RedCelica

not an s2k...so posting here

So my daily is a 2006 TSX with 154k miles and 6spd manual trans. A few thousand miles ago I started noticing the following problems

• Car pulls left and is more pronounced when cold
• Steering wheel shakes between 65-70mph, lateral vibrations felt in seat and floorboard
• Car is very jerky, especially when cold; feels cyclical

Recently I replaced the front left axle because I was experiencing vibration under acceleration. Hoping this would fix the above problems too, but they did not. Had the alignment recently done, and everything seems straight. Good toe and camber, minus the left rear, which has a weird camber angle (-1.6 camber, compared to -.5 for the rest; bend control arm maybe?) I havent hit anything though.

Anyone have any ideas on diagnosing the source(s)? I know the clutch probably needs to be replaced, but would a bad clutch be causing jerkiness after being fully engaged? I can floor it and it actually will lessening the jerky rocking of the car. I'd really hate to invest in new control arms and a clutch for those not to be the problems. I probably need to check and inspect my tie rod ends as well.

RedCelica

Just got a real nice report from Blackstone Labs on the TSX tho!

darcyw

the vibrations could be that wheels need rebalancing. Tie rod ends would be good to check i'd think. Really bad wheel bearings would howl so maybe not bearings.

Could be bad control arm bushings- like really bad ones- but those are new bearings and a bearing press away from fixed. maybe ball joints.

jack it up, and yank away!

​​​​​​​darcy

Saki GT

Have you tried rotating the tires yet?

s2000Junky

How are your brakes and wheel bearings? Spin freely? No play? Tires are in good shape with proper air pressure i assume. Might be worth swapping them side to side and see if any change.

TheDonEffect

You need to elaborate. What do you mean pulls to the left, like when you hit the gas from a stop it veers to the left or you notice that when you're cruising on the highway and let go of the steering wheel it wants to go left? You say it feels twitchy and cyclical, I'd that the engine your talking about that it sputters or you talking that the car wants to pull in different directions and is acting erratic. If the alignment checks out its doubtful that the actual arms struts etc are damaged and they usually don't give erratic behaviors, the car will simply want to go one way or another. Wheel bearings make aloud audible noise but unless they're super jacked they won't cause erratic behaviors. Bushings can cause vibrations and "crashing" on suspensions among other traits.
The vibration at 65, do you notice is when you're accelerating, cruising? What gear are you in. If you want to check your clutch simply start from a stop them shift into like third and floor it and seesh if it slips.
The symptoms you described can be a number of things from the bushing and tires like mentioned above to axles, mounts, etc.
Best thing to do is get a reference for a good trustworthy shop and recreate the issues for them, that's infinitely better.

rob-2

I think the problem is it's FWD :P I'm playing

zdave87

I'm not a mechanic, I just play one on S2KI. Why did you just replace one axle? Why not all of them? Tires out of round?

Jub

My friend's 4Runner was behaving similarly. It was diagnosed as a seized brake caliper. Wild guess but it sounds like something worth checking. It sounds like it could be that one of the front calipers is sticking a bit when cold.

fernando.

Without actually driving the car I'm going to say it could be a bad L/F tire causing a pull, could have a shifted belt as well. Try swapping your front wheels from left to right to see if the pulling stops. As far as vibrations you could just need something as simple as a wheel balance. After you swap your tires from L to R move them from front to back to see if the vibration changes.

I'm a tech, but it's impossible to diag drivability issues without physically being there. Lol.