92- Honda Accord LX- Vibration

Hello everyone- Excellent group.

Guys, recently i bought a honda accord 92 lx coupe from a lady. this
car has approx 50K miles on it. the first thing i did was take it to
jiffy lube; got all the fluids replaced and changed the oil, did a mini
tuneup- then i took it to carx, got all the brakes, spark pluges
everything checked- no problems were found except for the drive shaft.
the guy recommended that i change it so i did. in any case-

after this during the "pick-up" or acceleration i feel a distinct but
noticeable vibration through out the car. acceleration itself is very
swift and i can see the engine really pull the car forward. the car
doesn't hesitate, the rpms don't fluctuate, and at high speeds, 80+ i
can sense the vibration as well. now during the acceleration the
vibration is felt thru the steering. so i took the car back to carx,
they did another check of everything, ball bearings, drive shaft,
brakes, belts, they still could not find any problems with the car- and
mechanic just told me to keep on driving it. i have my reservations
because i don't think a car with these low miles and otherwise "good"
condition should vibrate like this during acceleration or high speed.
but, since carx are not "honda specialists" i know that they could not
possibly know the details of how the car was assembled.

So my question is what possibly could be the reason of vibration, the
only things that come to mind are wheel balancing (maybe they are out
of balance) or (wheel alignment) that could be bad. But when going down
a straight path, the car never really pulls in either direction- so
alignment could not be bad? But since they did work on the drive shaft
do you think it could be out of sync? Or wheels could possibly need
balancing?

any help in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Jim Stanz wrote:
> Hello everyone- Excellent group.
>
> Guys, recently i bought a honda accord 92 lx coupe from a lady. this
> car has approx 50K miles on it. the first thing i did was take it to
> jiffy lube; got all the fluids replaced and changed the oil, did a mini
> tuneup- then i took it to carx, got all the brakes, spark pluges
> everything checked- no problems were found except for the drive shaft.
> the guy recommended that i change it so i did. in any case-
>
> after this during the "pick-up" or acceleration i feel a distinct but
> noticeable vibration through out the car. acceleration itself is very
> swift and i can see the engine really pull the car forward. the car
> doesn't hesitate, the rpms don't fluctuate, and at high speeds, 80+ i
> can sense the vibration as well. now during the acceleration the
> vibration is felt thru the steering. so i took the car back to carx,
> they did another check of everything, ball bearings, drive shaft,
> brakes, belts, they still could not find any problems with the car- and
> mechanic just told me to keep on driving it. i have my reservations
> because i don't think a car with these low miles and otherwise "good"
> condition should vibrate like this during acceleration or high speed.
> but, since carx are not "honda specialists" i know that they could not
> possibly know the details of how the car was assembled.
>
> So my question is what possibly could be the reason of vibration, the
> only things that come to mind are wheel balancing (maybe they are out
> of balance) or (wheel alignment) that could be bad. But when going down
> a straight path, the car never really pulls in either direction- so
> alignment could not be bad? But since they did work on the drive shaft
> do you think it could be out of sync? Or wheels could possibly need
> balancing?
>
> any help in this matter is greatly appreciated.
>
------------------------------

They used a cheap rebuilt or NO-NAME drive shaft. I made the same
mistake on my CR-V and am I ever dissapointed!! I had a car that felt
like new with 220,000 Km on it, and now I have a car that feels like
junk when I accelerate, especially around corners.

BTW, If they put anything other than Honda Z1 aTF in your tranny
(automatic) you need to drain-n-fill it three times with the correct
stuff or face future failure of the tranny. I hope they didn't 'power
flush it too :-(

Some will say the same for the antifreeze and for sure the power
steering fluid.

SEARCH. If you don't have an owner's manual, get one (wreckers / eBay)
and keep it in the reading room.

'Curly'

You know what; I got my transmission fluid changed "100" percent, and
probably a bad mistake- shouldn't have done that at all...

