Vibration at 1500-2000 RPM

[TrickyP]

I'll take a look today if I see any movement with the HB. It's hard to see in the pictures, but in the upper left portion of the HB, the rubber seems to be bulging past the inner/outer rings just slightly compared to the rest of the rubber where it's sunken in. It's definitely not catstrophic, but I'm not sure if it's starting to go.

 

[Speed+Clinic]

My car did that. I took it to the dealer 3x. It was a vibration at around 1.8k. The vibration is felt on neutral with no trans/exhaust.(tries thAt) after 2 weeks or so i gave up. I changed plugs, cops, cleaned all the lines, mafs. Did a smoke test and vacuum test. I finally threw in the towel and i thru the fault at and unbalanced stock assembly with no counter weights. I had the steeda udp.

 

[TrickyP]

My car did that. I took it to the dealer 3x. It was a vibration at around 1.8k. The vibration is felt on neutral with no trans/exhaust.(tries thAt) after 2 weeks or so i gave up. I changed plugs, cops, cleaned all the lines, mafs. Did a smoke test and vacuum test. I finally threw in the towel and i thru the fault at and unbalanced stock assembly with no counter weights. I had the steeda udp.

Yeah I gave up and took it to the dealership yesterday to get someone else to look at it. A second set of eyes can't hurt right?

They couldn't find anything and said it was normal harmonics amplified by the motor mounts. Ugh. I didn't want to get into a pissing contest, but I told them when I brought it in that I had these symptoms with the stock mounts too...oh well.

 

[cavero]

I've had it in my car since it was basically new. I remember it as far back as 20k mi and always assumed it was just a natural harmonic in the engine. If there's an actual fix, I'll be all over that. It never really bothered me before (even after I installed my urethane motor mounts at 70k) but my new McLeod clutch buzzes like crazy because of it. As soon I get out of the 1500 - 1900 RPM range its just as, if not more, smooth than stock. But in that range it drives me crazy

 

[BruceH]

My car did that. I took it to the dealer 3x. It was a vibration at around 1.8k. The vibration is felt on neutral with no trans/exhaust.(tries thAt) after 2 weeks or so i gave up. I changed plugs, cops, cleaned all the lines, mafs. Did a smoke test and vacuum test. I finally threw in the towel and i thru the fault at and unbalanced stock assembly with no counter weights. I had the steeda udp.

My stock motor was very buzzy with the steeda udp. They are the ones with the most reported issues. Once I changed back to a stock balancer all was good.

FYI the stock rotating assembly is balanced. The stock crank is missing the two center counterweights when compared to a forged crank but it still has counterweights, just not as many.

 

[TrickyP]

Well I'll be the first to admit when I'm wrong...and this is probably one of those cases. I decided to throw the stock motor mounts back on the car today. I'd say 95% of the vibration is gone...I guess the aftermarket mounts I had last time were slightly softer than these. Oh well, they're for sale in the classifieds now.

 

[Speed+Clinic]

My stock motor was very buzzy with the steeda udp. They are the ones with the most reported issues. Once I changed back to a stock balancer all was good.

FYI the stock rotating assembly is balanced. The stock crank is missing the two center counterweights when compared to a forged crank but it still has counterweights, just not as many.

What may cause the vibration? The unbalanced rotsting assembly was my last idea. I was thinking of dropping the steeda udp and go stocker. The ati loos great but i think it is way too expensive!

 

[K_Brogoitti]

Have you had your wheels and tires balanced good? Also sounds like it could be a driveshaft that is out of balance. It does happen from time to time, check the u-joints on the driveshaft too. Most tire/wheel vibrations get real bad around 55-60.

 

[Speed+Clinic]

vibration happens at neutral with the car stopped.

 

[99horsey]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but did you guys ever find the cause of the vibration? I have the exact same problem (vibration between 1500 and 2000 rpm parked in neutral or when driving in any gear). I've probably had the problem for a long time but never noticed it until I put in Prothane mounts.

I'm leaning toward the harmonic balancer even though nothing appears wrong with it visually... That or clutch/flywheel (which is getting replaced by a McLeod RST soon).

 

[Pentalab]

Well I'll be the first to admit when I'm wrong...and this is probably one of those cases. I decided to throw the stock motor mounts back on the car today. I'd say 95% of the vibration is gone...I guess the aftermarket mounts I had last time were slightly softer than these. Oh well, they're for sale in the classifieds now.

When I had the JBA Lt's installed, I also had new heavy duty steeda eng mounts installed at the same time. They come with 4 x red bushings..and 2 x black bushings. For lower hp applications they say to use 2 x red ones on each mount. For higher hp setups, they say to use 1 red and 1 black bushing on each mount. The black ones have a higher durometer ( stiffer). The Steeda eng mounts for the GT-500 only comes one way...4 x black bushings, 2 per mount.

I can just barely hear a tiny bit of vibration between 1500-2000 rpm with new mounts, tranny in drive, and in 1st gear only. (2010 automatic).

