Two cars, a Toyota Camry and a Corolla, are shaking when driving them, esp. around 35-45 mph when accelerating. This started right after a historic snow storm in Virginia that brought 24" of snow and temperatures in the teens and a bit lower. Nothing appears to be wrong with any of the tires. The shaking feels like the car as a whole; it does not really come through the steering wheel. We`ve only driven each car once since the storm.
I`m thinking this may be from all the moisture and cold. Does this sound reasonable? Do you think it might work its way out, or do we have serious problems with two different cars on our hands?
Is it shaking while idling too?
Is the Check Engine Light illuminated?
It’s entirely possible that snow got driven by the high winds into the engine compartment and landed on places where moisture would affect engine operation. When it’s as cold as it has been, and the winds are as high as they were in the recent storm, snow forms ice crystals that can get driven through the smallest of openings.
Someone will need to look at this hands-on. They’ll probably start by checking for any stored codes, but that’ll just be the first step. Can’t help from here. Sorry.
I would bet you have a chunk of ice hanging onto the inside of the wheel on each of your cars. If you can get them into a garage where the temperature is above freezing, the ice will melt, your wheels will be back in balance and your vibration will disappear.
@jal540
You’ve Got Ice Or Snow Frozen Unevenly To The Wheels (Probably On Inside Of Rims).
If It Doesn’t Thaw There Soon, Go To A DIY Car Wash And Spray The Wheels.
CSA
It occurs to me that hundreds, maybe thousands, of cars were buried in the recent snowstorm. The storm was massive and covered/included states not used to snowstorms. It wouldn’t surprise me if we got a lot of shaking car posts from people not familiar with the effect of snow or ice stuck to the inside of a rim.
I think I’ll try to keep the storm in mind when reading such posts.
The OP can count this as one more forum member who believes that the problem is likely to be ice/snow stuck to the inner edge of one or more wheels, where you can’t easily see it.
Yep, frozen .
They don’t even need to have been driven at all.
As some melts. . .runs down . . and re-freezes . .you’d be surprised.
You could even have ice on the CV shafts too !
MY 06 Escape Hybrid AWD sat all day at work once. On the way home all seemed fine until one little slick spot . . .
when the AWD kicked in . .
whop,whop,whop,whop, !
What the ? ?
stoped . .took off slowly . .no sound or vibration. . .
slick spot ? whop,whop,whop !
?
melt off had run down and froze on the rear drive shaft.
Only when IT would spin was there any vibration.
Snow can get into the air intake and melt when the engine gets a little warm. Ingesting the water can cause the engine to run badly. This condition goes away after a day or two, sometimes sooner. I hope that’s it.
I don`t know which it was, but it went away in a morning of above-freezing temperatures. I suspect moisture in the engines, from the way it was acting.
Thank you for your responses. They are much appreciated!
I seriously doubt it was engine related. Because you didn’t feel it through the steering-wheel tells me you had ice buildup on the rear wheels. If it was a moisture problem…you’d need higher temps then you’ve had to get rid of moisture. And driving the vehicle would get rid of any moisture after just a few minutes. Moisture is usually the culprit of not allowing the engine to start.