Car shudders/vibrates

Firblog

Car shudders/vibrates every now and then; drive faster it gets worse, drive slowly and I can tell its coming from front of car (152 Nissan Leaf).


Thing is it's infrequent, but the same every time. Now happening about 1/4 of times I drive off. First time it happened (just this last week) I stopped and checked the passenger side front wheel - all grand - got back in and it was gone. Last Saturday it happened when was heading home, pulled in/stopped, pulled away again and it was still there; pulled in and switched off car, started again, still there, stopped again, waited longer pulled away and it was gone, but came back again when got up to 60ish, stopped again and waited a while, started up again and it was gone.
Today same thing, had to stop several times before it stopped shuddering.


As said when it first started I thought it was an issue with the front passenger tyre/wheel, now know its more centred in the front, but can drive some days and no issue at all, but then can drive off and will take several starts/stops before it stops.


Gonna try to get it seen to this week in local dealer, but just wondering if anyone has any ideas?


Cheers

Jofspring

Firblog wrote: »

Car shudders/vibrates every now and then; drive faster it gets worse, drive slowly and I can tell its coming from front of car (152 Nissan Leaf).


Thing is it's infrequent, but the same every time. Now happening about 1/4 of times I drive off. First time it happened (just this last week) I stopped and checked the passenger side front wheel - all grand - got back in and it was gone. Last Saturday it happened when was heading home, pulled in/stopped, pulled away again and it was still there; pulled in and switched off car, started again, still there, stopped again, waited longer pulled away and it was gone, but came back again when got up to 60ish, stopped again and waited a while, started up again and it was gone.
Today same thing, had to stop several times before it stopped shuddering.


As said when it first started I thought it was an issue with the front passenger tyre/wheel, now know its more centred in the front, but can drive some days and no issue at all, but then can drive off and will take several starts/stops before it stops.


Gonna try to get it seen to this week in local dealer, but just wondering if anyone has any ideas?


Cheers

Might be a different problem to yourself but I had something that sounds similar. There was a shudder at the front of the car. Was a BMW 3 series.
Car would start off fine but after about 15 mins of driving would start to shudder. Brought it to a mate that's a mechanic. He found it strange so stuck a tempature guage on the front wheel and the calipers were pipping hot. They were getting stuck so heating up the longer I drove. Got them replaced and issue gone.

If you have a tempature guage at home, even one for checking your forehead temp, give it a lash. Check all the calipers and see if there is a big discrepancy.

BlakeS94

Firblog wrote: »

Car shudders/vibrates every now and then; drive faster it gets worse, drive slowly and I can tell its coming from front of car (152 Nissan Leaf).


Thing is it's infrequent, but the same every time. Now happening about 1/4 of times I drive off. First time it happened (just this last week) I stopped and checked the passenger side front wheel - all grand - got back in and it was gone. Last Saturday it happened when was heading home, pulled in/stopped, pulled away again and it was still there; pulled in and switched off car, started again, still there, stopped again, waited longer pulled away and it was gone, but came back again when got up to 60ish, stopped again and waited a while, started up again and it was gone.
Today same thing, had to stop several times before it stopped shuddering.


As said when it first started I thought it was an issue with the front passenger tyre/wheel, now know its more centred in the front, but can drive some days and no issue at all, but then can drive off and will take several starts/stops before it stops.


Gonna try to get it seen to this week in local dealer, but just wondering if anyone has any ideas?


Cheers

I had an issue with car shuddering on a previous car I owned, turned out to be that the inner tie rods were knackered, maybe worth getting those checked as they are fairly central on the front end of the car

Bmw123d

BlakeS94 wrote: »

I had an issue with car shuddering on a previous car I owned, turned out to be that the inner tie rods were knackered, maybe worth getting those checked as they are fairly central on the front end of the car

I reckon this one is going to be more specific to a Nissan Leaf mechanic. Someone that works on them day in day out. It’s not the type of car that every mechanic will be at. So be great if there was a Nissan mechanic on the forum

Firblog

Hasn't happended since I posted on here :rolleyes:

The Continental Op

Tyres? If it continues switch the front to that back (assuming thats OK) and see if the shudder/vibration is now on the back end.

Had something similar and even though tyres were perfectly balanced they vibrated like mad and it got worse as you speeded up. New rear tyres in that case fixed it. I guess it was only one of the tyres but replaced both.

Firblog

Brought it into local tyre centre, couldn't see anything wrong except that the rear drivers side wheel wasn't turning as freely as the rear passengers side one.

Booked a service with garage for Thursday, hopefully they'll find any fault an fix it.

The Continental Op

Firblog wrote: »

Brought it into local tyre centre, couldn't see anything wrong except that the rear drivers side wheel wasn't turning as freely as the rear passengers side one.

Booked a service with garage for Thursday, hopefully they'll find any fault an fix it.

When I had the issue that was due to a tyre the local tyre place rebalanced all the wheels and said everything was fine. I' even replaced wheel bearings but that wasn't the problem.

9935452

Jofspring wrote: »

Might be a different problem to yourself but I had something that sounds similar. There was a shudder at the front of the car. Was a BMW 3 series.
Car would start off fine but after about 15 mins of driving would start to shudder. Brought it to a mate that's a mechanic. He found it strange so stuck a tempature guage on the front wheel and the calipers were pipping hot. They were getting stuck so heating up the longer I drove. Got them replaced and issue gone.

If you have a tempature guage at home, even one for checking your forehead temp, give it a lash. Check all the calipers and see if there is a big discrepancy.

You wouldnt even need a thermometer.
Put your hand on the wheels after a longish trip.
The wheel would be a good bit hotter than the other ones. And you will also smell the burning brakes.

SmartinMartin

Do the symptoms get worse when turning a corner?
I'm gonna suggest it's a wheel bearing on the way out. That's the only thing I can think of that would give the intermittent symptoms described. If so, it'll get worse very quickly.

Firblog

No difference when cornering; when it happens I pull in to a stop, start off again and half the time it will have stopped; I may have to stop and start a few times before it ends.

Dirty Nails

Firblog wrote: »

No difference when cornering; when it happens I pull in to a stop, start off again and half the time it will have stopped; I may have to stop and start a few times before it ends.

First impression of your description would make me suspect an inner CV joint with one of the spiders broken up.

Firblog

Dirty Nails wrote: »

First impression of your description would make me suspect an inner CV joint with one of the spiders broken up.

If you'd written it in hieroglyphics I wouldn't have been much wiser lol.

Its in the garage now anyway, hopefully they'll be able to sort it out tomorrow.

Dirty Nails

Firblog wrote: »

If you'd written it in hieroglyphics I wouldn't have been much wiser lol.

Its in the garage now anyway, hopefully they'll be able to sort it out tomorrow.

It's the inside joint on one of the driveshafts that might be running off centre.
Might be noticable sometimes if you were to let up the clutch quick.You'd hear/feel a bit of a clunk.
Let us know how you get on.

Firblog

Replaced rear disc brakes