BOUGHT 97 Prelude ONLINE, CAR SHAKES? HELP!

DARUSSIANDUDE

MEMBER
1997 HONDA PRELUDE

I bought a 97 dual transmission/tiptronic prelude and its a very nice looking car. The rpm's on the other hand freezes so often when at 3,000 rpm's or higher im scared that ill mess up the engine. Also when im driving the car from 55-65 mph the car just starts shaking and you have to hold the wheel tight(i dont know much about cars, so could anyone give me advise that a beginner could fix?)

5 Replies

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,754 POSTS

The rpm's on the other hand freezes so often when at 3,000 rpm's or higher im scared that ill mess up the engine.

Can you explain this further? I don't have a clue.

The shaking of the car, is the whole car shaking or just the steering wheel. Two things come to mind. First, if it is just the wheel or mainly the wheel I would check the tires and rims both inside and out to see if there are any dirt clods etc on them. This causes the tires to be very unbalanced. Next look at the tires for looks. Are they misshapened in some place, is the tread looking ok. You may have a bad belt in one of the tires.

Secondly, take a look at the engine when it is reved to note if the engine rocks. It is possible that there is a disconnected motor mount or a broken one.

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Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 AT 7:11 AM

DARUSSIANDUDE

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5 POSTS

Yes. The rpm's are very weird, it just freezes for.25 seconds then goes back to normal for.25 seconds then freezes again for a quarter of a second and so on. Usually starts pausing around 3,000 rpms and higher (i asked the seller and he said it should start being normal in a few months which doesnt make sence to me)

no the WHOLE car shakes and ONLY between 55-65 mph. If I go a little slower or faster then that its fine, the passanger could feel the car shake easily. I have 18 inch brand new chrome wheels with new tires of a 35 profile, again I told the seller about that too and he said its been like that for over a year but never caused him any problems. The engine looks good and doesnt shake when I start the car. But its hard to check it going 55

any ideas? Thanks

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Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 AT 10:29 AM

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
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I believe the freezing of the tach is a tach issue and not the sender. If you are experiencing no problems with the speedometer I would either live with it knowing that you are having that problem or replace the tach.

The shaking of the engine is either tranny related or motor mount. Engine might look good and be real clean but the mounts or a mount could be the issue.

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Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 AT 10:38 AM

DARUSSIANDUDE

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5 POSTS

The person I bought the car from said he changed the tranny 3 times becasue he kept on messing it up. If the car shakes beween 55-65 mph and it is tranny related, what exactly do I have to do?

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Friday, October 20th, 2006 AT 11:43 PM

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
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Gone through three tranny's and still having problem. Again, I would point to the motor mounts. They tranny is part of the system that mounts the engine to the chasis. Now another thing that comes to mind is the alignment of the tranny to the engine. They will go out and shake if the tranny and engine are not aligned properly. Usually this is not a big issue as the machining of the parts is within tolerance. This sounds like it could be outside of tolerance. Transmission mechanic might be able to help.