mazda tribute - diagnosing vibration

I recently bought a 2006 Mazda Tribute V6 AWD. It has some vibrations that
are most noticeable at speeds of between 50 and 55 mph.There is no shimmy
and I don't feel the vibrations directly from the steering wheel. )

I have taken it to a dealer, actually a Ford dealer, and they were not able
to find the reason for the vibration. They agreed there was a vibration, but
found no reason for it when they ran the car on a hoist and checked the
drive line. They road force balanced the 2 rear tires and found one had
excessive road force variation and the other was marginal.

New Michelin LTX M/S tires did not cure the problem, though it seems to be a
bit less after putting them on. (I was going to get new tires anyway - I
didn't get them just to see if they would cure the vibration)

I also took it to a large transmission shop that advertises driveline
vibration diagnosis as one of their specialties and they were not able to
find a reason for the vibration. The manager suggested I try driving other
examples of the model to see how they compare, since they all may have the
vibration I noticed. I will likely do that before I proceed any further with
trying to get it fixed., but :I doubt that they all have the same vibration
and that it's not fixable.

I am discouraged that the pros that I took it to were not able to find the
problem, but I am willing to try a few things on my own.

My questions:
1) Can this vehicle be driven with the driveshaft removed? If so this may
be a good way to narrow down the source of the vibration.
2) I thought of perhaps putting some hose clamps on the driveshaft to
alter the balance and see if any change ocurred, but this is a two piece
driveshaft and there are a lot of places I could put the clamps and this
might be just a shot in the dark. Any suggestions regarding this?
3) Might there be a bad motor mount? It has liquid-filled mounts which do
not appear to be leaking. What would be a good way to test them?
3) Any other suggestions?

Tim Blanchard

"Tim B" > wrote in message
...
>I recently bought a 2006 Mazda Tribute V6 AWD. It has some vibrations that
> are most noticeable at speeds of between 50 and 55 mph.There is no shimmy
> and I don't feel the vibrations directly from the steering wheel. )

One quick question...did this vibration start recently, or has the car
always had it?
The previous owner might be able to fill you in on the history of the car.
(Has it been
wrecked, awash, ??)

I agree that it is hard to imagine something irritating like this cannot be
localized and
repaired.

"HLS" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Tim B" > wrote in message
> ...
> >I recently bought a 2006 Mazda Tribute V6 AWD. It has some vibrations
that
> > are most noticeable at speeds of between 50 and 55 mph.There is no
shimmy
> > and I don't feel the vibrations directly from the steering wheel. )
>
> One quick question...did this vibration start recently, or has the car
> always had it?
> The previous owner might be able to fill you in on the history of the car.
> (Has it been
> wrecked, awash, ??)
>
> I agree that it is hard to imagine something irritating like this cannot
be
> localized and
> repaired.
>
Thanks for the reply.

The vibration has been there since I got it. I should have demanded it be
fixed before I got it, but it didn't seem that bad, probably just a tire out
of balance I thought, and the used car dealer I got it from provided a full
warranty for 30 days. They've been told about the problem, and would likely
pay for a fix if it were known WHAT to fix.

The previous owner was a large leasing company, and I can't get the lessee's
name, but there have been no insurance claims except for a comprehensive
claim for glass, so I'm assuming no accidents or flooding.

On Apr 6, 4:15*pm, "Tim B" > wrote:
> "HLS" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
>
>
> > "Tim B" > wrote in message
> ...
> > >I recently bought a 2006 Mazda Tribute V6 AWD. It has some vibrations
> that
> > > are most noticeable at speeds of between 50 and 55 mph.There is no
> shimmy
> > > and I don't feel the vibrations directly from the steering wheel. )
>
> > One quick question...did this vibration start recently, or has the car
> > always had it?
> > The previous owner might be able to fill you in on the history of the car.
> > (Has it been
> > wrecked, awash, ??)
>
> > I agree that it is hard to imagine something irritating like this cannot
> be
> > localized and
> > repaired.
>
> Thanks for the reply.
>
> The vibration has been there since I got it. I should have demanded it be
> fixed before I got it, but it didn't seem that bad, probably just a tire out
> of balance I thought, and the used car dealer I got it from provided a full
> warranty for 30 days. They've been told about the problem, and would likely
> pay for a fix if it were known WHAT to fix.
>
> The previous owner was a large leasing company, and I can't get the lessee's
> name, but there have been no insurance claims except for a comprehensive
> claim for glass, so I'm assuming no accidents or flooding.

