Ok, I'm a first time poster and this is the last avenue of hope I have to get answers on an aggravating problem with my VT II Commodore Wagon Automatic. :bang: You'll have to excuse the ignorance, I'm not a huge car person, but can hopefully explain things as technically as possible.... The problem is as follows; The first problem is, it's an intermittent problem. :bang: Upon driving around town or anywhere really my car 'shudders' at certain speeds and rev ranges. I've noted some of these speeds to be around 40-50km/h....about 80km/h....and this morning, the worst case at 90km/h and 100km/h. Where I find it to happen mostly is under load...say for instance driving up a hill at around 50km/h in I would say 3rd gear....it's a very obvious shudder that I can feel through the steering wheel and the seat....when the car drops back a gear the shudder is still there but no way near as bad as when it's in a lower gear. On the freeway...oh the freeway....what happens is I get to 100km/h and it's like a drone of a slow beating drum...if the traffic slows to say 90km/h it becomes this unbelievable shudder of epic proportions where the whole cabin is filled with this sound like when you have ur window down and u get that whopping sound...but only it's quicker. These are the things I've done in an effort to eliminate the problem; Changed the ignition leads (Thought it might have been a firing problem) Changed the spark plugs Replaced the Oxygen Sensors (This fixed a lack of power problem that accompanied the shakes - the car was fine for about 4 days or so after doing this, but then began to shake again) All wheel balance and alignment I've recently had it serviced and my local service station can not diagnose the problem - no fault codes come up on the computer. They test drove it but couldn't work out why it was doing it. These are some of the things I've noticed and some of the things that have happened that may or may not be part of or have contributed to the problem (WTF.); I ran out of fuel like 3 times in the space of a few weeks as my Distance to Empty readout and my fuel guage weren't working properly and shafted me big time. I thought that my fuel lines may have got crap in them, but the filter was cleaned out at the service I had. Sometimes the autotrans doesn't pick the right gear, I'll put my foot down and it'll hesitate for a while and then unexpectedly drop back and catapult me into oblivion. At idle at traffic lights or wherever, sometimes...this one's hard to explain...but it's like it drops in revs or something...like it's had a very brief power failure but then resumes normality (or normal abnormality). The only thing I haven't had for some time is an auto trans service. Personally I thinking auto trans problem or even a computer problem...but I thought this would appear as a fault code when hooked up to a computer? When I had my wheel balance and alignment, the guy had a look at the driveshaft bushes (?) and the rack (?) and said it all seemed fine. I really am at wits end with this prob, it's driving me crackers as I am trying to get the car to a sellable state! Anyway, I thought I'd throw this one out there and see if any of you can help. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Cheers
I'm thinking transmission problem also. Have you checked the fluid level? There are fault codes for the transmission but they don't cover every problem.
Check the transmission mount also, would explain the shudder going up hills. Tailshaft ok? centre bearing?
I was going to say tailshaft universal joint, but you say these have been checked. I would take it to a Holden dealer to check out the transmission. BOL, Paul
yeah this sucks... you've described exactly the same thing my VTII is doing... as soon as I get some money I'll get it looked at by holden... :cry:
Just took my car down to Bob Janes and asked one of the guys there to take it for a drive. He said he's 90% confident it's the centre bearing which would eliminate the take-off shudder.... So...will book the car in to get this done and see if it helps, will post the results....
Can overfilling trans fluid do it?my wagon now has the shakes after topping up fluid.any help would be great.
I'm having a very similar issue at the moment, bought this VX recently and there was a thumping when taking off from a standing start so I assumed uni joints or diff. It runs fine around town, idles smoothly, takes off with a heap of grunt but once I get out on the highway, there's a shuddering/surging happening under the following conditions: Speed is over 70kmh RPM around 1800-2000 Only in top gear (if I plant it, it changes down and takes off with no issues) Only at operating temperature (not a thing happens if the temp gauge is under 1/4 Only if I accelerate slowly/gently (again, it's all good if I plant the foot) It does it on a flat road, up hills, down hills doesnt matter I assumed coils/plugs or at least something electrical because I had a similar thing with a VS I had. I took it to a mechanic because last time I changed out $400 worth of parts before discovering it because I thought screw it, I'd rather pay someone to diagnose than waste my time again. Apparently coil packs are fine, they did find a loose lead on one of the plugs and the mechanic said he took it out for a decent drive but couldn't get it to do it again. I took it out last night and same issue. He did say the thumping at take off is most likely the centre bearing but didn't have time to get it on the hoist to check and there's a possibility a shudder starts up in the centre bearing under certain conditions and I'm mistaking it for a loss of spark/fuel. Any thoughts? I'll book it in anyway to get the bearing done but in the meantime will change out the plugs to see if that makes a difference. PS: just noticed it's an old thread that's been bumped, I wish people would come back to their threads and tell us what the problem turned out to be.
Replaced the centre bearing, no clunking during take off from a standing start. Still has a minor shudder from time to time around the 80kmh mark when accelerating slowly, but nowhere as bad or as often. Go figure. I think I'll just leave it and hope for the best.
Thumping from rear could be worn bush on diff mount. If a mechanic puts it on the hoist and then checks for movement on the diff mount, they can tell you if they need replacing. Just buy a set of four polyurethane bush inserts. Shuddering at any speed could be the auto transmission is ready for a filter change. Is it Auto with more than 200,000 kms on it? The old ATF is getting thin when warmed up.
