Hey everyone!

Lately I have noticed that my civic (which is a 98 lx) randomly vibrates while accelerating. It only does it while it is accelerating and stops immediately once I take my foot off the gas. It only happens at normal speeds (20+) that I have noticed. It does not happen often, I find it to be completly random and I'm 100% sure it's nothing to do with the road since the vibration will stop when I stop the gas. I find it will happen once or twice during a 30 minute drive. By the way the car has been in my family since it was bought new and is at 175k+ miles without any major repairs. I do not have the tools nor the ability to engine work since I am only 16 and just starting to do some car work.


Thanks in advance on any help.
Brian~

 

Sounds like it is misfiring. The car will sort of "shudder" and not accelerate as quickly as it should. If that's what it does, start with the spark plugs. If they are more than 30,000 miles old replace them. You should also consider a more complete tune-up including new spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor in addition to the plugs. This is all fairly easy to do yourself with simple tools.

Realize that the timing belt on a Civic needs to be changed about every 100,000 miles or it will break, often leading to major engine damage.

 

The spark plugs, timing belt, and tune-up have been done recently. 3 months ago the car was looked over while getting new brakes and nothing was noticeable that needed to be changed or fixed. When the vibration happens it shakes the car and steering wheel some, not majorly.

 

when where the wheels ballanced last? it could be a wheel or two are off ballance.

 

Is the CEL ON?

Did the recent tune up also include replacement of the plug wires, distributor cap, and rotor? If not, you should replace them as well.

You might also want to inspect the CV axles and motor mounts which, when bad, can also cause vibration during acceleration.

 

The tires were balanced 10/20/2008. CEL is not on. I'll check on the tune up and what was done. Wouldn't a probelm with the axles have vibrations all the time unlike the random spaced out ones I have?

Edit: I just found that the spark plugs were replaced in 9/8/2008 at 169,511 miles. During that the dist. cap and rotor were checked.

 

well over a year... i would have them balanced again. wheel weights fall off, every pothole speed bump can bend wheels also throwing off the wheel weights. it only takes one wheel weight to fall off or shift to throw it off.
i would have them rebalanced and see if the problem is still there. i think the vibration will go away.

 

Well it's not over a year yet, 3 more months then it has been a year. Would it really be worth to have the tires balanced with having a lot of pot holes around on local roads?

 

Bad axles can cause vibration with acceleration, usually at higher rpm.

You should consider replacing the plug wires and also re-inspecting the plugs, cap, and rotor for wear and corrosion.

 

Well the vibration isn't at high rpm's it only happens while going along the road at lets say 30 or 40 mphs, not during high rpm's such as going up hills or accerating from a start.