hi everyone i finally took my mav out for its first ride tonight .....we encountered a major vibration wich seems to be coming from either the engine or the transmission it starts as soon as i get it up to 10 mph and gets worse with hgher speed only things not new on this car is upper control arms and inner tie rod ends .. we havnt had the front end lined up yet but we have it pretty close so i dont think its that ... im wondering if maybe i have a bad drive shaft also noticed when i stomp on it the trannny seems to slip into neutral for a split second ...... but man does it hookup problem being with the vibration i have to get right off the gas its that bad anyone have any ideas ?
Could be numerous different problems. possible that you have the wrong harmonic balancer, internal inside the tranny, bad u-joints etc...etc... What happens when you change gears or throw it into neutral? Does this change the vibration at all or does it stay consistant? Is the vibration there while the vehicle is sitting still and bring up the rpm? All these can determine different areas of concern and will help to identify the problem.
vibration is there all the time gets real bad when moving 10 mph or over steering wheel vibrates like crazy has new motor mounts new u joints if its in neutral and i rev it up its there also
Well, you've narrowed it down to the motor. What kind of motor do you have? Is it stock or has it been modified?
Make sure that the bolts on the bell-housing are all tight. I had the same problem on my truck about 6 years ago...
Definitely sounds like something around the engine itsself. Have you changed the harmonic balancer and or flexplate for this thing? There is a difference in the balance of the small blocks between '80 and '81 and if you have the wrong harmonic balancer on you will get an ugly vibration. Possibly you might have a problem with the torque converter and this might also tie into your tranny problem. I personally have run into installing the wrong harmonic balancer and had the same results.
well the vibration im told is probably being caused by the harmonic balancer its an 85 motor with the original 70 c4 transmission i used a new flywheel for a 85 motor but not sure about the torque converter or if i have the right balancer is their any way to tell?
The part number on the harmonic balancer will tell you which it is. They have a different counterweight on them also. The earlier balancer uses, I think, a 28.5oz counterweight where the later one uses a 50oz weight. See if you can get the part number off of the balancer. With the '85 engine you will need the later balancer. Same goes for the flexplate, the small block is an externally balanced engine so everything has to match. Another thing to watch for (and this is also from experience) is make sure the little drain plug for the torque converter is sitting at one of the holes in the flexplate. If not, drain plug will push the flexplate out when the torque converter is bolted down and thus make your flexplate "flex".
Do not drive it until its fixed, I know about this! it will wear your crank bearings out in a heartbeat. with a 85 motor you need a 50oz. imbalance flywheel and harmonic balancer, it doesn't matter about the torque converter. Any balancer from a 83 and up Ford 5.0 will work. Mustang, LTD, P/U, Mercury Marquis, Lincoln whatever. the part number on it will begin with an "E" E5=85 E6=86 and so on. but what ever you do try not to run the engine at any RPM.
Even with a cam in the ones I've had (except for the one with the big cam) I've never had a vibration. What can cause a mild vibration is I've seen a lot of worn out harmonic balancers (very common), the rubber ring between the inner and outer will appear cracked and thus will not properly take care of the crankshaft deflection. Other things like burnt exhaust valves, bad tune-up etc...etc...will cause an engine to run rough and vibrate.
There's a big diffrence between a normal vibration like at low idle and a "something is wrong" vibration.
