My 1997 Maxima GXE has developed a vibration in the steering wheel that occurs mostly around 1500 RPM while accelerating, most often when going up a hill (worse if there's a curve in the hill), most often in between the automatic shift from 2nd to 3rd gear. The car has 120k original miles, 90k of those miles are mine. I just last week replaced all 4 motor/trans mounts and the problem seems a little worse.

The CV axles were replaced 3 years ago (by a shop) and have less than 3000 miles on them. The tires, rotors, pads, and rear calipers are about one year old. I drained and filled the transmission 2x (8 quarts total) about a year ago as well. The trans shifts very smooth. Interestingly, when using ample accelerator the vibration doesn't occur. At least not so far. At highway speed the car runs great.

However, there is a nice clunk when shifting from park to reverse that’s worse when the car is cold, but sometimes it’s doesn’t happen even when cold. The new mounts didn't do anything to address this.

Also, not long before this vibration in the steering wheel began, when I back up with the wheel turned to get out of a parking space, etc. there is occasionally a nice clunk when I stop (in reverse) very similar to the one when shifting from park to reverse while sitting

I’m thinking perhaps one of the axles. There was a delay in the repair when the shop said a parts supplier sent the wrong axle for one side. I believe the longer axle. The foremen remarked that it was a “bear to get in and out,” and there was a soft clunk when I’d turn the wheel lock-to-lock soon after the repair but it went away.

A mechanically inclined friend thinks it could be the steering rack, but the steering is smooth and I’ve not topped off the reservoir in over a year. But I did find it down about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch at that time and I topped it with Lucas stop-leak.

Any and all ideas welcome.

 

Have you checked the motor mounts ? The clunk is what scares me.

 

Just replaced all of them. Or do you mean recheck them to be sure they're still installed correctly after driving on them?

 

Lower Radiator Support?

 

Finally got the car off the ground to try and diagnose the issue, and it seems like it's the long axle. When you manually turn the inner (rotational) joint with both hands there's a delay of about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch before the outer joint engages and turns. The short axle has no such play. There's also a little more back and forth slop than I would think is normal when I grab the axle nut spindle and move it back and forth towards and away from the wheel. This axle was replaced 11/2022 with an aftermarket axle, and has just shy of 4000 miles on it.

 

A lot of aftermarket axles are pretty junky ie cheap metal I think anyway. I think I could have the same issue where the joints have .5" of rotational play.

 

It was the axle as suspected. The new (likely also aftermarket junk) replacement axle solved the issues save for a bolt of drivetrain lash when you start the car that is probably one of the new (likely also AM junk) motor mounts. The engine has the most movement (with a pry bar) nearest the transmission mount (also replaced, also likely AM junk).

Anyone know a good source for stiff motor mounts to fit a 3rd gen Maxma?