Vibration, still looking for the cure.

[Killian Korth]

As the title warrants, my car has a bit of a vibration issue.

It's nothing to do with the suspension or wheels being off balance as it's persistent when we are sitting in one spot at an idle. It really only does it at lower rpm's but when I get up past 2000 it stops the vibrating. I'm not entirely sure if it's affecting power or not as it's done this for as long as I can remember since having the car. My brother (a diesel tech) seems to think it's the vibration dampener, and I've been bugging him to help me take a look at it for the longest time, as I don't quite have the know-how to do things of this caliber solo yet. But as family is, he's put me off. I've also attempted to get my dad (mechanic for his whole life) to help but, again as he is family, it's not an important thing at the moment. Hopefully if I can't get a very good idea of what it might be here one of them will finally help out but for now I'm resorting to the interweb to help me.

My dad thought it might be a valve or something to that extent possibly but I'm not sure. We have all the tools necessary to fix it I'm sure, I just need to know what it is and how to do it. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Sounds like the harmonic balancer at the end of your crankshaft to me. Check to see that the rubber isn't rotted and split and forcing it's way out. They do go bad. It may very well have spun on the shaft, causing your vibration at low RPM.

 

[Killian Korth]

thanks for the quick reply, I'll look at it tomorrow when there's light and I can see outside, but I think if I remember right it didn't look worn or anything when I looked at it before. I'm not sure if it's just that I don't know what a worn one looks like, but I'll look again and see if that shows anything. with about 500 invested in tires and another 300 or so thrown in for a new crank and rear-end in the last 5 months, I'm hoping that'll be the problem and nothing too major.

 

[briannova]

I had the same issue years ago, was the vibration damper. You can try looking at the rubber center, seen more clearly from the back. I wasn't able to notice any difference just by looking down at it from the radiator side, but from the backside at the bottom it would be visible. Does it appear to wobble at all when looking dirrectly down at it? Best of luck, hope it's a simple fix.

 

[Killian Korth]

haven't had a chance to get the front end up in the air and look yet, been busy with school and such but I'll be sure to let you all know what I find as soon as I find it.