Hi all,
New member. Thanks for adding me.
I have a 2010 Panda 4x4 Cross 1.3 Multijet that has started to intermittently vibrate, usually changing down from 3rd to 2nd, or going downhill.
Once it starts to vibrate, it gets worse and continues even driving on the flat. It seems to stop at faster road speeds/revs, but it might just become harder to detect.
You can feel it through the steering wheel and it is audible inside the car. It gets so bad that you feel sure it must be audible to pedestrians!
It is not a rattle, or a thud, definitely a vibration.
It sounds as though it is coming from below the front seats, or near to the gear lever. It is present even if the car is coasting downhill with the clutch down in neutral.
Not present with the engine running and the car standing still. Not associated with the engine, my suspicion is that it is in the powertrain, but after the engine. Or maybe in the suspension and wheels. Not changed by steering, or front lock position. Vibration increases and decreases with road speed, not revs.
I think that I have ruled out wheel balancing (will double-check again).
I suspected the centre prop shaft bearing (some play when waggled and the bushes looked cracked and old).
So, I got my mechanic to look and he agreed that the prop shaft seemed a likely candidate. Now, we have replaced both the bearing and the prop shaft and it is STILL vibrating.
I am trying to think of other possible causes:
Transfer box (viscous coupling)?
If I disconnect the prop shaft will I be able to check if the car still vibrates in 2WD?
Could it be the engine mounts?
Any other suggestions, or known similar issues with this model?
Many thanks
Here is a v. short vid of it happening with audio: photos[dot]app[dot]goo[dot]gl[forward slash]qWYPBhYo45VE4yXs6

yes

will work as 2WD


good start to diagnose this type of problem

thanks for the video


unfortunately I dont recognise it


Surprising its felt through the steering wheel but not altered by steering.


I might be tempted to go to an empty car park and put it on full lock and drive slowly in both clockwise and anti clockwise. Doing this will disconnect one of the drive shafts. If the noise is the same in both directions its one more thing eliminated

check the wheel nuts ?

closest in sound.


Change the wheels front to back and see if the vibration is still felt

koalar said:

yes

will work as 2WD


good start to diagnose this type of problem

Click to expand...

Thanks!

Thanks for the help. I seem to have solved the problem.
The two front tyres recently passed an MOT test, but with an advisory about replacing them soon, because of a fine web of tiny cracks in the sidewalls. The treads were good on both. Anyway, when we took them off to have a good look, there were visible bulges in the tread surface. Rather than having a flat tread, each looked like a curved arc. It was only visible when the wheel was off the ground. A bit of reading and I came to the conclusion that the tiny, fine cracks must be 'tyre dry rot' (not something that I have ever seen before). So, I think that both tyres had broken belts, where the belt separates from the internal structures of the tyre (hence the bumps in the tread). Apparently, this can be very dangerous and might lead to violent blow-outs. The symptoms for this can be exactly what I was experiencing: vibration felt through the steering. Before I bought the car, it wasn't used for long periods and it must have been standing without the tyres being moved. Where I am in the UK, it rarely gets very hot (except for this July!), but we do get snow and very low temperatures. These can be causes of tyre dry rot. I have not replaced both tyres and it seems to be fixed. I will need a few days of driving around to be certain. Hope that this might help someone, in the future.