I recently asked for advice on a problem i was having with my N/A auto Z suffering from a vibration/judder coming from underneath around the 2000 rpm mark when accelerating.

 

The advice I was given by various people was the it was most likley the Center Shaft Bearing (prop-shaft bearing).

 

After finally getting my car back today and costing £325 it has made no difference whatsoever.

 

As u can imagine im gutted, just lost £325 for nothing and still have no idea what the problem is, can anyone suggest wtf i do now (apart from cry that is)?

Does the judder go away after you reach certain revs? Does it only occur in specific gears?

after about 2500 - 3000 it dissapears, seems to be in 1st and 2nd gear when pulling away quickly - once up to speed seems okay.

I take it youv'e checked the rear wheels for ballance or damage to tyres etc..

Every time I read someone is getting prop shaft done I always say the following.

 

The vibration on my Z was the exact same symptoms as prop shaft but ended up being rear hicas steering wotsit.

To check this, jack up the rear of your car and see if there is any play on the wheels on a side-to-side type movement.

 

I bet on your original thead I mentioned this.

Maybe not your prob-but well worth a check, it was mine!

I dont think Na's have HICAS.

could be wrong tho.

no hicas on N/A ... and have new tyres fitted and balanced on the back and front, its much more harsh than that - when i give it some from standstill it feels like the cars gonna break apart!

i don't know if this is relevant but i also recently noticed that it seemd to slip when i accelerated going around corners - i assumed the clutch was on the way out, could this be the rear diff or summit.

 

as u can prolly tell i don't know to much about car mechanics

Did you get the gearbox support fixed at the same time - that sags and causes the prop to run out of true.

Also, did they put the prop back in the same position, in other words did they mark it and line up the same bolt holes as before etc ?

saw nothing on the invoice regarding the gearbox support - maybe thats the problem?

 

also not sure whether they put the prop back in same pos - will ask the guy tomorrow, appreciate all ur help...

I've an NA, and replaced the centre bearing. No difference, But the replacement of the auto box rear support fixed the problem. Transpires that the rubber of the mount saggs and causes the gearbox to be lower than it should be. This in turn means the prop is out of line and so vibrates. Symptoms on mine were what seemed like a big flatspot on a tyre when travelling slow, and main vibration at about 60 and above. When things warmed up, the vibrations got less. If I used the car every day, the vibes were just acceptable, but if I left the car unused over a weekend then on Monday morning the vibes were there with a vengance.

 

It's an easy job to do - 10, 12 and 14 mm ring spanners and a jack to hold up the box while you change the mount. The mount was about £54 from MJP.

 

...good luck

 

Jack

sihibbs

 

You have to be really specific about the symptoms.

 

Vibrations are one thing but serious juddering is another. An out of balance prop shaft put back on 180 deg out wont judder but might cause some vibrations. A sh*gged universal joint on the prop might give bad vibrations (judders!) but your garage would / should have seen that when they removed the propshaft. It would have to be really bad to judder. You should have asked for the old bearing mount back to see its conditon anyway. If it was good then you know right away you wasted your money.

 

Your judder could be from a gearbox problem as you mention slipping - didnt you ask an opinion from the garage before you got them to just change the centre mount? Is your transmission fluid nice and clean?

 

Judder might also come from a bad misfire from several coil packs although I've no experience there.

 

As others have said you might also need to check the rear box mount but to give what I understand as judder I think the box and mount would need to have parted company to actually give judder.

 

Other thing to look at is rear drive shafts for play.

 

Hope you find it soon

appreciate all the feedback.

 

anyway, spoke to the garage today and found that the CSB he removed was completly shagged to bits and apparently there is not so much as a judder but more like vibration now.

 

They also found the Gearbox had an oil leak and the oil was very low - that may explain the slippage i was getting?

 

They have fixed the leak and topped up the oil, hope this hasnt damaged the box.

 

So i have asked them to change the Auto box mount to see if that cures the vibration - which may have caused the CSB to fail in the first place - im hoping so anyway.

 

They also found the water pump was leaking :( so thats gotta be done too and is looking at £400+ (doing belts same time, may aswell) ..... bit of a nightmare week with the Z.

 

Im just hoping it that after shelling out over 1k (last week had brakes and tyres) that it doesnt turn out to be a rear diff problem! - i assume that would be stupidly expensive and im running out of funds :/