BTW, the steeda eng mounts..as most other brands..will allow for a stock ride height..and also allow for a 1/4" - 1/2" - 3/4" drop in eng height. We took advantage of this and lowered the eng by 1/4". That made for better clearance for my steeda STB over top of my roush M90 blower. The tranny I think, wouldf also drop 1/4".

I don't thibk you can, in most cases drop the eng much more than 1/4" to 1/2".... othewise, I think the LT's will contact the steering shaft on the driver's side.

 

[AlbertD]

I had a similar situation and it turned out that the exhaust hangars that slide into the transmission cross member were binding creating additional NVH. I cut the hangars off and the vibration is gone. TSB 08-3-4... http://cdn.lrsstatic.com/downloads/tsb05-14/tsb08-03-04.pdf

Can't hurt to take a look and see if that is the issue. These are the hangars I am talking about...

 

[99horsey]

I had a similar situation and it turned out that the exhaust hangars that slide into the transmission cross member were binding creating additional NVH. I cut the hangars off and the vibration is gone. TSB 08-3-4... http://cdn.lrsstatic.com/downloads/tsb05-14/tsb08-03-04.pdf

Can't hurt to take a look and see if that is the issue. These are the hangars I am talking about...

Very interesting! I hadn't even seen that TSB before. Was your situation where that fixed it really a vibration, or more of a rattle? It seems like the exhaust binding on those hangars could make noise, but not a lot of vibration. Stranger things have happened though! Also, my Prothane mounts lowered the engine about 3/8". In theory, that could have made the binding worse. In addition, the rpm range I get the vibration at is the same range that I get the most exhaust drone. Coincidence? I'm going to have to look into this further. Thanks for the tip!

 

[AlbertD]

It was actually a vibration in the floorboard within that rpm range you specified. The bind on mine was so bad that it seemed that the hangar was making direct contact with the steel housing. The rubber was extremely squished/compressed. It sounds like it could be binding on you since you mentioned lowered motor mounts. Hopefully it will at least null out some of the noise once you get it squared away. Goodluck!


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[99horsey]

It was actually a vibration in the floorboard within that rpm range you specified. The bind on mine was so bad that it seemed that the hangar was making direct contact with the steel housing. The rubber was extremely squished/compressed. It sounds like it could be binding on you since you mentioned lowered motor mounts. Hopefully it will at least null out some of the noise once you get it squared away. Goodluck!


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Great - thanks for the response - that sounds like what I'm experiencing! Here's hoping it's the same thing and you've found my solution. I should be able to look into it over the weekend and will report back with my findings.

 

[99horsey]

Last week I finally got around to the TSB fix. The DS exhaust hanger rubber was totally compressed and the hanger rod was sitting on the bottom. I was hopeful that taking care of it would cure the vibration. It didn't.

I still have the same vibration at 1,500 to 2,000 rpm whether driving, parked, or in neutral. My clutch is being replaced in a couple weeks and my hope now is that the vibration is some sort of a balance problem with my stock clutch or flywheel. Other than the harmonic balancer (which at least appears ok), I have no more ideas. Anybody else have the same or similar problem and find the cure?

 

[BruceH]

Do you have a stock balancer?

Last week I finally got around to the TSB fix. The DS exhaust hanger rubber was totally compressed and the hanger rod was sitting on the bottom. I was hopeful that taking care of it would cure the vibration. It didn't.

I still have the same vibration at 1,500 to 2,000 rpm whether driving, parked, or in neutral. My clutch is being replaced in a couple weeks and my hope now is that the vibration is some sort of a balance problem with my stock clutch or flywheel. Other than the harmonic balancer (which at least appears ok), I have no more ideas. Anybody else have the same or similar problem and find the cure?

 

[99horsey]

Do you have a stock balancer?

I do. The first thing I did when reading the early posts in this thread was take a close look at it. The rubber looks nice and even all the way around the face and I can't see any movement/wobbling when looking at it running. I don't know what else I can do besides replace it to confirm that it might be the cause. It looks like they are $67 + $6 for the bolt from Tasca, so that's not too bad.

I guess my plan at this point is to just replace the balancer if the new clutch doesn't make a difference. I'm just hoping it's one of those two things. I think it's probably had the vibration for a long time now but the stock motor mounts were masking it. As soon as I put the Prothane mounts on, there it was...

 

[Kylar]

The prothane mounts themselves are going to transmit more vibrations, thats the price you pay for stiffer engine mounts.

 

[Pentalab]

The prothane mounts themselves are going to transmit more vibrations, thats the price you pay for stiffer engine mounts.

TrickyP said when he re- installed the OEM eng mounts.... 99% of the vibration problems vanished.

I installed Steeda heavy duty eng mounts... and can barely hear some vibration at 1500-1900 rpm. The steeda mounts come with 2 x red's for each side, and also 2 x blacks. They say for high hp cars, to use one red and one black on each side. The black ones have a slightly higher durometer. (the steeda GT-500 mounts come with 4 x black ones).

I used one red and one black on each side. The NVH is barely audible at 1500-1900 rpm..vs oem ford hydra mounts.

A local buddy had some nvh on his 08. We both used the same steeda mounts and both used the same jba LT headers. In his case it was an un-used hanger hitting the frame..and vibrating....easy fix.