Have you tried putting it in neutral at 55 to see if taking it out of
gear helps? Could be a out of balance rotor/drum..

hopefully someone didn't put a sticky wheel weight somewhere to throw
it (whatever "it" is) out of balance.


(a few minutes pass)

I just checked the service bulletins on that car and it talks about
making sure you use the correct tire balance machine. Here is the
info on it:

Service Bulletin Mazda North American Operations
Irvine, CA 92618-2922
2000-2006 MULTI-MODEL - BODY VIBRATION OR STEERING WHEEL SHIMMY
BULLETIN NOTE
This bulletin supersedes the previous bulletin 02-001/03, issued on
02/24/03. The APPLICABLE MODEL(S)/
VINS and DESCRIPTION have been revised.
APPLICABLE MODEL(S)/VINS
2000-2003 Protege
2002-2003 Protege5
2000-2002 626
2000-2002 Millenia
2000-2006 Miata
2004-2006 RX-8
2004-2006 Mazda3
2006 Mazda5
2003-2006 Mazda6
2000-2006 MPV
2001-2006 Tribute
2000-2006 B-Series Truck
DESCRIPTION
If a vehicle has body vibration or steering wheel shimmy while
driving, and the root cause is determined to be
tire balance, re-balance the tires using a Hunter GSP 9700/9712
balance machine. When using the Hunter
GSP 9700/9712, be sure to use the following centering cones and cone/
wheel set up listed below. Using the
appropriate centering cone ensures that the wheel will be properly
centered to the centering cone.
To find the location of a GSP 9700/9712 near your dealer, visit
Hunter’s web site at www.gsp9700.com and click
on ’Find a GSP9700 Near You’.

m6onz5a wrote:
> On Apr 6, 4:15 pm, "Tim B" > wrote:
>> "HLS" > wrote in message
>>
>> ...
>>
>>
>>
>>> "Tim B" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> I recently bought a 2006 Mazda Tribute V6 AWD. It has some
>>>> vibrations that are most noticeable at speeds of between 50 and 55
>>>> mph.There is no shimmy and I don't feel the vibrations directly
>>>> from the steering wheel. )
>>
>>> One quick question...did this vibration start recently, or has the
>>> car always had it?

>> The vibration has been there since I got it.

> Have you tried putting it in neutral at 55 to see if taking it out of
> gear helps? Could be a out of balance rotor/drum..

Yes, I've tried that, and it makes no noticeable difference

> hopefully someone didn't put a sticky wheel weight somewhere to throw
> it (whatever "it" is) out of balance.
>
>
> (a few minutes pass)
>
> I just checked the service bulletins on that car and it talks about
> making sure you use the correct tire balance machine. Here is the
> info on it:
>
> Service Bulletin Mazda North American Operations

<snip>

> If a vehicle has body vibration or steering wheel shimmy while
> driving, and the root cause is determined to be
> tire balance, re-balance the tires using a Hunter GSP 9700/9712
> balance machine. When using the Hunter
> GSP 9700/9712, be sure to use the following centering cones and cone/
> wheel set up listed below. Using the
> appropriate centering cone ensures that the wheel will be properly
> centered to the centering cone.

Thanks for that. The Ford dealer that did the initial driveline checks also
did a road force balance on the 2 rear tires tires using a Hunter GSP 9700.
I went there specifically because they were listed as having one, while the
local Mazda dealer was not. The tire shop that put the Michelins on just
used a regular balancer. I suppose it's possible I have a wheel, or rotor
that's out of whack somehow.

For what it's worth, I was just looking at the driveshaft and the center
bearing support seems to deflect fairly easily - easier than on the GMC van
I used to have. I can move it about a half inch without straining.

