I consider myself pretty well versed with all things mechanical, but I have not been able to figure out why my van is vibrating so much.
I bought the van used with 23,000 miles. My wife primarily drove it for the first 7,000 miles of us owning it and she complained about this vibration among other things, but I blamed it on her hating even the idea of a van. Now it is my daily driver and, yeah, it's annoying.
What does it feel like?
The sensation is like driving on a rumble strip on the highway, only reduce that harshness by about half. I feel this sensation through the pedals, the steering wheel and even listening to anything that would generally rattle a little bit in the cabin. THE VEHICLE IS VERY INCONSISTENT WHEN IT DOES AND DOES VIBRATE, THIS IS NOT A CONSTANT PROBLEM. The vibration also does not make it feel like I'm not in control of the vehicle. It will still track straight if I take my hands off the wheel. I feel this sensation when:
1. Driving at speeds from 15-80mph
2. Turning right (but not turning left for some reason)
3. Coasting (both in drive and in neutral)
4. Braking (sometimes)
5. Eco mode or full V6 mode
6. Freshly paved roads or older roads
What have I done about it all?
At first, I thought that it was due to the rear OEM Michelin tires being worn down to 2/32 (fronts were 5/32). So I replaced them all with Firestone Destination tires (speed rating is the same). I also had the vehicle aligned at the same time. The only thing that was wrong with the rear camber was off .02 degrees (negative).
The vibration got a little better, but still persisted.
Then I did a transmission fluid drain and fill. This helped with some slightly rough shifting, but did nothing for the vibration.
Then I went to the dealership to see what they could find out, but when I got the vehicle back, they declared that they did a transmission computer update and that I needed to get my tires road force balanced. Of note, the dealership also gave me a printout of my alignment stats and tire stats and it said that front camber, front toe and rear toe all were out of specs. But they also said that my rear camber was ok. Everything was the exact opposite from the print out that I was just given at Firestone 150 miles prior...
At this point, I went back to Firestone to get my tires road force balanced. The technician tells me he only had to adjust the two front tires by adding 1/4 oz on each one. The vehicle still exhibited the vibration as I drove away.
I scheduled the van to go back to the dealership shortly thereafter. Since I felt like something was awry with how my alignment numbers didn't mirror each other between Firestone and the dealership last time, I took the van to get an alignment from Firestone on the same morning I was dropping it off at the dealership. The difference in distance was only 1 mile between the two places, so I knew I'd have some ammo if they produced another diagram and try to tell me that I needed an alignment now. After giving it to them all day, I get a phone call around 6pm telling me that the van is ready to pick up and that they had two technicians drive and look it over and could feel no vibration at all. As discouraging as that was, when I went to pick it up, there was no service technicians even available to talk to, just the cashier that I got my keys from.
So where do I go from here? I asked the dealership to tell me if my brake rotors were warped or had uneven wear (and got no answer on that) but my vehicle doesn't pulse or feel noticeably different when braking. I asked them if the CV Joint or axles were worn or damaged (no answer). I asked them if the struts were bad (no answer). They did tell me that the transmission was "fine." And I guess that may check out seeing as how the car still vibrates while in motion and in neutral. But what else could it be? I'm stumped. The only thing I can think of is that one of my struts is "bad" (but at 32,000 miles?!) but how can they even test that?
My next step is that I will probably take it to a different dealership, but I have a sinking suspicion that it will always come back without a problem being found. I may also convert my brake rotors to the new style (45251-TK8-A02) to see if that may help, but I'm not holding my breath.
Let me hear your opinions!
I bought the van used with 23,000 miles. My wife primarily drove it for the first 7,000 miles of us owning it and she complained about this vibration among other things, but I blamed it on her hating even the idea of a van. Now it is my daily driver and, yeah, it's annoying.
What does it feel like?
The sensation is like driving on a rumble strip on the highway, only reduce that harshness by about half. I feel this sensation through the pedals, the steering wheel and even listening to anything that would generally rattle a little bit in the cabin. THE VEHICLE IS VERY INCONSISTENT WHEN IT DOES AND DOES VIBRATE, THIS IS NOT A CONSTANT PROBLEM. The vibration also does not make it feel like I'm not in control of the vehicle. It will still track straight if I take my hands off the wheel. I feel this sensation when:
1. Driving at speeds from 15-80mph
2. Turning right (but not turning left for some reason)
3. Coasting (both in drive and in neutral)
4. Braking (sometimes)
5. Eco mode or full V6 mode
6. Freshly paved roads or older roads
What have I done about it all?
At first, I thought that it was due to the rear OEM Michelin tires being worn down to 2/32 (fronts were 5/32). So I replaced them all with Firestone Destination tires (speed rating is the same). I also had the vehicle aligned at the same time. The only thing that was wrong with the rear camber was off .02 degrees (negative).
The vibration got a little better, but still persisted.
Then I did a transmission fluid drain and fill. This helped with some slightly rough shifting, but did nothing for the vibration.
Then I went to the dealership to see what they could find out, but when I got the vehicle back, they declared that they did a transmission computer update and that I needed to get my tires road force balanced. Of note, the dealership also gave me a printout of my alignment stats and tire stats and it said that front camber, front toe and rear toe all were out of specs. But they also said that my rear camber was ok. Everything was the exact opposite from the print out that I was just given at Firestone 150 miles prior...
At this point, I went back to Firestone to get my tires road force balanced. The technician tells me he only had to adjust the two front tires by adding 1/4 oz on each one. The vehicle still exhibited the vibration as I drove away.
I scheduled the van to go back to the dealership shortly thereafter. Since I felt like something was awry with how my alignment numbers didn't mirror each other between Firestone and the dealership last time, I took the van to get an alignment from Firestone on the same morning I was dropping it off at the dealership. The difference in distance was only 1 mile between the two places, so I knew I'd have some ammo if they produced another diagram and try to tell me that I needed an alignment now. After giving it to them all day, I get a phone call around 6pm telling me that the van is ready to pick up and that they had two technicians drive and look it over and could feel no vibration at all. As discouraging as that was, when I went to pick it up, there was no service technicians even available to talk to, just the cashier that I got my keys from.
So where do I go from here? I asked the dealership to tell me if my brake rotors were warped or had uneven wear (and got no answer on that) but my vehicle doesn't pulse or feel noticeably different when braking. I asked them if the CV Joint or axles were worn or damaged (no answer). I asked them if the struts were bad (no answer). They did tell me that the transmission was "fine." And I guess that may check out seeing as how the car still vibrates while in motion and in neutral. But what else could it be? I'm stumped. The only thing I can think of is that one of my struts is "bad" (but at 32,000 miles?!) but how can they even test that?
My next step is that I will probably take it to a different dealership, but I have a sinking suspicion that it will always come back without a problem being found. I may also convert my brake rotors to the new style (45251-TK8-A02) to see if that may help, but I'm not holding my breath.
Let me hear your opinions!