jbrill

FINALLY! I FOUND IT!

As some of you know my s2 was having a horrible vibration when downshifting into 2nd ( yes i know you are never supposed to down shift, and you should always rev match.. which i do.) however knowing that the car was not perfect was really bothering me.

I spent last night going over every part of the car, turns out it was a slightly cracked exhaust hanger. the on in the middle by the cat. the rubber in the center as ripped. Once replaced the car was perfect.hope this help all you owners who have talked to regarding bad vibrations on downshifts,

Druman

Dude, I'll have to check that out, mine does the exact same thing. Good work jbrill.


7osh

schnellfahrer

I have the same thing. Exhaust was replaced last year so I doubt that's the cause of the problem.
I'm thinking motor mounts.

JohanvdWalt

Are you talking about a vibration or a rattle, I just can't see how that can cause a vibrition. I've got the same problem but I am talking about a severe vibration with the whole car shaking.

eohrnberger

You know, I've been hunting that one down also, and I knew that the hanger was missing, and I've had it on my list. I'm glad that the two are related. Thanks for the info. post.

Tom R.

my brother metioned a vibration at 3200 in third. he just had the clutch replaced. i will pass on the info. thanks

dgz924s

I would be checking BS alignment at 3G.

Dsalillas

It's weird that so many S2 owners are experiencing the same thing. My car shakes violently when going from 3rd to 2nd and I also have a strange vibration at around 3200 rpm in all gears but it's more pronounce in second and third.

Tom R.

Dal
why whould the balance shaft suddenly go out when the clutch was replaced?

I think he is about ready for belts so I will pass that on to him as well.

As an aside, the car has 77k (had 56k when i sold it to him sept/oct 06) and we went to a relative in the hamptons yesterday. my cousins husband is a gearhead and my brother took his S2. he tossed him the keys and we went for a ride in the 18 year old S2.

SEG is an understatement. He lives out in the hamptons year round so he knows the good off season roads. he took the car to one of those roads and proceeded to take a turn marked 15 at 37-42. He couldnt believe how tight the car was, and that the only rattle was from the shift ****, which was off. I put it back on after the ride.

jbrill

hmmmmmmmmm ok guys, took the car for for a hard run yesterday. the some vibration is still there, however the rattles are gone, at lower speeds on a downshift from 3rd to 2nd i get little to no vibration however if the RPM's get up past 2700+ im getting crazy vibration/shake throughout the whole car still.

Does everyone experiencing this in their s2 have a spring centered clutch? After changing mine to a spring center is when i noticed this... along with the notorious trans rattle increasing. IF is indeed very odd that it is only s2 owners having this problem....

Someone here suggested motor mounts, has anyone tried this? Im about ready to do anything to stop this!!!!


In conclusion:
- Turns out replacing the hanger helped the downshift vibrations in the low rpm under 2700. How ever anything over that, I still have horrible shake throughout the car and it feels like my car is going to bounce off the road.

- Looks to be an s2 problem only, possibly with spring center clutch.

- Do you s2 owners experiencing this also experience noticeable gear noise/trans rattle since installing the spring centered clutch?

Druman

Actually mine is an early 85' 944 N/A


7osh

eohrnberger

In my case, I went from a blown rubber centered clutch to a sprinng centered clutch, and the vibration is present at each non-rev matched downshift. No big deal, I just rev-match every downshift. kinda fun anyway.

I figure to replace the exahaust hanger and see if it helps.

Tom R.

i have a spring centered clutch on my 90 S2 (the one with 69k that is FS on this board) and I dont have any of those problems. my brother has the 3200 rpm on the 89 S2 with 75k that just had a spring centered clutch put in.

I had a funky vibration in my red 89 S2 that had a new rubber centered clutch. when i would turn the wheel to the left at certain RPMs it would vibrate back there. not sure of the exact details since the car was stolen almost four years ago.

JohanvdWalt

I did the motormounts same time I did the clutch, the shake and vibration disapeared for about 1000kms then it was back, now it come and go. Its NOT the motormounts. I'm sure it must have something to do with the spring centre cluch, perhaps we should compare different brands, I'll ask the shop what brand they installed in my car.

stevep2000

Presume you're aware of this possibility with the Balance Shaft belts ....

The shafts have one keyway but the pulley has 2. If you take one off and the balance shaft has the weight at the top - then when you are not looking it can turn under its own weight 180 degrees and you can then fit the pulley on again with all the timing marks lining up - but the shaft is then 180 degrees out of phase.

So it is not just the timing marks that must be in line!

(Copyright Baz Hartech - UK)