Drive vibration

[devo]

Hi all

Have read all posts I can find and a bit confusing to me trying to find the same symptoms.

Bad vibration
Really appreciate some help
disco 3 Auto 190,000km
No offroad work and no hard driving.
Tyres 90% front / 30% rear

I feel this a drive line rather than tyre issue.
The vibration is pretty bad throughout the cab. I have a feeling it is not from the rear but around the transfer area or towards the front.
The vibration seems to run in something like a 1sec cycle as a unijoint would with old style uni's

Float or very light throttle = vibration
very slight road curve = vibration slightly worse
Throttle off = vibration gone
Accelerate = vibration gone

Have jacked up each wheel. Felt play by hand in all joints.
Front shafts = very slight play inner joint equal both sides
Centre bearing = no movement
Centre rubber bush = visually ok and can be moved slightly by hand.

I am looking for somewhere to start in diagnosing this issue.

cheers to all Devo

[scarry]

Simple stuff first rotate tyres and see what happens.

[Hogarthde]

My experience leads me to say it is the transmission ,

Unhappily , two solutions, put up with it, or new auto.

[PerthDisco]

Forward drive shaft? Check all CV boots.

[Pippin]

Simple stuff first rotate tyres and see what happens. I agree. The disparity between front and rear (90% Front 30% Rear) is not good over time.

[woko]

Lock up clutch in the torque converter

[DieselLSE]

Sounds like rear prop shaft and/or bearing to me. Easy to check and would be my first port of call before looking at something more exotic.

[devo]

Forward drive shaft? Check all CV boots.

Thanks for the tip
I do have a small slit-oil leak on the crease in the boot of inner left hand drive shaft

Is that a telltale sign of a joint gone

Cheers devo

[devo]

Sounds like rear prop shaft and/or bearing to me. Easy to check and would be my first port of call before looking at something more exotic.

could you explain how to check the rear shaft and bearing pls other than check for play by hand
Is there another check I can make

Cheers Devo

[PerthDisco]

Thanks for the tip
I do have a small slit-oil leak on the crease in the boot of inner left hand drive shaft

Is that a telltale sign of a joint gone

Cheers devo

If a CV boot splits it will rotationally expel all its grease which will be very obvious.

Agree start with wheels first

[devo]

Thanks for all the input so far
One question before I start pulling out the left hand front drive shaft due to inner cv rubber boot cracked.

If that cv is the cause of the vibration. Would I feel the vibration through the steering?
So far there is no vibration felt through the steering wheel.

The vibration is consistent with prop shaft vibration in older cars
the centre bearing damper rubber looks in good condition and feels solid compared to youtube video of one where the rubber has delaminated.
this afternoon am going to rotate the tyres first and see if that changes anything.

cheers Devo

[PerthDisco]

Thanks for all the input so far
One question before I start pulling out the left hand front drive shaft due to inner cv rubber boot cracked.

If that cv is the cause of the vibration. Would I feel the vibration through the steering?
So far there is no vibration felt through the steering wheel.

The vibration is consistent with prop shaft vibration in older cars
the centre bearing damper rubber looks in good condition and feels solid compared to youtube video of one where the rubber has delaminated.
this afternoon am going to rotate the tyres first and see if that changes anything.

cheers Devo

Do you have a GoPro camera? Can mount and go for a drive and look at these items in real time.

[Milton477]

I have had to replace the front prop shaft on my D4.

Started out as an occasional screech like a stone caught in the brakes.
There was absolutely no play in the shaft so it went undiagnosed for thousands of km while we changed front half shafts & deliberated about engine mounts.
The noise got worse, beyond the power of the stereo to mask it.

Then I saw this:
175106

Just a glimpse of ball bearings about to escape.
Still no play.
175105

This got me back from Mt Isa to Brisbane.
175107

The noise was unpleasant to say the least.

My advice is to check the front prop shaft.

[devo]

Do you have a GoPro camera? Can mount and go for a drive and look at these items in real time.

Go Pro is a great idea

I have a no brand name similar to go pro. will try that and see what I get.

Have rotated the tyres as a first step although it didn't feel like tyres. Made no difference unfortunately.
As I have a small slit in the inner boot of the left hand shaft I have ordered one. A new shaft that is. Have to wait another week unfortunately.

Will try the go pro idea and see what happens from there .

As there are so many components in the drive it is difficult for me to decide where to start.

Thank you everyone for giving me a direction to start.

Cheers Devo

[Jimmy Cogg]

could you explain how to check the rear shaft and bearing pls other than check for play by hand
Is there another check I can make

Cheers Devo

I had a wheel bearing go, it was very difficult to detect as there was no lateral movement in any wheel. However when I had the offending wheel jacked up, wheel off and put a socket and bar on the axle nut and turned the hub, I could then feel the worn bearing "grind" through the bar and socket. Mine was a rear wheel bearing that had failed. I hope you find the issue. Cheers from the UK.

[slug_burner]

I think the rear tail shaft is a two piece with a bearing supporting somewhere near the joint. Easiest way is to get under with a pry bar and see if you can detect excessive play.

[Journeytower]

I agree. The disparity between front and rear (90% Front 30% Rear) is not good over time.