Another thing, the drive shaft- was probably a bad idea too- now that I
think about it-

How to get these problems corrected though? Should i buy the right
transmission oil and have a shop change it? What would be my options
for the drive shaft?

Thanks......
motsco_ wrote:
> Jim Stanz wrote:
> > Hello everyone- Excellent group.
> >
> > Guys, recently i bought a honda accord 92 lx coupe from a lady. this
> > car has approx 50K miles on it. the first thing i did was take it to
> > jiffy lube; got all the fluids replaced and changed the oil, did a mini
> > tuneup- then i took it to carx, got all the brakes, spark pluges
> > everything checked- no problems were found except for the drive shaft.
> > the guy recommended that i change it so i did. in any case-
> >
> > after this during the "pick-up" or acceleration i feel a distinct but
> > noticeable vibration through out the car. acceleration itself is very
> > swift and i can see the engine really pull the car forward. the car
> > doesn't hesitate, the rpms don't fluctuate, and at high speeds, 80+ i
> > can sense the vibration as well. now during the acceleration the
> > vibration is felt thru the steering. so i took the car back to carx,
> > they did another check of everything, ball bearings, drive shaft,
> > brakes, belts, they still could not find any problems with the car- and
> > mechanic just told me to keep on driving it. i have my reservations
> > because i don't think a car with these low miles and otherwise "good"
> > condition should vibrate like this during acceleration or high speed.
> > but, since carx are not "honda specialists" i know that they could not
> > possibly know the details of how the car was assembled.
> >
> > So my question is what possibly could be the reason of vibration, the
> > only things that come to mind are wheel balancing (maybe they are out
> > of balance) or (wheel alignment) that could be bad. But when going down
> > a straight path, the car never really pulls in either direction- so
> > alignment could not be bad? But since they did work on the drive shaft
> > do you think it could be out of sync? Or wheels could possibly need
> > balancing?
> >
> > any help in this matter is greatly appreciated.
> >
> ------------------------------
>
> They used a cheap rebuilt or NO-NAME drive shaft. I made the same
> mistake on my CR-V and am I ever dissapointed!! I had a car that felt
> like new with 220,000 Km on it, and now I have a car that feels like
> junk when I accelerate, especially around corners.
>
> BTW, If they put anything other than Honda Z1 aTF in your tranny
> (automatic) you need to drain-n-fill it three times with the correct
> stuff or face future failure of the tranny. I hope they didn't 'power
> flush it too :-(
>
> Some will say the same for the antifreeze and for sure the power
> steering fluid.
>
> SEARCH. If you don't have an owner's manual, get one (wreckers / eBay)
> and keep it in the reading room.
>
> 'Curly'

Jim Stanz wrote:
> You know what; I got my transmission fluid changed "100" percent, and
> probably a bad mistake- shouldn't have done that at all...
>
> Another thing, the drive shaft- was probably a bad idea too- now that I
> think about it-
>
> How to get these problems corrected though? Should i buy the right
> transmission oil and have a shop change it? What would be my options
> for the drive shaft?
>
===================================

The tranny fluid is way easier than an oil change so you could DIY if
you have a jack or two (and stands if you want to be safe). Just buy
about 10 litres of Z1 and find your 3/8" ratchet handle (without
socket). Do it, drive it. You could even do it all three times on a
Saturday. I like to wait a week in between so more stuff shows up on the
magnet, but whatever. A five minute drive is probably plenty. Shops will
do it without taking it off the hoist, just running it through the gears
with the engine idling. A large paint roller tray is good, but you'll
have to empty it three times.

I wonder if adding a damper to the shaft would help (and where would you
get one?). . . one of my shafts should have had one on the middle of the
shaft, but came without, and I've seen TSB's about current models of
Honda that are having vibration troubles because the damper was missing
or placed in the wrong position... Look under somebody else's accord and
see if your dampers are the same. Don't get caught. :-)

'Curly'