Either I have bad U-joints on my driveshaft or every damned bushing on my rear end is gone!!! My car is not driving as it should but only under the slightest touch of the gas pedal when I am trying to drive normal and hold my speed steady. The car will buck like the rear end is rolling up and down. The shocks feel fine and the feel/sound is coming from the rear. The rear gear is quiet so I do not suspect the ring gear or half shafts. It is very similar to a solid axle pitching up and down on the vertical axis around the axle tubes. Could also be tranny mounts or all of the above. The gear shift **** does feel solid though in every gear so my focus shifts more aft of the output of the tranny. It is embarrassing though when I have a passenger in the car and they say "what's wrong with your car?"

Have ANY of you felt this kind of thing with your S130's? If so, what might you have done to correct the situation?

 

yay for craped out rear ends!! before i fixed mine, i hated having passengers, cause it felt like i had no idea how to drive a stick. and it howled like a bitch too.

 

Sounds like the common differential mount "mustache bar" problem...

 

Well if I find this to be the problem can I use solid washers or do I have to use bushings?

 

It's a mustache bar... no washers:



You can make a solid mount out of some thick angle iron or L brackets. WARNING: many people have complained about the noise transferred into the cabin from a solid mount.

 

We talking about this thing here? If so, what happens, does it just get wallowed out over time or what?

 

Yep, the "urethane" core cracks & gets brittle. I've seen some that they just weld a big washer on top & bottom (then weld it to the sides) to make it more solid... I believe FRANK did that??? What hasn't Frank done?!

 

i doubt he tried butt secks. i know i wouldnt. what are we getting at here? lol. could just replace the bushing. these rear ends are pretty easy to get at and such

 

Point number 1.

Chances are that YES, all of the bushings in the rear end are toast. Replace them.

Point number 2.

From what I read your description as saying... Are you sure you don't have a seperated tire on the rear of your car??????????

"Bucking" up and down while traveling at a constant speed should not be because of a bushing.



Rod.

 

I think if it were from tire issues it would happen all the time, this is only when I am touching the gas right at the point in between acceleration and deceleration...literally I am pushing the gas maybe 1/8th - 1/4 of an inch back and forth. It does not happen when I push in the clutch at the same speed or anytime I apply more gas when I want to accelerate or under full deceleration when slowing down with the tranny. So something has to be "loose" to allow movement when very little Tq is going through the driveline.

It's like this, say the driveshaft is free spinning and as soon as you give the car just enough gas to make the driveshaft spin barely faster is when it tries to transfer that Tq and bucks....like the U-joints are toast or something is loose and being allowed to move when it normally would not. I don't think it is moving front to back as there should still be slip yokes so I think something is moving either up and down or side to side.

 

I may have found another issue...last night I started up my turbo and I was sitting there in the front yard with the car idling in neutral with the windows rolled up just listening for noises. When I push in the clutch the tranny is quiet but when I let off of the clutch (in neutral) it makes noise, kinda metallic. So I put my chin on the shifter **** and pushed in the clutch and it was fine, so I let out the clutch real slow and I could hear and feel the noise real good from the tranny through the shifter. It sounds like a metal hose clamp rattling loosely on an exhaust pipe. Does this make any sense to anyone? Sometimes the tranny is hard to put in gear but not often.

 

Ok, here is a video of the noise...wait till the end then you can hear it...turn up your speakers!!

Also just after I made the video I went to the store...as I backed out of the yard and went to put it in gear it wouldn't go....in fact, the clutch pedal was stuck on the floor!!! I put my foot under it and pulled, it popped back like normal and is fine again. WTF?

 

could the fact that you recently started threatening to have sex with men have anything to do with your rear end problems?

 

hmmm, for it to stop when the clutch is ENGAGED makes it seem like your tranny is failing on you just like mine did last week, sounds pretty similare sept mine knocked as well. as for the clutch, thats strange, sounds like the slave failed but it wouldnt/shouldnt return to normal.

 

Yeah...it was the damnedest thing. I think the clutch may be working better now. Maybe that bucking I have been dealing with is not the rear end but in fact might be the tranny?

 

Crap...I can't think of a witty come back for that one.

 

try "well at least the transmission on my s130 is in good shape."


wait..... guess that one wont work for you anymore......

 

figures that the only American made part in my Z is the part that breaks!

Borg Warner...

 

o.k time for me to chime in. the noise you hear with the clutch is just the throwout bearing, as they wear it will make noise, and it is normal, IF it gets louder than that (like double) its time for a clutch job, the pedal on the floor could be the master, not the slave. the vibration in your bum should be checked by a doctor, or could be a u-joint most likey. they are also the cheapest part of the whole rear end to change. you can test them by removing the half shaft, move the joint by hand, it should be smooth and free, if its stiff or feels lumpy replace. try your driveshaft as well, it has non-replacable u-joints, your supposed to do the whole shaft, but a good driveline shop can change them for a reasonable price. u-joint problems are common with the symptoms you give here, its very possible that on has just seized up. i did the welded diff hangar, it does make more noise, but it was worth it, next im welding up the cross member bushings too. the diff was easy to weld up, it actually has a plate on it the exact size of it i just welded on after taking the rubber off the metal. hope that helps, i deal with this stuff all day at work, its no real biggie, and should be easily solved, with not too much cost.

 

Good to know about the throw out bearing....one less thing...I will be under the car tomorrow checking the driveshaft play and a few other things....did I mention my exhaust is turning into swish cheese?

 

Is removing the rubber necessary? I've thought about welding it together, but I don't really want to strip the rubber out...

 

dont gotta strip the rubber out, just grind of the stuff where your gonna weld. its like nissan dipped the parts in rubber when they were new, thick stuff too. i just used a exacto knife, be carefull of course to not cut your self like i did. the plate helps so you dont gotta find a monster washer. thxone, the only way to properly check a u-joint is to remove the shaft from the car and rotate it, otherwise you may not see any problem when there really is one. example, i had one where there was no play, but the u-joint was extremely stiff and was causing a huge vibration.

 

I Lost My Damned Lock Nut Removal Tool For My Rims!!! Shiiiiiit!!!!!

 

Well I have really screwed the pooch on this one...I have torn apart my front porch looking for the lug nut key...I have not found it but I did find all the stuff I was using when I last needed it...all the brake bleeding stuff and the 4-way lug wrench, I thought it would be near that stuff, like the jacks and jack stands I was using...I think I may just cry a little bit...the good news is I am making room on my porch It is just not like me to loose something like that cause I only have one and I should/would have put it in a safe place so as NOT to loose it....it's probably still in the yard...now if I can just remember if I was IN the yard or on the driveway..............................

 

Check the torque on all your lug nuts too. I had a torque wrench go bad on me once and after 3 of the 4 lug nuts had fallen off the wheel, it started exhibiting the symptoms you described. I assume you still have all your lug nuts, but check the torque anyway.

Other than that, it does sound like a typical u-joint problem. I've never heard of the rear diff bushing causing that problem. If the rear diff bushing is going bad, the typical symptom is a "clunk" when accelerating or decelerating, not the porpoising you described.