All:

Over the last three days, my '88 'maro has developed a violent shake at 45 and above. I need some help isolating this. The steering doesn't shake at all...but the rest of the car does. If you've ever been in a car that has a bad wind buffetting problem with the sunroof or windows open...it reminds me of that. It happens when in drive and in neutral (coasting) both. Up to the point it starts, the car has a ton of power...but when it starts shaking, it loses a lot of power (which I can understand).

Here is a list of things I've checked (and not checked):

- Put the front-end on stands and checked the play in the wheels. There is no play in the wheels
- Yanked on the drive shaft. It doesn't have any play in it.
- I didn't check tire balance...they were balanced a little less than 1500 miles ago.
- Tranny line going into the tranny was leaking...so I tightened that up.
- ATF fluid is full

I took a bunch of pictures of the underbody. If that would help diagnose it, let me know and I'll post them. The rear gear housing has all sorts of black crud around it...but its had that for months (maybe years).

What else should I be checking?

 

did you check the steering box?

 

thats what my car did when the driveshaft was out of balance.......shook like a ****

easy fix if its that

 

How would you fixe that? (if its the driveshaft)

 

I didn't check the steering box...primarily because the steering doesn't shake at all...it drives straight and the wheel is incredibly solid while the whole car shakes around you.

Yes, I'd like to know how to fix the drive shaft as well? By "easy" do you mean you have to take it to a place who can machine-balance it?

John

 

You can check the strut mounts and see if the rubber donut inside is cracked or falling apart. Just pop off the plastic dust cap. Also jack up the car and check from underneath. If the mount is bad, it will allow some movement that wont be dampened by the strut but will be transfered to the car.