# routan 2011 - steering shake at 70 and vehicle shake



## vwroutan2011 (Oct 11, 2016)

Hi,
i recently had new brakes, rotors and calipers installed on front. my steering shakes starts around 70 mph and van also shakes at that speeds. I had wheel alignment and tires balanced multiple times as well. I had done the wheel balancing at local repair shop and dealer as well. the repair shop swapped out couple rotors and a caliper as well just to rule out a defective parts but so far no luck. i even had master cylinder replaced as well, just to rule out any issues that master cylinder causing calipers to stick. and i have new tires as well.

i keep flushing money each time but so far no luck. 
I am new to this forum, any advice would greatly help. i have been dealing with this issue for past 5 months and its driving me crazy. please help.

thank you


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## Zambee500 (Jun 23, 2011)

I don't really have an answer or speculation, but the timing sequence is a little unclear. When did the shaking begin to occur? After the new brakes were installed? After the new tires? Or was it also occurring before that was all done?

Also, you say the steering and van shakes around 70 mph. Is that with or without brakes applied, or both? And does it go away if you continue to increase speed? At 75mph? 80 mph?


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## Zambee500 (Jun 23, 2011)

I'm going to take a SWAG and say to check your mounts. In particular, the transmission mount (rear lower mount). Do you hear a clunk or other noise from engine bay when reversing and the transmission goes under load, like reversing up a hill?

You should be able to check it with a helper - van in Drive and foot on brake, and gently add accelerator to put engine under load while van standing still (observe from side of engine; and not in front of vehicle). If the engine rocks backward in a significant way, bad mount. If the engine twists or rocks side-to side, might be one of the side mounts. There are 4 mounts.

Have you had any transmission work done to the vehicle?


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## vwroutan2011 (Oct 11, 2016)

Here is the sequence of events....
Issue started after the brake work is done .

1. new brakes and rotors are installed
2. steering shaking started 
3. repair shop replaced with new rotor and brake pads, thought they are defective
4. still the issue was not solved. as right hand side wheel was getting hot
5. mechanic said it was bad caliper, and installed both front new calipers
6. along with this he installed new rotor on right hand side again.
7. the issue is still there
8. so, replaced both side brake hoses
9. problem not solved.
10. got wheel balanced
11. took to dealer but dealers says nothing wrong. recommended to install new tires. all 4 new tires installed 
12. problem still not solved.
13. got wheel alignment done, but not solved
14. installed new master cylinder, may be it was not releasing brakes. but no luck
15. went to different vw dealer. got wheel balancing at dealer. 
16. still no luck, still shakes. 

the steering has slight shake at or around 70 but the vehicle start shakes as well. it feels like it is coming right side. 

To answer second question,
no transmission work done, but recently had to replace cylinder heads, due to leak.

thank you


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## Zambee500 (Jun 23, 2011)

Well that's odd if it started immediately after the front brake job. You might want to post over on the Chrysler minivan forum thread and see if anyone there has experienced something similar. It's a much MUCH larger forum than this Routan forum on Vortex.

Might still want to get the mounts checked, as they are known for going out around 100k miles. Or after major work like transmission, where the technician inadvertently crushes the mounts during R&R. Reason I say that is b/c I experienced a very similar shaking in steering wheel and the vehicle itself at highway speeds. It was a narrow speed range when it occurred - like within 2 mph. So maybe at 72-74 mph. I could speed up or slow down just a little bit and it'd go away. I also had some major noise from the engine bay when I reversed uphill out of my driveway, as the engine torqued down as I gave it gas to get up the hill. Not really a clunk, but not a good noise. All of that went away when I had the transmission mount replaced, which I think the dealership crushed when they replaced my transmission. 

Wonder if they could've broken a side mount when they did the cylinder head work. Timing is odd with the brake job, but occasionally there are coincidences and unrelated problems occur at the same time.

Post back with an update if/when you figure out the problem.


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## vwroutan2011 (Oct 11, 2016)

Thanks for the insight and help. i will schedule check with dealer see what he says. thanks again.


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## Zambee500 (Jun 23, 2011)

Be careful with dealership. The dealer that replaced the transmission and crushed my transmission mount in the process (and wouldn't own up to it) "recommended" changing all 4 mounts and then proceeded to quote me over $1k (I seem to recall $1300). I declined. Took it to my local indie shop and the mechanic said only the 1 mount was bad and no sense replacing the ones that aren't worn out (yet). Charged me $180, and I thought the part price was a little bit steep compared to what you can find online (although I understand markup on parts is part of the business model). Not an insignificant price difference.


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