Vibration when accelerating between 60-70km/h

[ansys]

Hi everyone,

I have a vibration issue in my '03 Fit.  The vibration is silent, as in I don't hear any grinding noises, etc associated with it.  It is at its worst when accelerating between 60-70km/h or so.  Above and below these speeds it is pretty much not an issue.  If I'm paying attention, I may notice the vibration at other speeds, but it is so subtle that if I wasn't looking for it, I would probably not really notice it.  If I let the car coast through this speed range, the vibration again seems to go away.

When I jack up both front tires off the ground and try and wiggle the wheels I don't really notice any obvious play in the suspension, but I'm not exactly an expert mechanic.  The front shock absorbers do move around at the top mount a bit, but my understanding is this is normal.  However, they may move around slightly more than on our other Honda Fit.  Nothing seems obviously wrong with them.  I've tried swapping around the front left tire (the more worn looking of the front tires) with the front left tire on the other 'good' Honda Fit, and it made no difference.

Any other suggestions on what I could chase?  CV joint? How would I check that?
Cheers!

[trebor1652]

As I was reading your post l was thinking wheels out of balance but then you have swapped a wheel. Still a good bet thou.
Have you checked the walls of all your tyres to make sure you don't have a carbuncle anywhere. Rare I know but it happened to me.
Also check to see if you can see any balancing weights missing.
Happy hunting.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[Jocko]

It is just not the front tyres that can cause vibration. I had a similar vibration with a previous car and eventually traced it to a twist in the tread (defective tyre) on one of the rear tyres. It balanced okay, just caused an issue on the road.
Have you had your tracking checked and all four wheels balanced?

[sparky Paul]

It sounds like a rotational imbalance, most likely wheel balance or driveshaft. Wear in a track rod end or ball joint can increase the effect, showing up a previously imperceptable imbalance.

Do you feel the vibration through the steering wheel, or through the body of the car? This might sound a little odd, but do you feel the vibration in your relaxed calf muscles? Front axle vibrations are generally felt through the steering wheel, rear axle vibrations come through the car body, and you can often detect it first in the back of your legs.

Does the vibration cease when you lift off the throttle? That could point to a driveshaft joint. It can also come from problems in the differential, but this is very uncommon.

As Jocko says, wheel balance is the place to start.

[ansys]

Thanks for the replies.  I'll try and answer some of the follow up questions...

"Do you feel the vibration through the steering wheel, or through the body of the car? This might sound a little odd, but do you feel the vibration in your relaxed calf muscles?"

- I would say it's more through the body of the car.  I can feel it in the seat and at my feet.  I can't say that the steering wheel really vibrates much.  For sure not anywhere near as much as when I had warped front brake rotors on a different car.

"Does the vibration cease when you lift off the throttle?"

- Yes, the vibration largely goes away when I am off the throttle and coasting in that range.  Also, if I accelerate very slowly in the range (when the motorway traffic slowly picks up for example), it doesn't seem to vibrate anywhere near as much.

"Have you had your tracking checked and all four wheels balanced?"

- not yet

"Have you checked the walls of all your tyres to make sure you don't have a carbuncle anywhere"

- haven't noticed anything obvious but I'll check again later

"As I was reading your post l was thinking wheels out of balance but then you have swapped a wheel. Still a good bet thou."

- Yeah, I didn't have enough time the other day to swap out/around all the wheels.  I plan to give that another go when I get a chance, and see what the rears are up to.

thanks again!

[sparky Paul]

If you feel it through the seat, I would get the rear wheels balanced first. Start with the simple stuff.

[ansys]

So I tried swapping out both rear wheels with ones off of a "good" Honda Fit, and it made no noticeable difference.
Another piece of information that may help, it seems that if I'm accelerating through that speed range (~60-70km/h) while turning right, the vibration doesn't seem to be there.  Going straight or turning left while accelerating in that range, and the vibration is obvious.

[sparky Paul]

So I tried swapping out both rear wheels with ones off of a "good" Honda Fit, and it made no noticeable difference.
Another piece of information that may help, it seems that if I'm accelerating through that speed range (~60-70km/h) while turning right, the vibration doesn't seem to be there.  Going straight or turning left while accelerating in that range, and the vibration is obvious.

So, it's not the back end, and it's not front wheels, as that would be felt throught the steering. If you are feeling it through the body, next thing I would suspect is an inner driveshaft joint. Might be worth having a feel to see what play there is in them.

[culzean]

Sounds like a CV joint on the way out, would only show up with power on and would be worse when steering wheel turned one way, when CV is transferring power through an angle, and the diff splits up power differently depending on which way wheels are steering - the wheel on outside of turn has to rotate more quickly.

[ansys]

another update...
I tried driving around in tight circles at slow speeds to see if I noticed or heard anything... I didn't in either direction, so I presume it's not the CV joints??

I lifted the front end of the car on to jack stands (both corners) and tried to look around for play in suspensions or axles.  I didn't notice any play in the axle on the shorter side.  On the other, longer, side, (right side) there wasn't anything too obvious either.  However, there may have been a very slight amount of play when I tried to rotate the axle while holding it near that rubber damper? thing that is toward the center of the axle.
(you can see the "rubber damper" I'm talking about in the photos of the axle here:  https://www.velocitystage.com/product/honda-jazz-fit-city-gd1-gd3-drive-shaft-japan/ )

[sparky Paul]

another update...
I tried driving around in tight circles at slow speeds to see if I noticed or heard anything... I didn't in either direction, so I presume it's not the CV joints??

You only get the clicking on full lock with the outer CV joints.

The symptoms you have are more likely to be an inner joint, as I said earlier.

I lifted the front end of the car on to jack stands (both corners) and tried to look around for play in suspensions or axles.  I didn't notice any play in the axle on the shorter side.  On the other, longer, side, (right side) there wasn't anything too obvious either.  However, there may have been a very slight amount of play when I tried to rotate the axle while holding it near that rubber damper? thing that is toward the center of the axle.
(you can see the "rubber damper" I'm talking about in the photos of the axle here:  https://www.velocitystage.com/product/honda-jazz-fit-city-gd1-gd3-drive-shaft-japan/ )

You don't always find play in a bad joint, it can often be difficult to diagnose. However, if you do find uneven play as you try to rotate the driveshafts, it can sometimes give you a clue as to which driveshaft is responsible.