legacycentral bbs

Alright guys, I was on my way to school today, and as I left the last stoplight to get into the parking lot, my car started to waddle side to side at about 20 mph. it would do it in 2nd through 5th. If I let off the gas, it would stop shaking.

It's pretty bad, I've got all day up at school before I make the hour drive home. I don't think driving on it would be a good idea. I took a look underneath but couldn't see anything that was wrong. I can't tell if the problem is coming from the front or rear end, but it does waddle, like the car is making S's but it goes down the road straight.

I've got a '90 FWD 2.2L, and as it stands now, I'm stuck in the parking lot unless I limp home, but I don't wanna run on the interstate until I at least know what's wrong. Please guys, any ideas?

Alright, I got out of my first class and went out to the car to take a look at things. I inspected top mounts and nuts, everything was fine.
Checked tie rod ends and ball joints, ok. Took it for a test ride around the parking lot, for as fast as I could go in the lot, everything was fine, but when I pulled out onto the road, it started again. It goes away if you push the clutch pedal down, and slowly letting the clutch out (a really long slow clutch drag) the wobble/shudder is really really bad. Any ideas of what I'm looking at? Next class break I'm gonna go back out and see if any of my axle's are loose. After that, I dunno what to do.

Check your wheel lug nuts

I jacked up each wheel and checked for play, everything looked fine. Even if my lugs were loose, why would the problem go away when I pushed the clutch in?

Can you be a little more descriptive with the symptoms.....to me wobbling would sound like the car is actually moving around. Or do you just feel a vibration/shimmy?

vibration shimmy, would be more correct, but as much as the car shakes, it seems more than a vibration.
It seems like a transmission thing because it can go away while driving.

Front differential? It still drives fine, but it shakes pretty bad.

It may be the CV axles. I had a violent vibration driving down the highway....I got off the highway turned around in a parking lot, and the problem went away.

By chance did you replace the axles or repack the bearings?

I have replaced one of the axles, yes. I did stake the nut, and it's been a few months now. I drove it around the parking lot a bit, but as soon as I get up to speed, the vibration gets bad.

From what I can gather, the clues would seem to point to maybe broken engine mount or two. Have someone else start it and see if it really twists inside the engine bay. Then see if you can get it to move a bunch. Take a look at them.

Will it shake like this with the car in neutral? Get the car going, put it in neutral with the clutch in and see if you can get it to shimmy the same.

And I would torque all the lugnuts like Josh mentioned just in case.

Balance your tires?

I got it up on a rack at the goodyear place by my school, it's the axle I didn't replace. They wanted $225 to fix the axle. I said screw it. I'm bringing my tools up to school tomorrow and gonna do it myself. That should fix things

I wanna hear the results of this, I've had the same problem pop up now and then for a long time.