For the past couple of mounths now, I've been getting this strong grinding/vibration sensation that seems like it's coming from right underneath the driver's floor board area. I've been assuming that it's my exhaust (SLP LTs/y-pipe) this whole time. I thought that maybe it was rubbing against the bottom of the car. It's been especially noticable when I make a right turn from a dead stop, but it also does it when I'm driving in a straight line (mainly when taking off from a dead stop). Well, the other night I was just pulling out of the gas station and unexpectedly it got about 10 times worse than it was before. Anytime the car is moving, I get this bad grinding sort of vibrating sound/feel from underneath the car around the driveshaft area. It gets worse when I hit the gas, and almost feels like something is banging underneath the car. I'm now sure that this noise has not been my exhaust at all. My exhaust looks/feels completely secure. Every time I've had my car up on a lift during oil changes, etc. since the noise first started a couple months ago, I've been trying to see what might be causing it, but everything looks fine underneath!! Oh, by the way, this noise first started when I still had my stock rear end (now I have a Moser). My friend kept telling me he thought it might be my rear end, but like I said, the noise first started when I had my stock rear end. I'm sure it's something drivetrain related though. My car is going to the dealership tomorrow for inspection, but I was hoping somebody here might have some idea what's going on, to possibly help alleviate my concerns!!

 

Diagnosing noises can be hard to do especially over the net, with the grinding sound I'd say it's the drivshaft touching the torque arm. Have you checked to see if the tranny mount has come loose or broken. Good luck.

Al

 

Well, I just found out what happened to my car. The dealership told me that somehow my torque arm broke apart from my rear end and was hitting the driveshaft. They say it caused damage to both the driveshaft and the torque arm. It's going to cost $1,000+ to repair it!!! I told them to keep the old parts so I can see them afterwards. So this brings me to another question...how did this happen, and how do I make sure that this doesn't happen again. If there's some sort of weak link somewhere in my drivetrain, I want to take care of it so I don't keep spending $1k+ to fix it!! I'm worried that if I drive my car hard (the way it was meant to be driven) that it's going to break again.

 

Seems kinda funny no one noticed you had a bad torque arm when the Moser was installed.

 

If the torque arm came free of the rear end you would be getting all kinds of really obvious signs, believe me! The Torque arm keeps the rear end housing from rotating when you accelerate as well as when you brake. It would be clunking all over the place. Not vibrating. You'd mess up the control arms, shocks, u-joint, panhard bar, etc etc... It may have been a loose/busted torque arm bushing or tranny mount. My first guess would be the tranny mount being busted. That's a common failure. My second guess would be a loose/busted torque arm bushing. If this happened the front of the torque arm would be free to bang against the floor board under acceleration. It might also be possible for it to swing over and grind against the front U-joint.

Don't you think that you should go see exactly what the damage is before you drop a grand at the dealership? I guess you're more trusting than I am.

 

I've decided to not have the dealership do the work on my car. I just had my car towed over to the same place I had my rear end done. The guy that installed my rear end is going to check it out and see exactly what happened and he'll order the proper parts for me and fix it (for much cheaper than the dealership) Anyways, wish me luck

 

to me it sounds like ujoints. those always cause a wonderful vibration when they go south on ya.