They look different.The 1.9 looks "wasted"

The critical area is the gearbox end. The spline and oil seal running surface may be different. It would need careful measurement to be sure they are compatible. The lengths could be different too.

Robert G8RPI.

OP here again. It's Xmas Eve and I have finally time to write a few lines.

The garage made a new diagnose but it was very sketchy, they did not take anything apart but just state that the vibration "apparently comes from driveshafts". Yeah right. Negotiations continue.

I've made inquiries elsewhere and a new possible cause has emerged: worn or sticking inner end splines. Has anyone here experienced or even heard driveshaft splines or the inner end in general wearing out, becoming loose and causing vibration?

Happy Holidays to Fiat owners around the world!

I guess it's possible. If the old "tulips" were rough they would impart additional stress to the splines. Gearbox spline wear is not unheard of. some Range Rovers suffered from wear of the main gearbox to transfer box splines due poor lubrication.rouble was ou have to completel dismantle the gearbox to get the shaft out. As the end of the shaft and transfer box input gear are accessible in the car it was not unkown for a dodgy mechanic to drive hardened shims in the gaps or even weld them together as a quick fix to sell the car.

The cure on the Croma would be a new differential. It's not pactical to DIY change just the output gears due to the tolerances required.
It would be hard to tell if the splines are damaged without taking the differential out or at least exposing enough of it to lock up the output gears while checking the shafts for play.

Robert G8RPI.

Perhaps a more simple idea would be to take the shafts of,and take them to a prop specialist and get them checked and balanced.The MB vitos suffer with driveshaft problems to.

buster said:

Perhaps a more simple idea would be to take the shafts of,and take them to a prop specialist and get them checked and balanced.The MB vitos suffer with driveshaft problems to.

Click to expand...

Hi,
I don't think checking the shafts going tell if the splines in the diff are damaged.
The driveshafts have been replaced once with little apparent improvement so either it's not them or something else (e.g. engine / gearbox mount, suspension alignment) is damaging them.

Robert G8RPI.

Not the whole driveshafts have been replaced, only the inner parts with the tulip. But AFAIK shaft unbalance would cause vibration at the same frequency the wheel of rotating, in my case the frequency is clearly three times the rotational frequency.

Half of the problem is,people see a bit of lift in a shaft and automatically assume that must be the problem.We work on equipment were the the output flange has masses of lift in it,runs at full engine speed.Generally if there balanced they seem to run true.Why dont you run it on a rolling road and watch what happens?

ojh said:

Not the whole driveshafts have been replaced, only the inner parts with the tulip. But AFAIK shaft unbalance would cause vibration at the same frequency the wheel of rotating, in my case the frequency is clearly three times the rotational frequency.

Click to expand...

I had not realised that the whole shaft had not been replaced. This does not sould like good practice. From ePer

Item 1 is the outershaft with the tripod and 3 bearings. this is common to both sides on all but the 2.4. which has a diffwernt LH shaft. Items 3&4 are the outershaft and "tulip" cup. If thte garage only changed item(s) 3/4 I'm not surprised the fault came back as the high wear part is the tripod and bearings. Did they fit a new tripod as well? see

Item 3 on this drawing?

Robert G8RPI.

At least they charged me about the tripods. Can't say for sure if they actually changed them - did not get the old ones back.

I have exactly the same issue on my croma 2.4
- I changed recently left and right inner driveshafts as car shaked around 70-80 km/h
- after that car started shaking about 30 km/h as you described
- it shakes only under load (up-hill), on downhill there is no shake
- car shakes in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear around 30 km/h
- it means the driveshaft could be the problem
- when the car is cold it shakes less (strange) - didn't find the logical connection for that reason

Possible next steps of my diagnosis
- Outer shafts: switch left and right outer shafts (they are same)

Please lets us know if you already found the root cause

So now there are three of us with the problem but unfortunately no one with a solution Be assured that I'll let the world know if it's ever found.

ivanjuaric said:

- when the car is cold it shakes less (strange) - didn't find the logical connection for that reason

Click to expand...

I have noticed the same thing. Something changes its properties when the engine/transmission unit or the engine bay warms up. Maybe the engine mountings get softer?

The car is going to the FIAT garage again this week, they will dismantle and check the 25000 km old tulip joint. Seems I have cornered them - either a driveshaft has failed again and they have to repair it under warranty, or the driveshafts are OK and they have replaced a joint for no reason and have to give me back money

Maybe its a misfire when cold.About a month ago now i noticed a shake on mine when cold at about 40 mph.I knew exactly what it was,run very low on fuel but thats another story.This does seem a problem,why doesnt someone run one on a rolling road and have a look around?

Out of curiosity I did a search for Vectra C vibration. A fair few threads to be found, but this one seemed most interesting.
http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=5411

Seems that balancing the wheels using the centre hole does not work well, needs more expensive kit that balances it by mounting it using the stud holes. Worth a try.

That is a very good point.I remember my dad having the same problem with his c5 years ago.

portland_bill said:

Out of curiosity I did a search for Vectra C vibration. A fair few threads to be found, but this one seemed most interesting.
http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=5411

Seems that balancing the wheels using the centre hole does not work well, needs more expensive kit that balances it by mounting it using the stud holes. Worth a try.

Click to expand...

interesting, didnt even know you can balance wheels on bolt holes

portland_bill said:

Out of curiosity I did a search for Vectra C vibration. A fair few threads to be found, but this one seemed most interesting.
http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=5411

Seems that balancing the wheels using the centre hole does not work well, needs more expensive kit that balances it by mounting it using the stud holes. Worth a try.

Click to expand...

I don't think that this is our case... If it was tires, why shaking is only under load? On downhill there is no shake...
Еlse that I noticed is that if I start at full throttle and passed quickly in this range (between 20 and 30 km/h) shaking is hardly felt.. but if I accelerate slowly, especially uphill - it's quite strong

As there are a lot more Vauxhall/Opel Vectras around, these are likely to see any issues more than the Croma. Keep searching the Vauxhall forums for a possible diagnosis.

I have a bad feeling that this is due to automatic gearbox.. diff or torque converter.. but this things are hard to diagnose

portland_bill said:

Out of curiosity I did a search for Vectra C vibration. A fair few threads to be found, but this one seemed most interesting.
http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=5411

Seems that balancing the wheels using the centre hole does not work well, needs more expensive kit that balances it by mounting it using the stud holes. Worth a try.

Click to expand...

From the thread mentioned above:

>My 2001 Vectra B has 61k - bought it recently. Steering wheel was
>off centre and vibrations from around 60mph
>...
>I now have a vibrating steering wheel at 78-82mph.

My car vibrates at 15-20 mph, I highly doubt that wheel unbalance would manifest itself in such a low speed. The vibration also occurs with both summer and winter tires that are on their own rims.

It seems that driveshafts can't be blamed after all. The garage dismantled the 25000 km old shaft and showed me pics of the tulip, no apparent signs of wear.

A auto box specialist test drove my car his opinion was the box can't be broken because there are no extra noises.

I'm beginning to suspect the engine mountings. Now I'd like to know, are any of the Croma's mountings liquid filled?