a hgv . and did you take it for the test run yet and if so was it on the same bit of road...

[TheMadhatter]

No it was doing it doing it around town

I had it up on axle stands this morning and checked the steering, tyres, wheels and suspension, and found nothing suspect

Took it out for a test drive and for the first 20mins nothing happened, then decelerating for a round about it started again. What I have determined is that it starts under the following conditions

Decelerating using the engine braking (ie not under braking) turning lightly to left of right.

This time I had a passenger with me and they noticed that the gear leaver was shaking the same way as the steering. On one occasion the vibration persisted for about 5mins with the frequency of the vibration changing with road speed. I then stopped and started again and the vibration had gone.

I dropped into to my local independent VW specialist and he thought that it was probably drive shaft related. As it was an intermittent fault he suggested that I let it develop so that they could find the fault. He said that if it was about to let go then the symptoms would be much worse.

I am changing the disk and pads tomorrow so I will see if I can find any play in the shafts.

It seem to me that at the moment the vibration will occur if condition are just so, that is road speed, load on shaft, steering angle ect. Once those change it stops.

[OddBallBoy]

Driveshaft, CV or diff possibly. Though if CV, you normally get clicking noises on full lock.

Might wheel bearing also be a possibility? When you next have it jacked up, try holding the wheel top and bottom and rocking it - any movement at all that you can feel, even half mm, means wheel bearing on it's way out. Again though, you'd really expect a constant droning noise if it was this.

Hopefully one of the other guys with more knowledge/experience than I can come up with some suggestions.

[Doctle Odd]

When you have her jacked up give the gearbox and engine mounts a good going over with a tyre lever or long bar etc.

[TheMadhatter]

Driveshaft, CV or diff possibly. Though if CV, you normally get clicking noises on full lock.

Might wheel bearing also be a possibility? When you next have it jacked up, try holding the wheel top and bottom and rocking it - any movement at all that you can feel, even half mm, means wheel bearing on it's way out. Again though, you'd really expect a constant droning noise if it was this.

Hopefully one of the other guys with more knowledge/experience than I can come up with some suggestions.

I checked the bearings for play and they where fine.

I will check the engine and gear box mounts tomorrow as well

[unclespevie]

Movement of gear stick when decelerating, thats the torsion from engine to gearbox been transferred through.....normal some times but if excessive then could be a mounting loose or worn....

if you drive and hold the lever, then press the gas on and off(as in a kangeroo stylee) you will feel the lever move.

as a test, go for a drive and when it happens press the brakes and feel the gear stick, if it does not stop the lever moving it cant be your brakes, if it does then i would suggest its the shafts area as braking will reduce the shudders through the shafts to the engine, to the gearbox etc....

only suggest this as i had a kit car do the same and it was the castle nut on hub not tightened correctly...after that it was ok..

kevin

[TheMadhatter]

I had a feel of the gear leaver coming on and off the gas and the feedback is very small.

I renewed the front disk and pads today and found that the offside drive shaft was fine, the only play was a tiny bit along the axis of the shaft. The nearside one however had a small amount of up and down movement. It's enough so that if you shake it up and down it rattles but not enough to see. I can't tell if its the inside or outside CV joint that is worn or both.

It did not do it again on the commute yesterday so just waiting to see what happens now.

[UkMarine]

It could well be that driveshaft. Driveshafts are harmonically balanced, they have small weights welded to the shaft so are quite an accurate piece of kit.

A small amount of back and forth movement is acceptable but up and down definately not, this will throw the balance out hugely and display the symptoms you've mentioned.

Untreated "until it develops" is a mistake. Replace the driveshaft or it could blow the wheel bearing on that side, destroy the cv joints on the affected side and possibly accelerate any wear on the mounts. Don't forget, although not directly connected vibration like that could affect anywhere on your car.

[TheMadhatter]

Well I have been keeping an eye on it for the last two weeks and the symptoms have not re-occurred. This has included two 80mile journeys on the motorway. Everything is as smooth as silk again as it has been since I got the car. The only thing I did apart from change the disk and pads and inspect the drive shafts was to top up the tire pressure.

I will continue to keep an eye on it for the moment I can't see any reason to start throwing money at it.