On Apr 6, 8:28*pm, "Tim B" > wrote:
> m6onz5a wrote:
> > On Apr 6, 4:15 pm, "Tim B" > wrote:
> >> "HLS" > wrote in message
>
> .. .
>
> >>> "Tim B" > wrote in message
> ...
> >>>> I recently bought a 2006 Mazda Tribute V6 AWD. It has some
> >>>> vibrations that are most noticeable at speeds of between 50 and 55
> >>>> mph.There is no shimmy and I don't feel the vibrations directly
> >>>> from the steering wheel. )
>
> >>> One quick question...did this vibration start recently, or has the
> >>> car always had it?
> >> The vibration has been there since I got it.
> > Have you tried putting it in neutral at 55 to see if taking it out of
> > gear helps? *Could be a out of balance rotor/drum..
>
> Yes, I've tried that, and it makes no noticeable difference
>
> > hopefully someone didn't put a sticky wheel weight somewhere to throw
> > it (whatever "it" is) out of balance.
>
> > (a few minutes pass)
>
> > I just checked the service bulletins on that car and it talks about
> > making sure you use the correct tire balance machine. *Here is the
> > info on it:
>
> > Service Bulletin Mazda North American Operations
>
> <snip>
>
> > If a vehicle has body vibration or steering wheel shimmy while
> > driving, and the root cause is determined to be
> > tire balance, re-balance the tires using a Hunter GSP 9700/9712
> > balance machine. When using the Hunter
> > GSP 9700/9712, be sure to use the following centering cones and cone/
> > wheel set up listed below. Using the
> > appropriate centering cone ensures that the wheel will be properly
> > centered to the centering cone.
>
> Thanks for that. The Ford dealer that did the initial driveline checks also
> did a road force balance on the 2 rear tires tires using a *Hunter GSP 9700.
> I went there specifically because they were listed as having one, while the
> local Mazda dealer was not. The tire shop that put the Michelins on just
> used a regular balancer. I suppose it's possible I have a wheel, or rotor
> that's out of whack somehow.
>
> For what it's worth, I was just looking at the driveshaft and the center
> bearing support seems to deflect fairly easily - easier than on the GMC van
> I used to have. I can move it about a half inch without straining.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Sounds a bit loose to me.

Joe Brophy wrote:
> On Mon, 6 Apr 2009 11:51:08 -0700, "Tim B"
> > wrote:
>
>> I recently bought a 2006 Mazda Tribute V6 AWD. It has some vibrations that
>> are most noticeable at speeds of between 50 and 55 mph.There is no shimmy
>> and I don't feel the vibrations directly from the steering wheel. )
>>
>> I have taken it to a dealer, actually a Ford dealer, and they were not able
>> to find the reason for the vibration. They agreed there was a vibration, but
>> found no reason for it when they ran the car on a hoist and checked the
>> drive line. They road force balanced the 2 rear tires and found one had
>> excessive road force variation and the other was marginal.
>>
>> New Michelin LTX M/S tires did not cure the problem, though it seems to be a
>> bit less after putting them on. (I was going to get new tires anyway - I
>> didn't get them just to see if they would cure the vibration)
>>
>> I also took it to a large transmission shop that advertises driveline
>> vibration diagnosis as one of their specialties and they were not able to
>> find a reason for the vibration. The manager suggested I try driving other
>> examples of the model to see how they compare, since they all may have the
>> vibration I noticed. I will likely do that before I proceed any further with
>> trying to get it fixed., but :I doubt that they all have the same vibration
>> and that it's not fixable.
>>
>> I am discouraged that the pros that I took it to were not able to find the
>> problem, but I am willing to try a few things on my own.
>>
>> My questions:
>> 1) Can this vehicle be driven with the driveshaft removed? If so this may
>> be a good way to narrow down the source of the vibration.
>> 2) I thought of perhaps putting some hose clamps on the driveshaft to
>> alter the balance and see if any change ocurred, but this is a two piece
>> driveshaft and there are a lot of places I could put the clamps and this
>> might be just a shot in the dark. Any suggestions regarding this?
>> 3) Might there be a bad motor mount? It has liquid-filled mounts which do
>> not appear to be leaking. What would be a good way to test them?
>> 3) Any other suggestions?
>>
>> Tim Blanchard
>>
>>
> Sure, you can "drive" the vehicle with the driveshaft
> removed. Drivers who take this approach many times will
> experience elongated commute times, however accident rates
> of vehicles configured with no driveshaft are exceedingly
> low, so you could conceivably get a break on insurance rates
> if you kept it this way permanently. Good Luck!

Constant 4wd vehicle.