Bad Vibration

[witz323]

Driving today I experienced some bad vibrations i've never felt before. Here are the details.

VERY HOT AND HUMID
Air conditioning was emitting a strange odor at first, but went away.
Drove in terrible traffic for 90 minutes. Once traffic broke I got up to 75 and the steering wheel and hood began to shake so bad i had to exit the freeway right away.

Looked under the hood, everything seemed to bolted down just fine. Let car cool down a minute, then drove a couple miles down the road without the A/C on. Vibrations were still there, but not as noticible. Then I blasted the A/C and the vibrations came back right away.

About the car:
2004, belanger headers and exhaust, tune, BM#3 Pads, K&N

All help greatly appreciated.

 

[Steve-Indy]

Check your crank damper bolt ASAP...then your suspension, drive line.

Since P/S and fans are on same hydraulic system, this could be another source of the problem.

I would not drive the car til you or a Viper Tech sorts this situation.

 

[JonB]

I have to agree w/ Steve..... the Crank Dampener is probably the only likley belted item that could make it 'violent' as well as dangerous. TOW THAT SNAKE IN.

There is a possibility that a couple cylinders (coils/plugs/wires) not firing....humidity magnifies this, and adding the AC load does too.

Miles on it?

 

[markus]

did it only happen at 75 or did it continue all the way throughout?

 

[bluesrt]

how about a big hunk of tar on a tire? maybe not but iv seen it..

 

[VIPER R]

check the balancing weights in the fan, they look like ball bearings. Wait for the engine to cool down with A/c off, if no vibration turn A/c on and see if the fan comes on and the vibration starts.

 

[Steve-Indy]

Lot's of possibilities exist...suggest you read my old post below as 2004's are much more likely have the problem than other years of STOCK Vipers"

"From this thread;

Strange Extended Warranty Question

Well, I cheated and searched my old posts!! ALL Vipers EXCEPT the 2004 and maybe some EARLY 2005's have a "big dog" of a crankdamper bolt...that should be checked periodically, especially if running high HP. For whatever reason, 2004's and MAYBE some early 2005's have a "teeny weeney" sized crankdamper bolt, which was torqued to MUCH lower specs...and, in my opinion (as well as that of several of the better known Viper Techs' opinion) was prone to getting loose with potentially disasterous results. There IS a fix...but I personally worry about the loose ones that were "owner-fixed" as well due to their potential propensity to "rear the ugly head" of delayed failure down the road as it is hard to estimate likelihood of damage from the harmonics that could have been unleashed. For bolt specifics, see my post below:

"Actually, the search key reveals a lot:

From this thread in which Dan lays out the problem: " Re: My Crankshaft Damper Bolt was falling out. "

http://vca2.viperclub.org/forums/sho...mp;o=&vc=1

The Text in part that I posted says: "Earlier in this thread I posted:

" You decide..."the year MAY matter"...

03 Manual says "250 ft-lbs"

04 Manual says "130 ft-lbs"

05 Manual says "130 ft-lbs"
---------------------------------------

Now (thanks to Tim in Parts at Indy's Champion Dodge) here more info taken straight from the Dodge computer (with a little extra effort).

Crankshaft Damper Bolts:

2003 part number 6036207AA size 0.75x16x2.250 (inches)

2004 part number 6506340AA size M14x1.5x102.0 (metric)

2005 part number 6506340AA size M14x1.5x102.0 (metric)

2005 part number 6036207AA size 0.75x16x2.250 (inches)

2006 part number 6036207AA size 0.75x16x2.250 (inches)

LOOKS TO ME AS THOUGH THERE WAS A RUNNING CHANGE SOMETIME IN THE 2005 MODEL YEAR.

By the way, I have ordered one of each just to compare.

Hope this helps !!!"
-----------------------------------
So I ordered BOTH varients of the bolts and posted: "Both sizes of bolts arrived this AM...the BIG difference in the two jumps right out at you when holding them side-by-side in one's own hand!!"

and, later in that thread I posted:

" JUST completed the "bolt inspection" of a beautiful 2006 Coupe (blue/white)...#30 of 200...at Indy's Palmer Dodge North...Viper Tech Phil Honeycutt did the formal inspection and AFFIRMS that for 2006 the crank damper bolt has the 1.25 inch( 1 1/4" ) hex head ("big bolt"), with a small blue dot on center of this bolt which, otherwise looks like the same bolt as found on the 2003 Vipers....THANKS, Phil & Palmer !!!

