just recently my car started acting funny... my gxe has about 130,000 miles on it and just started shaking real hard.... i opened the hood and saw the vacume hose came loose... put that back on and it still shakes real hard sounding like it could stall at any minute.... when i drive it.. it sounds like a strugling lawn mower.... i want to buy a new car but i am not quite ready..but if the car is not a cheap fix i dont think i will bother.. anyone know what it could be?

 

no idea but i hope its cheaply fixable

 

Wait I think I have the same problem as you...maybe...when you start the car... Does it start normally and then gets all shaky after like a minute or two. I have a similar problem too then, except when I put it in Park it doesnt shake as much but when driving it does that uncomfortable shaking. My dad says its "bad" gas(gas w/ water?) or something like that. Do you think its bad gas or something internal??

I cant create my own topic yet...

 

yea that sounds like whats wrong with my car..... its pissing me off

 

How long since your last tune up???

 

there should really be a sticky about what to do when your car runs like crap. it's misfiring most likely, pull plugs one at a time to find out which cylinder is dead. then check it for spark, check compression, if both tests pass, it's probably the injector.

 

Yeah, it could be the injector although, what you should check first is that the brainbox is in good working order. Why I say this is cos I had an experience with my max last year.

It had about 242K miles on it and it was a sweet ride (sold it when leaving the country - somewhere in africa). I needed to have the exhaust serviced but the point of service required the engine to be removed. Anyway to cut a long story short, my car was not the same when everything was coupled back. They told me that my injectors were not working properly. True as when we tested them some were not working well but after all said and done it didn't take the shaking away and many times it would quench when stationary. so I had another guy look at it and he said he checked everything and couldn't figure it out until he checked the brian box. (don't know what you folks call it here - that box under the gear box with the electricals) He switched it with another one he knew was in good order and it was smooth as ever. He switched it back and the same problem.

He thought that while the other mechanic was doing "trial and error" to get the car working, he must have burnt the circuit board of the box and thus the outcome. Hope that helps

 

checked the plugs... all were good...i changed them anyways my car still runs like ****.......so my next question would be how do i find out which injector(s) are bad and how do i change them?

 

Gregb287 ...

Randomly changing things will not work, but will cost you plenty.

Go to a couple of autoparts stores and ask them who they know of as the best diagnostician / troubleshooter. Tell them you WILL NOT say where you got that info. Remember - they deal with everyone and hear all the stories.

Good luck, and I'll bet it's a simple fix. It could be as simple as plug wires, but that's just a guess based on how my wife's car (91 VW Golf) was behaving last year. The local mechanic suggested changing the spark plug wires, but we know he jumps to conclusions. Took it to a guy we know who knows VWs, he changed the plug wires - smooth as a 15 yr old VW gets.

Take heart - we all suspect the worst - it often isn't.

Regards - Miles Thompson

 

sounds like you guys have a dead cylinder somewhere......

 

Does it matter how much mileage I have? Cause mine is not even at 100k, should this be occuring at this mileage? A dead cylinder? Fuel injectors? "brain" box? Where do I get this stuff checked out. I am not a car freak, I dont know how to check things myself.

 

Go find a good mechanic...or bring it to me..