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Bad driveshaft

12K views 16 replies 6 participants last post by  kepone 
#1 ·
Hi all,

My '13 R spec 3.8 is at the dealer today getting the driveshaft replaced. It has a slight vibration that pretty obviously isn't a wheel out of balance at highway speeds. It starts at about 62 mph. They said this isn't the first time they've seen this, and that in at least one case, the replacement shaft didn't fix it. The second replacement shaft did, so that makes me wonder if there's a quality control problem with whoever is supplying the driveshafts. Anyway, I just figured I'd let you guys know.
 
#2 ·
This is a fairly common problem on our cars. Very well documented here anyway. It'll be interesting to see if the driveshaft is actually the problem over time. Folks have been replacing every rotating piece/part for a while without a satisfactory resolution. Wait for one tire rotation to see if it actually goes away or if it comes back again.
 
#3 ·
Just recently had this problem with an 04 Pontiac GTO when I picked it up off a guy. The car was in mint condition with no accidents and had brand new tires on it. I took it to THREE shops and they all told me it was bad tires, so alas I ordered brand new tires. The problem persisted. So then we ordered a custom 1 piece drive shaft because another top rated shop told me that it was the original 2 piece driver shaft causing the vibration. Well after $1k+ on the drive shaft the problem still persisted! Anyways I finally took the car to Goodyear hoping they could find the problem and all along the freaking tires had been being balanced by idiots and they just needed to be road force balanced by a proper technician. Great to know that with the car in the shop THREE times prior to buying new tires and a custom drive shaft that no one could figure out that they just couldn't balance tires..... Anyways, I was just posting this to give you an idea of what it COULD be. Drive shaft is documented with our cars but before I went through all that I would try finding a GOOD tech at a GOOD tire shop and having them road force balance my tires.
 
#4 ·
I'll let them look all they want. I'll be in a rental paid for by them starting tomorrow. Meanwhile, the service dept called me and told me that the tech had replaced the driveshaft, but that it had made very little difference. They had been directed to next try changing the differential oil, which I'm pretty sure won't fix it. I believe it's quite possible that the new shaft is out of balance as well. I don't know whether the tech tried clocking the shaft in different positions to see if the problem disappeared. Sometimes that works.
 
#5 ·
Good luck finding it. Like I said, it's a common problem that no one so far has come up with a definite resolution for.
 
#6 ·
As others said, good luck!

Bought my GC used. Had the same issue.

Brought it to the dealer, they said they felt it but also noticed 3 out of the 4 OEM wheels were slightly damaged on the inner barrel. They said they wouldn't further diagnose it because of the damaged wheels.

Went and bought a new set of wheels. Had Hyundai install the wheels/tires only to still experience it, although not as bad as before. Brought it back to Hyundai only to have the tech, I'm using that term loosely here, say "aftermarket wheels installed on car, incorrect width, unable to diagnose with current wheels..."

I even told my SA that I was going to buy new, aftermarket wheels and he said "ok, come back when you get them and we'll install them, and we'll diagnose the vibration as well" (they owed me a $150 service credit). Yeah, so much for that.

So yeah, GOOD LUCK!
 
#7 ·
My car is stock-they have no such excuse. The service dept at this dealership also seems reasonably competent and honest. We'll see. In the meantime, they have me pimpin in a '14 rental corolla.
 
#8 ·
Update: Car is still at dealership. They're still paying for a rental car for me and not complaining about it. The shop foreman is the one working on the car. After putting a new driveshaft in and changing the trans and differential oil didn't fix it, they escalated it to whatever you call the guy that's over a region of dealerships. I paid a surprise visit to the dealership today, and they took me into the shop to my car and the guy working on it. He had another brand new 3.8 6 spd coupe on the rack next to my car, and explained that he was cannibalizing parts off of it one at a time to try on my car. Before beginning this process, he said he drove the new car to make sure it didn't also have any vibrations (it didn't). So far, all 4 wheels and tires off the new car have been put on mine, as well as the driveshaft from the new one. None of this has helped. He was in the process of pulling the halfshafts out of the new car to put in mine when I got there. He did say that he'd noticed that my car vibrated when going straight or being steered to the left, but the vibration went away when curving to the right. I think he's suspecting wheel bearings. I can see how that might be, though I've never heard a wheel bearing make a vibration that sounds like something turning much faster than wheel speed.