While Kurt and I were at it, we visited the nice folks at Indy's Champion Dodge...and looked at the bolts on a red 2005 SRT-10 and on a 2005 Copperhead SRT-10....in BOTH cases, the crank damper bolts were the same as on the 2006 Viper...with the same blue dot....THANKS, Champion !!!

So, the REAL QUESTION is...when did the running change occur ???(most likely in 05 by MY guess).

Bottom line:
Owners of 2004's and early 2005's SHOULD have this checked out (in MY opinion) at one's dealership to be safe and sure."

Hope this helps !!"

 

[Coloviper]

Guy in Colorado was just getting his fixed for the EXACT same problem when I had mine in for an oil change a month ago. Turns out that something in the clutch was letting loose and causing the problem at between 70-80 mph. Hood, dash, rear view mirror, everything would just start shaking violently at that speed, though the clutch seemed fine otherwise and as a clutch, showed no signs of issue when shifting, etc. . Replaced the clutch and all shaking went away. Your situation might be different but that is what this guy had going on. Weird as I had never heard of that before!

 

[witz323]

After letting the car sit for a few hours, and the sun went down i drove with the A/C off and it drove like normal. No shakes, rattles, nothing. This morning I took it out on the freeway with the A/C off and all was good. I turned the A/C on, and immediately felt the steering column beging to shake, so i turned it off immediately. Slight vibrations continued around the 1700-1900 RPM mark.

Car has 7,800 miles. Oddly enough it's on it's 3rd Clutch, and 2nd slave cylinder. New clutch and slave were replaced about 1,000 miles ago. Power steering pump was replaced about 400 miles ago.

My thoughts are that it's the A/C pump. Later today i will open the hood, fire up the car, turn on the A/C and see if I can notice the belt slipping. That would seem to cause a lot of vibration I guess. It's definitely going to the Viper Tech ASAP.

I've never owned a car that has had this many problems. It's always in the shop. Should have bought a Ferrari.

 

[VIPER R]

I think you're going to need a new cooling module. That includes the fan, hydraulic motor and shroud.

 

[Viper Wizard]

After letting the car sit for a few hours, and the sun went down i drove with the A/C off and it drove like normal. No shakes, rattles, nothing. This morning I took it out on the freeway with the A/C off and all was good. I turned the A/C on, and immediately felt the steering column beging to shake, so i turned it off immediately. Slight vibrations continued around the 1700-1900 RPM mark.

Should have bought a Ferrari.

Check the fan blades to see if you have a chunk missing out of them?

The ferrari would be in the shop more and cost you a LOT more money!!

 

[witz323]

Thanks to everyone for all the input so far. I made an appointment to bring the car in next tuesday. I will keep you all posted. No driving in the meantime ):

 

[witz323]

OK, some of you nailed this right on the head. It turns out that some sort of animial (now destroyed) decided to camp out near the radiator fan. Needless to say, the fan is completely out of balance and I should have a an entire new radiator fan module (you can't buy the fan alone) arriving today.

Nothing serious, should be good as new by the end of the day.

 

[Bigsalgt]

OK, some of you nailed this right on the head. It turns out that some sort of animial (now destroyed) decided to camp out near the radiator fan. Needless to say, the fan is completely out of balance and I should have a an entire new radiator fan module (you can't buy the fan alone) arriving today.

Nothing serious, should be good as new by the end of the day.

Glad to hear man! Don't let it get you down, in all honesty, Viper's of all generations are actually really good vehicles. Needless to say, your issue wasn't one that was caused by faulty or poorly made equipment. Little animals/critters will make their way into anything. If your Viper is being stored outside for long periods of time, you might want to invest in a storage unit to keep things like this from happening in the future.

 

[Flexx91]

Should have bought a Ferrari.

Someone may need help removing that huge foot.

 

[Viper Wizard]

Someone may need help removing that huge foot.

 

[Twister]

what ever kinda animal it was...seems like he was your biggest fan

 

[witz323]

If you saw the massive pile of service records I have for a car with only 8,000 miles, you'd understand where i was coming from.

 

[Flexx91]

If you saw the massive pile of service records I have for a car with only 8,000 miles, you'd understand where i was coming from.

Don't quite know where you're coming from even though I've owned three in my eleven years of Viper ownership. I suppose I've been lucky.........

But you'll have to admit you set yourself up for that one....... making a statement like that on a VIPER forum. It's all fun though.

 

[Canyon707]

my fan pump went south and the car shook like a 7.0 quake when it came on.