So on the dual carriageway today, get to 60mph and the steering wheel starts shaking like crazy. Tried to get past 60 and after flooring it then releasing the accelerator it got to 65 after that the car just wont pick up speed. Its fine in all gears until you move to 5th. It was fine last night.
Got my partner to drive it in case i was imagining things and as a passenger i could tell when it started shaking.
Any ideas what this might be before i take it to the garage?Â
Only had it 5 weeks and its driven beautifully until today.Â
Thank you for the response. I do not know a lot about mechanics and I had had a look through previous posts but couldn’t see anything that was very similar. I just wondered if anyone had similar issues.
It doesnt do it in 4th. I havent tried replicating at the same reg. Engine doesnt seem to be misfiring.
Often wheel balance - you need the wheels checked for correct balance weights. Also air pressure in tyres, are they equal? - Should be 26 psi on any Mk1 through to Mk 2 .5 - That’s the first step, so a garage trip is unavoidable. After that, could be anything to do with teering rack or suspension. Speed limitation? - Garage.
( I hope you have a good one, not a dealer). Also your model car is not stated, though your faults are common to any model. If you don’t know which model it is, what’s the date of first registration when new?
I would have suggested wheel balance , but ive never seen a wheel balance issue stop the car accelerating past a certain speed hence why I mentioned misfires
its a strange fault
one which as i said needs to be driven to experiance and you quite rightly have said a garage visit is imminent
I had a Volvo estate which suffered a sudden onset of vibration on the motorway.
Turned out that the carcass of one of the front tyres had begun to disintegrate. Certainly hadn’t hit a pothole or been run with low pressure during my ownership.
Changed the affected wheel and all was well.
I am with Noddy Dog, jack the car up and check to see if it is as he says. Please let us all know what it is when you have solved the problem, so it is here in case it happens to anyone else in the future.
I’d check for a sticking front brake caliper, check for one wheel being significantly hotter than the other straight after stopping. Don’t actually touch it though it could be VERY hot.
I once bought a Merc from a back street Garage run by monkies. When I test drove it I never had the chance to go up to 60mph. When I drove it home it was terrible. They’d chucked some used tyres on it and left the weights on from the last ones. Either that or rolled them down a hill and added some everywhere they bounced… Once they were replaced and balanced the car ran lovely (until the gearbox went bang…) It does sound wheel related, especially at that exact speed. Other than that I don’t know.
Also an overheating hub can eventually lead to the tyre becoming distorted, I once had this midway on a long trip home in a Viva where the front left wheel bearing was beginning to bind. In those days of old bangers I always carried tools with me, so I was able to slacken the bearing and put on the spare. Both of which are a lot more difficult these days.
Whilst all these suggestion have merit, none explain why the car won’t go over 60 mph in fifth and loses power.  He then goes on to say it’s OK in fourth? or am I misunderstanding the OP? Â
The reason I mentioned the tyre problem rather than a buckled wheel is that vibration from the latter is likely to be noticeable at all road speeds.
My car didn’t vibrate much at lower speeds, I think because the damaged tyre carcass only distorted with increased road speed and higher centripetal loads. It hadn’t lost any pressure so looked almost normal with the car stopped.
But no, this doesn’t explain the car’s sluggishness which seems very unusual.
It seems i have a mystery. The road i first noticed it on has been the same spot all of my cars have developed problems. It like to leave me gifts in the forms of repair costs.
I will try and get it in tomorrow and let you know the outcome.
A binding issue would explain the vibration what I would question thou is if it’s bad enough to slow the car down didn’t the op smell the brakes as they would be stinking .