I have an 06 Honda CRV with 140,000 miles that is having a vibration problem. My husband was trying to tell me that it was just the road but I know that is not the case. It feels like I am driving over rumble strips on the side of a highway but it only happens when the rpms are around 1500. It us usually when I am going around 45 mph or 55 mph. I can be driving straight or on a curve. As soon as I take my foot off the accelerator or add more gas (change the rpms) the vibration stops. I am by no means a car expert but would like to know if this is something serious. I would like to take a road trip but don’t know if I can trust the car.
Take it in for a checkup. There are a number of things that could cause a vibration of that type, including CV joints or irregular tire wear…which, with a look-see, can suggest a worn component.
If it were tires or a CV joint wouldn’t the vibration occur all the time and not just at 1500 rpms?
Vibrations can do all sorts of weird things for weird reasons so they can come and go for odd reasons. At 1500rpm & 45-55mph, for example, there is a specific state of vibration that your whole drive train is in that is different from what it is at other times. Cars don’t feel like it but getting them to move is a crazy thing - explosions, intense heat, heavy chunks of metal churning around. Perception is also tricky, so if you hang out long enough you’ll see lots of people who come here with one picture of things in their minds and then when asked questions, they go back and “re-perceive,” come out with a different picture. Anyway, yada yada.
When I looked at your description, I saw “rumble strip” and 45-55mph or so, and a change when you get on or off the gas. That made me think of a torque converter clutch (TCC) lockup problem. This kind of thing is often described as “shudder.” It shouldn’t interfere with taking a road trip - but its a transmission related thing so its not good.
You could instead hope for something like a CV joint issue which can also come and go as a vibration issue related to acceleration and speed of car. I would cross the tires off, but certainly not CV joints.
If I’m not mistaken, that year CRV has a drive shaft to the rear, that rotates constantly. When I started having vibration issues in drive train, it’s time to take it to a mechanic to have the entire car’s train evaluated. 140 k ? Anywhere is in play.
My 2003 does the same thing. It’s under light load and around 20 sometimes 40 MPH. Check the transmission switch. I just keep the gas on to avoid the light load condition…but it DOES feel like a rumble strip.
If the front struts have never been replaced, a worn out strut can cause this type of vibration. If the struts can no longer dampen the front spring ocillations, the tires can reach a certain rotational frequency where the tires can start to bounce up and down rapidly at that frequency as the vehicle is being driven. This is called tire hop. If you speed up or slow down, you go out of the frequency of rotation that causes the tires to bounce and the vibration goes away.
Here’s an example of tire hop.
Tester
That’s a nice video. I hope the film was being taken by the passengert.