Front end shaking

there is an easy way to tell if the motor mounts are bad. you will need some help though. Jack up the car. you dont want the drive wheels touching the ground. have someone start the vehicle put their foot on the brake and holding it at all times throughout this operation.put it from drive to rev. and you can give it a little gas and look at the motor mounts. there should be a little movement in these if they jump than they are bad and need replacement

tone94shadow, thanks so much for your response. That is good info. for future use. It turns out one motor mount and 2 trans. mounts were bad. They fixed the shaking in the front end. Finally, somebody identified it. I still need to replace the front hub bearings They are making some noise now that the mounts are fixed. They were "supposedly" just replaced 6 months ago by another mechanic. Maybe the mounts being bad created the early failure.

Thanks again.

Shakes or Wobbles problem
2002 Buick Lesabre 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 85700 miles

Recently I purchased a 2002 Buick LeSabre Custom 4-door sedan. There is no evidence or history of any accidents. It has a slight shimmy when turning at slow speeds (5-10mph). This is most noticeable in right turns, particularly during slight acceleration. On a winding 2 lane road it had a pounding shimmy at about 45mph in a sharp right curve. It also seems to want to wander a little bit when driving straight. Due to wear, I did have both outside tie-rod ends and CV boots replaced by the Buick dealer. I also had the front end re-aligned, and tire balance checked. The dealer told me that this is the nature of the beast, because that model has an undersized power steering pump. I have my doubts about that. I would like to have this corrected. Can you give me any ideas of what would cause this problem?

Hi Richard Morrison. Welcome to the forum. Your description of the shimmy and additional clues, (thank you), is typical of worn inner cv joints. I ran into a rash of them over a four-year period at a very nice dealership, many model years and a wide variety of mileages, but 85,000 seems a little soon.

I figured out some ways to check for this problem but the definitive method involves disassembly and inspection of the joints' housings and internal springs. Nine out of ten on the products involved the passenger side joint. My guess is because the shaft is longer so it goes through a smaller angle change as it rotates and the rollers remain in one smaller area where the wear takes place.

The biggest clue I found was the steering wheel would shimmy most from 2 - 35 mph when turning and accelerating, such as when leaving a parking lot driveway. In my case, the shimmy usually went away when holding a steady speed because there wasn't so much force on the rollers and they could move freely. When they bind in the worn spots of the housing, the half shaft can't change length and angle freely so it pushes on the spindle which is mounted on flexible rubber bushings. When it moves, it tugs on the steering linkage causing the shimmy.

Most GM replacement parts are too. It is much more cost-effective to buy a remanufactured half shaft although you run the risk of getting one that also has a worn inner housing that got overlooked. I suspect that might happen in one out of, . . . oh, . . . 25 or so.

I like to know for sure a part is defective before I replace it, but if you don't have the tools to take the joint apart, replacing the shaft is a fast and not REAL expensive test.

my 2003 buick shakes when I excelorate and smooths out at higher speeds ! I have replaced struts and tie rods had front end aligned rotated and balanced tires replaced swat bar links and did tune -up !

If that shaking is in the steering wheel, suspect a worn inner cv joint housing. The clue is it only occurs under load, as in accelerating. It can show up anytime but if engine mounts were replaced including the one that centers the drive train, that can change the length of the two half shafts and cause the rollers to run in a new area and over the worn spots where they bind and don't roll back and forth smoothly.

Shakes or Wobbles problem
2001 Buick Lesabre 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 129010 miles

Just put new tires on the car -- tires were balanced & aligned, but when speed reaches between 35 - 45 MPH, the steering wheel shimmies. Had the tires rotated and balanced again, but shimmy is still there.
Could it be struts/shocks, or brakes????

Thanks for the help!

If it only happens when you use the brakes, it could deal with brake rotors. However, was there any change when you rotated the tires? Also, did you have the problem prior to the new tires?

Let me know.

Shakes or Wobbles problem
2001 Buick Lesabre 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 98020 miles
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I have been told my Buick has a L/F outer tie rod that is loose and the hub bearing has play. My question is can just the left side be repaired or do both sides have to be replaced ?

you only have to replace the left side BUT chances are the right side is starting to go, when one goes the other isnt far behind.

Id replace both.