Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

My son has a 93 Accord, 4cyl. When applying brakes the car shakes and pulls to the left.

I lifted the car on stands and checked the pads and rotors for warping, all appear to be ok (new pads 6 months ago). Here's a couple things I noticed, and not being up on front wheel drives, I'm at a loss.

1.) When we ran the car in drive, the right side wheel goes, but the left side barely moves and I can stop it with my hand.
Is that normal?

2.) When bringing the car up to 40mph and then applying brakes (all with car on jackstands) I can see the right side transaxle move about 1/2" and the back of the motor under the hood lifts.
Is this normal or a mount issue?
If it's a mount, can you direct me to a dyi preferably with pictures?

3.) If it's the mount, can that be causing the shaking and pulling, or with the drive wheel only pulling on the right, is that the cause for the shake/pull?

Again, tia for any help you can give.

 

Mine is doing the exact same thing! I'm going to try to figure it out today or tomorrow, and if I do, I'll post with pics.

 

Sounds like a typical warped rotor (shaking) and sticking or dragging caliper (pulling).

With the car on jackstands, the motor shouldn't be moving 1/2 inch when you gently apply the brakes. That would be a motor mount issue.

 

ttt- can't anyone answer questions 1 and 2 at least? Please?

 

Motor movement is probably a bad mount - and probably the front or rear mounts.

You car does not have LSD so you will get a "peg leg", ie a one wheel, burnout if you were to do so. So seeing the one wheel move at speed and the other barely move does not seem out of the ordinary. However I would look to see if the brakes are dragging on it at all.

 

muffinman has the answers!

 

Thank you. The left side is the side that does not 'drive', but it does spin slowly at idle and picks up with speed (up in the air). I was able to slow it down and stop it, so it doesn't seem the brakes are dragging. When we had it in the air doing 40, hit the brakes, the right side transaxle would move and you could see the engine in the back lift.

Is it safe to say that this is what is causing the shake at braking? (motor mounts?).

 

More than likely yes, generally speaking most of the unwanted motor movements are the mounts, you can also rev her up and pump the pedal and see if there is back and forth movement.

You can also visually inspect the mounts and see if there are any cracks/etc in the mount.

The front is stupid easy to change out, the rear takes a bit more finesse, I believe there is a DIY in the Accord FAQ.

 

Don't forget to check the RIGHT side brake hose. If it is going it could cause the right side caliper not to function properly.

I looked thru the FAQ on the rear mount, might have missed it but didn't see anything on it. If anyone has some DIY tips please post. I'm looking at changing the rear mount on a 95 EX Auto.

 

Yeah, I looked as well, I could have sworn it was in there.

To make it the easiest way possible you are probably better off removing the charcoal can to the passenger side of the engine bay as well as removing the intake manifold and swinging it to the side. Unless you are a monkey I don't think you'll be able to get your hands and a wrench down in there.