hail.gif My steering wheel vibrates quite a bit at an idle and I get a very annoying wabble at 70-75 mph... can these be cause by 1 thing or are they completely different issues? my friend said that my harmonic balancer is out which is why it is doing it.... any help and insight would be greatly accepted.

 

Could be a bad motor mount, wheel bearing, etc.

 

Check the tread on your tires. I had hella wheel shake at 70, then when I got new tires, they showed me a section of tread 8" long that was missing from one tire. They could also be out of balance... did you lose a wheel weight? Sure it could also be a bearing but check the easy stuff first.

The engine may just be idling low, or you could have a clogged injector. You could have a bad motor mount, the balancer could be shot, you could have lost a chunk from a piston...

what's your idle speed? If it's in the 600-700 range, adjust it at the throttle body and see if it doesn't smooth out at 800-900 RPM

Clean your throttle body first, come to think of it.

HTH

 

I don't really think that beta engines have a "harmonic balancer". A harmonic balancer is essentially crankshaft pulley mounted to the crankshaft pulley hub with rubber to absorb engine vibrations. Last I looked, I don't think mine has one.

If your engine is idling rough, it's usually due to either a bad engine mount or lack of maintenance. Check the mounts first by setting your parking brake, and have someone watch under the hood as you make an attempt to take off in 1st or reverse. The engine will rock slightly, but if one of the mounts is bad, you'll notice it move alot. You can also just check them visually without running the engine. Under the car, at the front and rear of the engine bay are the rollstop mounts, which usually go bad first. If they're bad, you can see it torn, and can rock the engine by hand. The other 2 are on top, at the driver's and passenger's sides.

If those look good, do some maintenace. Replace spark plugs, wires (if they're old), replace the pcv valve, check for vacuum leaks, clean the throttle body, and have a shop do a fuel system service, because the at home ones just don't work. Pop off the hoses to the IAC valve and clean it out with some throttle body cleaner (don't use carb spray) and lubricate it when it dries with some silicone spray lube.

The steering wheel wobble at 70-75 is not related to the steering wheel wobble at idle. You need to jack the car (properly support it on stands) and shake both wheels left / right to check for freeplay in the wheels. Then, using a large bar (at least 3 ft) lift up on each wheel while someone inspects the ball joints. If all that looks good, have the tires balanced. If your car has alot of miles, probably over 85k without having the original shocks replaced, that may have a significant factor in your highway vibrations.

 

I can't believe I forgot the spark plug wires! I had a set go bad on my truck, and the thing shook so bad it literally made waves in the sheet metal of the hood. Din't idle so good either. owned.gif

 

i can be sure that it is a motor mount issue and wheel balance issue...last year before august i had a broken tranny mount and i could feel all of the vibration of the motor and it even got worse when i turn on the AC...

i had a issue with wheel balance and a member on the site (Cypher) was able to help me...check out my thread

or you could have a slight bent rim...

could be a number of things

 

thanks for the feedback guys, i just dropped it off at the hyundai dealership here in town. i gave them a run down of most of the issues you all came up with. they will get back w/ me as soon as they have a diagnosis.