Steering wheel shudder as engine is about to shift

[terilee29]

After replacing the alternator on my husband's '96 Ex this morning (we each have one...his is blue, mine's green), I was driving it and noticed the steering wheel has a terrible shudder AND also a weird vibration noise coming from under the truck.. (not related to my repair...I'm told it was already doing that)

The steering wheel shudder seems to only happen as the engine's about to shift. It's not constant...only intermittent. Comes and goes, comes and goes. I didn't have the opportunity to hop on the highway, so I'm not sure if it's like this at 60+ mph. God, I hope not.

The weird vibration noise from underneath almost sounds/feels like the 4WD trying to kick in...that's the closest comparison I can think of. It's also an intermittent thing. Doesn't get worse/better if I brake, accelerate, turn either way, etc. My instinct is to let off the gas when I hear it, but I can't be positive that it stops just because of that.

I'm pretty sure the drive shaft needs to be replaced (it occasionally makes that dreaded 'clunk' noise, like you just hit an animal in the road), but idk if that is related at all.

Any ideas..? Not sure what to check for an intermittent thing like this...well, TWO intermittent things. And they didn't start at the same time either, from what I understand.

 

[swshawaii]

Were the wheels turned for any reason with the engine off? If so, probably air in the power steering system.

Purge air by slowly turning lock to lock repeatedly. Very common mistake that feels serious, keep us posted.

 

[terilee29]

I'm sorry to say I don't know what you mean by 'lock to lock'..

And my husband is at work with it for the evening.. won't know if this works until sometime tomorrow probably

 

[amberanger]

Lock to lock refers to turning the steering wheel from center to full left still it stops and then full right until it stops with the engine running.
This will purge the air from the power steering system.
about three times should do it.

 

[terilee29]

Kinda thought so, thank you so much!

Side note.. we did have a really bad power steering leak fixed within the last 6 months (can't for the life of me remember exactly when). But I don't drive this vehicle on a regular basis, so I'll have to ask my husband if he knows when the steering vibrations started. Weird that it only seems to happen as the vehicle is about to shift.. and doesn't seem to get better with turning, etc.

 

[terilee29]

Update

Hubby is talking to me as he's driving home..

He said the shudder in the steering wheel is definitely much worse than it was before. He pulled off the highway into a parking lot to turn the steering wheel all the way to the left, then right, then left, then right, etc...he did it a total of five times. No change at all.

Also, we've noticed that it's cycling.. 7 seconds of shuddering/vibrating, 5 seconds of normal, 7 seconds of shuddering/vibrating, 5 seconds of normal. Seems to me that a bad tire and/or unbalanced tires wouldn't be doing this in an exact pattern...wouldn't the shuddering be doing it constantly if it were a tire?

What in the world could be cycling like that AND be affecting the steering wheel..?? So weird.

 

[deadernie]

Is he running the defroster? Could be the A/C compressor?

 

[terilee29]

I'm sure he is. I don't know how it would be related to the steering wheel, but I'm interested in hearing your thoughts

Wish I woulda seen your reply earlier.. coulda had him drive around with the defrosters off, just to see if it made a difference.

I also read on some other website about bushings being an issue. I've no clue (yet) what a bushing is, nor do I know if it's possible for a bad bushing (or control arm was also mentioned) to cause intermittent steering wheel shaking at exact intervals, but it's something I'm going to check into, too.

 

[XLTrunner]

Sounds like a drive-line issue to me. So, just to be clear...once it's up to highway speed and has shifted thru all the gears, the vibration stops while you continue at cruising speed regardless of RPM's? Have you tried shifting into Neutral (when it's safe to do so) when the vibration begins to see if it stops?

 

[deadernie]

My only reason thinking it was the A/C compressor was because of the steady cycling and maybe it was somehow effecting the P/S pump.

Re-reading through your post makes me think I'm way off. Like XLTrunner said its probably driveline related and his suggestion sounds like a good one to help figure it out. Is it stuck in 4wd? Could be universal joints going out. Bad u joints will sometimes cause some vibration when first taking off and then smooth out a bit . Hard to be of help without experiencing it first hand.

 

[terilee29]

The shuddering is happening at highway speeds, too. During the update on 2/3, I mentioned talking to him while he was on the highway (he pulled off the highway to try turning the steering wheel back and forth a few times..).

He said the only time it doesn't seem to do it is when he's going 40-49 (ish) mph. And I think he also said it's not bad over 70 mph (?)...not completely sure on that part tho.

The noise that's coming from underneath the vehicle (also intermittent) kinda reminds me of the noise it'd make if it were trying to engage the 4WD but can't. The 4WD doesn't work on either of our Ex's, but I do remember my husband mentioning a few weeks ago that he musta bumped the switched into low on accident one day, cuz he had to turn it back to 2WD.

Wonder if I cycle thru the switch positions while driving around the subdivision..? Actually, I'm going to just drive it to work within the hour (only a couple of miles away) and try that....see if it does anything.

 

[terilee29]

Update #2

I may have figured out part of the problem..

The front right wheel is ever so slightly sitting crooked (tipped in on the top). Loose tire, ball joint..? don't know yet. Crossing my fingers for a loose tire...can't afford expensive parts that I can't install myself at the moment. grrr

And the steering wheel didn't do its shudder/vibration thing at all on my way to work. So that's weird.

As for the noise underneath.. I cycled thru 2WD, 4WD, and 4WD Low slowly a few times on my way to work (it's only about 2 miles). It still made the noise at least twice there and maybe once on my way back. That's less than it was doing it yesterday, but still. Drive shaft???

 

[deadernie]

That could be a bad hub or upper ball joint or both. Either is not safe. Jack the truck up and check the hub by grabbing the tire a 12&6 and see if there's any play. A search on here will show you how to check ball joints.

I'm not sure how the 4x4 systems work on these (mine is 5.0 AWD) do they have auto locking front hubs? Is it possible the front driveshaft is still turning even though it's in 2wd, and there's a problem with the front driveshaft? Somebody else on here should be able to help.