The other day i changed oil on my car. i jacked the car up in the middle where the big bar by the the tranny. after that my car when i drive it shakes violently right to left and sometimes can hear some clunk noises.and my steering seems to be woobly bad now.so today i put the car on jacks so the front is lifted i had my brother put it in gear one and step on the accel for a bit so i can see if the wheels spin correctly and notice that my motor keeps jerking side by side excessivly mostly jerk to the driver side most. is this normal?? thanks

 

Are you sure you lifted it from the center bar like you said?

Its probably your motor mount(s) that are busted. There are 4 around the engine. Front, back, left, right.

 

yes i jacked it from the center bar where the bar has 4 screws holding the bar with a hinge thing. and also would bad mounts cause my steering to feel loose and wobbly while driving cause it seems like it shakes so bad that my steering seems to not have control

 

It could also be a bad CV joint (axles). Check to see that the boots are still intact, and not leaking grease.

obviously, check to see if lug nuts are also tight.

 

Loose lugnuts FTL. I thought I was the only person who suggests checking for that.

Why didn't you jack it up at the tow hook or designated jacking points on the side of the car?

 

yes i should have jacked it up from the tow hook or the jacking points i dont know why. but i always jacked it like thatfrom the front and nothing happened before..i know it cant be the lug nuts cause when i had my motor up on jacks n had my brother go into gear n press the gas pedal ican see my motor jerking from the transmission side to the driver side back n forth so im thinking that it might be my transmission motor mount is bad cause i can see cracks.. also it could be jerking my axles back n forth too causing my steering wheel to shake?

 

how does the engine look at a stand still but running?

 

im not sure..do u mean have it on the ground and just let it idle??? as of now i can feel more vibration at idle more than i use to...as far as the motor jerking i notice that it dosnt rock front to back or back to front but it jerks sideway? so im guessing the back n front mounts are doing thier job but not the side mounts?

 

yea, sorry for the bed description, so if looking in the engine bay the engine jerks left to right more at idle then anything? if its the timing cover mount you should be able to see any break, my guess would be the one under the battery box which bolts to the tops of the transmission if any.

 

i was thinking it was the tranny mount too...engine dosnt jerk at idle just more vibration u can feel..but when i notice my engine jerking side to side was when i had it on jack stands and my brother put it in gear one and press the accelerator and the wheels where spinning above ground, around 1,300k rpm to 2k rpm the motor would jerk from the tranny side to the driver side. Sometimes i would hear a clunnk...maybe the motor jerk is causing something to hit the frame, also inspecting below the car i could see my exhaust pipes move too..

 

im guessing that its a 5 speed as he put it into gear, you may have a bad input shaft or a damaged throw out bearing. im just guessing because i cant actually see it to better diagnose the problem. the input shaft is the only thing that may cause it as its constantly moving. i would check the mounts 1st, you may have put too much strain on the f&r causing damage to the transmission one, if that makes any since.

 

It's definitely not the throwout bearing.

 

yea im thinking it cant be the throw out bearing or input shaft because i hear no noise or grinding and my shifting is fine just that my motor jerks alot sideways and car is shaky while driving

 

sounds like you bent a tie rod, maybe ball joints, sway bar links etc...

 

i dont know what just happened but today i wanted to see if the shimmy only varied by speed so i took it for another drive and my car was shaky and then i hit a sharp corner so i had to turn wide and i had a popping noise and some how after that the shake was gone?? im puzzled

 

ha dont question it, just go with it.

 

broken differential?