So I have my first gen home from school for the summer and am using it for work. I am a delivery driver and put on about 225 miles a day. Other than bad gas milage the car was serving me well. No more. The alternator keeps stopping charging, has done so on and off three times in the past two weeks. It will die for a day or two then start working again. I suspect wiring troubles but am not sure. Above and beyond that however it has a very odd vibration to it. It happens when getting on or getting off the gas at high revs, above 3k. It also clanks when I get on the gas or off it at any speed. Also when running at 4k or so in fourth or fith every couple seconds I can also feel a virbation. It is very puzzling and I wonder if anyone has any ideas or suggestions.

 

Hey Ben I thought you fell off the edge of the earth. Oh yeah..... you're in Maine now. lol Nice to have ya back!

Maybe your alternator is just going bad.

As far as the vibration goes, could it be the drive shaft?

--Bob

 

Ya it sounds like your alternator is going bad.

A friend of mine had a sundance that behaved the same way, replaced the alt, and every thing was good.

As for the vibration, Where do you feel it?

In the Steering Wheel, or the seat?

 

If it clunks when you get into gear, that sounds like your diff is going to me.

 

Might also check your grounds for the charging problem. I ran into this some time back, where sometimes my car would charge and other times it would drink the battery dry. Replacing the alternator didn't fix it and neither did two new batteries. Running an additional ground strap from the motor block to the chassis did. Just another possibility.

As for the clunk when throttle is applied and released, check your diff, your sway bar endlinks and mounts, your tranny mount, and the bushings in the 4 links. Any of these could be the cause of the described noise.

 

alternator was rebuilt less than a month ago, I will try the ground strap

motor mounts are fine, have to check into the rest

I'm still around but rexy is about to take a long vacation from road useage.

 

From the sounds of it, your alternator is loosing it's bearing. Maybe it's old, or your alternator belt it too tight.

 

no one mentioned to check the u-joints in the driveshaft