97 plymouth breeze: steering wheel shake at idle

[JHZR2]

Hi,

My mother has a 97 plymouth breeze. it has been a great car for her, giving high economy, space, and a nice around town driver. It has about 80k, and is like brand new. It will give plenty more serivce life, for sure. A bit more info on it can be found here Or from multiple UOAs that I have posted in the UOA section.

This post is something different. for the past while, she has experienced a strong steering wheel shake, only at idle. With the car in drive, foot on the brake, car idling, the steering wheel shakes pretty bad. If we shift to neutral on the auto trans, it goes away pretty much, but is still noticable. If we ut on a parasitic load, like the AC, the shaking gets a little bit worse.

But here is the thing: If the car is in drive, and then we start to move, as soon as any gas is given, the shake goes away completely. If the car is in neutral, if we tap the gas at all, the shake goes away completely too.

The car has never had any Check engine lights or issues/codes before, until the one that just came up about the O2 sensor. The shake has predated the O2 sensor light by a LOT.

The car runs and drives great, this shake is more of an annoyance. It would be nice to get rid of it, and Im sure other parts will be better off for nothaving a steering shake. The dealer where she goes for service didnt find any problems with mounts, etc., and so they and I are stumped.

Once again, it is a 97 plymouth breeze, with 2.0L SOHC Chrysler engine, a 4sp auto trans, and about 80k.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

JMH

 

[Chris142]

These cars have always idled a little rough. Probly got a bad motor mount that is contributing tothe shake.

 

[Drew99GT]

Well, I had the EXACT same problem on my 94 Corolla. It turned out to be a bent headpipe on the exhaust. The previous owner backed into a curb lightly or something and bent the exhaust which strained the engine mounts and caused a SERIOUS vibration. If the mounts are good, it could be the trans itself I guess

 

[Kestas]

My 91 Tracer had that problem. The shake was up-and-down. There was a tsb that addressed it... turns out it was more an annoyance than something going bad.

 

[JHZR2]

quote:

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Originally posted by Chris142:
These cars have always idled a little rough. Probly got a bad motor mount that is contributing tothe shake.

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Maybe there is a bad motor mount... How do you check it (or is a shake the main indication?)?

Thing is, the slightest bit of gas smoothes it out. And it used to be smoother. The engine sounds fine, and doesnt shake itself, as opposed to other cars Ive seen where if it has a shake, vibration, miss, etc at idle, you can actually see it in the engine movement. None such as this in our car.

Thanks,

JMH

 

[Gary Allan]

See if they have a flash for the PCM. It may need an update if that is a problem. I really don't think that the engine has much power at idle ..and that this is normal. On my jeep they actually monitor the PS pressure to keep the idle smooth.

 

[Virtuoso]

I would bet motor mount(s) as well. I changed one on my Saturn (still have at least one more to do) and the difference is night and day with engine vibration; especially idle.

 

[JHZR2]

see, the thing is that I still maintain that it isnt engine vibration... Looking at the engine, turned on, steering wheel vibrating away, I can see that the engine is not shaking.

But engine mounts probably dont last all that long, and very well might be in need of change. Ill suggest that she change them.

Thanks!

JMH

 

[MikeR]

Sounds like a front motor mount. Not sure about the cloud cars, but 1st-gen Neons have notoriously bad ones. Cheap and easy fix though.