Full time four wheel drive should have equal size and wear tyres all around. The transfer case has to work much harder with unequal sizes creating much more heat and breaking down the lubricant quicker which can lead to premature wear.

As previously stated, start with the simple stuff first. Also get all your uneven wheels balanced and rotated before you replace them with equal size tyres. Anytime I see one of these vehicles with uneven tyres I wonder about it's service commitment.

[FisherX]

There is an app you can get for your phone that can pinpoint vibration issues in your car. Might be worth the $99. Might save you replacing parts due to guess work.

NVH on the App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nvh/id1026086455)

[kenl]

If the vibration is worse going around a bend, particulary say left vs right it may be a front wheel bearing.

[ramblingboy42]

8 small bolts releases the front drive shaft.

engage the cdl and go for drive on rear shaft alone

you will know immediately if it was front shaft problem

while the shaft is out , if it's ok , give it a full service....it's not difficult

[PerthDisco]

8 small bolts releases the front drive shaft.

engage the cdl and go for drive on rear shaft alone

you will know immediately if it was front shaft problem

while the shaft is out , if it's ok , give it a full service....it's not difficult

How do you engage CDL? Rock Crawl mode? Otherwise it’s only the ‘puter that can engage it.

[shanegtr]

I had a driveline vibration in my D3 early last year, only really showed up under deceleration. I thought it was the rear propshaft due to the condition of the centre bearing, but turned out to be the front propshaft was worn and was the cause

[Macadamia]

I had to replace my rear prop shaft earlier this year but I wasn't getting any vibration from it only a noise under light acceleration on a slight incline. I uploaded a video of the noise to my thread What is this sound! (aulro.com) (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l319-discovery-3-and-4-a/287188-what-sound.html)

[devo]

When I picked up a spike through the sidewall of a near new tyre I did ask that question of the tyre shop and was assured that as long as I had 2 tyres of similar wear on the rear I would be ok
I was not aware that all 4 needed to be similar.
Will replace the 2 warn tyres while I am sorting this vibration
I have rotated the wheels but made no difference


Full time four wheel drive should have equal size and wear tyres all around. The transfer case has to work much harder with unequal sizes creating much more heat and breaking down the lubricant quicker which can lead to premature wear.

As previously stated, start with the simple stuff first. Also get all your uneven wheels balanced and rotated before you replace them with equal size tyres. Anytime I see one of these vehicles with uneven tyres I wonder about it's service commitment.

[devo]

Thanks for the heads up on the vibration diagnosis app
First I have heard of one.
There is a Apple and a Android.
Will install that and see what happens

All the input gives so much help when there are so many components involved.
I am sure others will also benefit from this collection

Cheers Devo



There is an app you can get for your phone that can pinpoint vibration issues in your car. Might be worth the $99. Might save you replacing parts due to guess work.

NVH on the App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nvh/id1026086455)

[Ryan.OUTBACKDISCOVERY]

Your cv probly needs replacing anyway but it you jack up your car put it on stands and rotate your tyres one by one

If you get a clunking feeling when you rotate the tyre it will end up being a cv
With the front also turn the tyre full lock both ways and rotate the tyre at the same time most cvs start to show signs of failure when turning to begin with

Are you running standard height when driving or have you got Johnson rods in

[shanegtr]

Thanks for the heads up on the vibration diagnosis app
First I have heard of one.
There is a Apple and a Android.
Will install that and see what happens

All the input gives so much help when there are so many components involved.
I am sure others will also benefit from this collection

Cheers Devo
I'd be interested to see what sort of info that app hands out (machine vibration analysis is my day job...)

[FisherX]

I'd be interested to see what sort of info that app hands out (machine vibration analysis is my day job...)

Reminds me of a Vibration issue I had with some MTU diesels. My company had 4 MTU 2000 series V16 engines rebuilt by the local MTU outlet for some Patrol Boats. We fitted the engines and all was good.

The crew started to complain about the doors on their cabins where rattling while underway. We carried vibration analysis of the engines and it came in within spec. We didn't have a baseline of a normal engines so VA readings was just a guess.

It wasn't till the second boat had the same issues that we looked into further.

Turns out when MTU outsourced the Crankshaft balancing they neglected to tell the balancing company that each big end should have 10kg counterweight on each of the big ends. They removed like half a kilo of weight from each of the crank counterweights but said nothing like this was not normal.

Anyway 4 engine removals, rebuilds and refitting were near a million bucks.

[devo]

Thanks for the info
Will try full lock on the steering and rotation
Standard height. No mods.
My disco wouldn't have done more than 1,000km on dirt. Never tow a van. Never pushed hard
Tried rocking the wheels back and forwards checking play but there seems to be nothing unusual

have been unwell for a bit and have not been back to do any further investigation other than rotate the wheels and then replaced the worn tyres

cheers for the help.


Your cv probly needs replacing anyway but it you jack up your car put it on stands and rotate your tyres one by one

If you get a clunking feeling when you rotate the tyre it will end up being a cv
With the front also turn the tyre full lock both ways and rotate the tyre at the same time most cvs start to show signs of failure when turning to begin with

Are you running standard height when driving or have you got Johnson rods in