In talking to the guy it was obvious that he knows what he's doing. It's also obvious that the dealership folks above him are motivated to fix this, he mentioned that they agreed to pay him straight time for all this. That makes me feel better, I'd hate to think somebody was getting raked over the coals financially on my car because of something they didn't mess up.

So, I'm not happy that something like this has happened with my car, but I feel that those responsible for fixing it are doing their best.
 
#9 ·
I keep telling people- this so-called driveshaft balance problem doesn't exist. No dealer acknowledges it's existence and I find more reports of driveshaft replacement *not* fixing the problem. The solution has already been posted - have your tires road force balanced
 
#10 ·
Had mine road force balanced, twice, issue is still there....
 
#11 ·
If having my tires roadforce balanced is the fix, why did wheels and tires off an otherwise-identical brand new car WITHOUT the vibration not help mine at all?
 
#12 ·
There's another issue somewhere. This vibration issue is present in both 3.8s and 2.0Ts in all trim levels. Some folks had balance issues with their wheels that road force balancing fixed... others, not so much. It happens both on OEM and aftermarket wheels and OEM and other brand tires. (which kind of leads me to believe it's not a wheel problem). There doesn't seem to be any consistency with regard to configuration and the only common thread is the vibration itself.

Whatever or wherever it is, it is a harmonic resonance vibration as it usually occurs on or around 60 MPH and for everyone the problem goes away by 70 or less than 55. That's kind of why I wished the OP luck in finding it as there have been many others before him that have yet to figure it out. I figure at some point someone is going to figure it out, but I have my doubts that the driveshaft is to blame.
 
#13 ·
It isn't to blame in my case, for sure. I wish it was, it would have been a much easier fix.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I think the primary issue here is that many less knowledgeable but totally unrelated members are grouping many different types of vibrations together, without direct comparison, and calling it a driveshaft issue. ( not saying the OP is one of these people, this is a general observation based on a year or more of these complaints ). This became exceptionally clear to me during the last thread about this issue.

Let me just once again say this, just like the last thread- if your driveshaft was out of balance, your would feel it at all speeds throughout the entire car. Thats what happens in every other car with a bad driveshaft, the genesis is not special. If you can feel it in your brake pedal, then its your brake rotors or a dragging caliper. If you can only feel it at specific speeds, like say highway speeds, then most likely it is a wheel balance, defective wheel, or defective tire issue. It's not possible to determine if the tire is actually defective without removing it from the wheel to inspect for internal damage, and i suspect most of you aren't being that thorough. It's not a wheel bearing because that would sound like a freight train inside a tornado full of marbles, and also have severe vibration at all speeds, getting much worse as the speed increases and never going away.


What would actually be helpful, is if all the people suffering from this vibration issue, make an online database so they could record not only that they have the problem, but the specific description of their unique problem, that way over time we can run reports on the database and see where the problems really lie. Until someone does that, this issue doesn't exist. That's what Hyundai corporate is doing with the reports they run on partner dealership service departments, only us- the general public- will never get to see that data. The burden of proof is on us, and by us i mean you.
 
#15 ·
My random 60mph vibration was a front wheel bearing, but I also have over 100k miles on it. Not sure if that could be the source of the problem on much lower mileage cars. It finally showed itself to be the problem when a noise appeared at highway speeds when moving to the left. Even at that point you couldn't get any deflection yanking around on the tire/wheel by hand.

My 80mph+ vibration was the cracked flex disc on the driveshaft. Got them replaced and it vanished. Then I put on a megan mount and it vibrates ... alot.
 
#16 ·
Still waiting. Dealer called me yesterday and said that the regional guy is now in touch with engineering. They still don't know what is causing it. They about tore the new car apart taking stuff off of it to put on mine from what I can tell.
 
#17 ·
Just wanted to share this with you guys:
lokiinlove said:
Hey man,

I've ignored your advice regarding Hunter for a long time, since it looked kinda weird... I thought so.

So two days ago i needed to change to my winter tyres, i decided to give GSP9700 a try. I found one (appeared to by only 4 of them in Moscow), i got my tyres changed, balanced with Hunter aaaaaand it's gone! Vibration is completely gone, i'm amazed.

Anyway, i'd like to thank you for your advice, this is the end of my highway suffering 0:) i'm persuading my local gen club to also try GSP9700, it is an awesome hardware.

Regards,
Dmitry

Please guys, take my advice and try getting balanced on a Hunter GSP-9700 if you have the 60-80mph vibration.
 
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