Toyota Repair: 93 Corolla Vibration, cv joints, shaft assemblies

Question

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Followup To

Question -
Hi Ted, thanks for providing your expertise!

Ok... '93 Corolla DX, 1.8L, 5-speed standard, ~160,000 miles. Vibration occurs between 40 and about 65 MPH when accelerating. The harder I step on the gas, the more pronounced the vibration becomes. Steady cruise, no vibration. Thought at first that perhaps it was some weird tire issue so I had tires rebalanced, didn't change. Rotated front to back, again no change. Also replaced all four struts recently.

The vibration *feels* like a badly out of balance tire would feel, i.e. slower than an engine miss, plus it's speed does not change when changing gears, but I would think the R&R would have ruled tires out. Also, I recently changed plugs and saw no evidence of a weak or misfiring cylinder. All old plugs were clean with uniform electrode wear.

Any ideas?

Thanks again!

Answer -
This type of vibration is sometimes caused by a problem with one or both of the axle shafts, check the inner CV joints for excessive looseness, if the axle can be moved up and down in the ineer cv joint it's probably the cause of the vibration.

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Ted, thanks again for your time.

Could you give me a better idea as to what would be considered "excessive" looseness? I checked the inner joints this morning, and there is definitely *some* play. Unfortunately I don't have a dial indicator handy to get an accurate measure, but just as a feeling guesstimate, I'd say maybe a 32nd to a 16th of an inch lateral play between the shaft and the cup, perhaps slightly more.

Don't suppose there's really any way to confirm this as the problem other than replacing the shaft assemblies eh? Dang things aren't cheap...

Answer
This small amount won't cause the problem and seems normal, although this vibration on acceleration is typically caused by worn inner cv joints, try replacing the one that feels more loose than the other one and see if there is an improvement, get a price from an aftermarket supplier, a local parts store, if you shop around you may be able to get one for less than $100.