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Violent shakes when accelerating - goes away when I let go of pedal

30K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  fromserenity 
#1 ·
Hey guys, I've seen similar postings on a few threads but not exactly the same problem.

My 04 S started, out of no where, to shake and rattle violently at high speeds, when I am on 5th and 6th gears. At first I thought it would be something with the wheels or suspension, since most everything is aftermarket. However, when I let go of the gas, the car coasts very smoothly and all rattling goes away.

What could this be?

Any help is welcome and appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
 
#7 ·
As someone who has had these issues before, in my experience, these shakes usually are axles related. Obviously I will first get rid of all the obvious test such as checking if the wheel are bent, wheel balance etc. If the shake happens when you push on the gas pedal it mostly has to do with the axle having a hard time keeping up. The issue is more internal and its hard to tell just from physical check under the car. I had this issue for quite some time. Eventually I was able to feel the vibration even when I tried to accelerate at low speeds. It wasn't violent as high speed but it was there on the floor. If you car is lowered I will strongly recommend getting a "Drive Shaft Shop" race axles or something similar. I got them shipped all the way to Dubai where I live. Because I shipped my MINI here when I moved here. In my three years of ownership I had gone though 3 axles, because I purchased cheap axles at the time. At first they will take care of the shake but it always came back as they wore out because my car was lowered and the axles wore out easily. But its been 3 months now and since I installed the Drive Shaft Shop race axles and my car has never felt so solid.
 
#9 ·
Hi All,

I just purchased a very basic -02 Mini One with 200.000km on it. It's in relatively sound condition, but has it's problems.

The car has this same judder or shake under acceleration. I thought it might be the tyres, but after an hour long test-drive on different types of roads revealed, that it's something else. If I'm cruising at a steady speed and gas below 80km/h, there's no or almost no judder at all. If I increase the speed above 80km/h, the judder begins. Not violent, but really obvious.

Under heavy acceleration the drive-train shakes quite a lot. If I lift off the gas and press the clutch, it disappears completely.

It's mentioned above, that it might be coming from the axels. Does it mean the front axel, or the drive-shafts? Or the rear axel (probably not)?

And what is a CV joint?

Would it be advisable to order the engine mounts, axels and the CV joints (whatever they are) and have them all changed at one go to get rid off the shaking and prevent it from happening again in the near future due to worn parts?

Thank you for your advice! I want to make it a nice little runner, that hasn't got any irritating issues.
 
#12 ·
Spot on, Sir! I'm just coming back from the workshop, and the verdict was, indeed, misfiring. Will take the car back there on Wednesday, so hopefully it'll be fine soon.

Is this a big issue and an expensive one to fix? What needs to be done? I was in such a hurry, that we didn't have too much time to chat with the mechanic.

Thanks for the help again!
 
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