Pontiac Montana front end shimmy

I have a 2000 Montana with 240K miles. I just had the motor mounts changed by the dealer because there was a vibration in the steering wheel when at idle. That fixed the vibration, but I noticed a shimmy during moderate acceleration from about 30 mph to 55 mph. Let off the gas and the vibration disappears.

Had the tires rebalanced and rotated. checked the tie-rod ends, found the right side was a bit loose and replaced it (the second time). The left tie-rod end is original and tight. Both axle shafts were replaced during a transmission overhaul at about 175K, as the boots were cracked. There is no typical clicking when turning in circles to the left or right. I suspect a faulty cv joint or tulip joint.



Any ideas on the problem before I personally tear into it? Oh, and the struts are original as well.

Was the shimmy there before the mounts went in? Or maybe you couldn’t tell. My first guess would be that all is not properly aligned with the new mounts. You should take it back to the shop that did the mounts and ask them if they can do something with it.

The next thing I’d suspect is one of the inner CV joints. You apparently have about 65K on those “new” ones which are probably remanufactured. In general, the quality of the reman axles is poor (though its often all that is available). I’ve gotten as little as 80 miles out of a reman axle. Many are bad out of the box.

thanks for the note cigroller. Yep- I didn’t notice or was aware of any shimmy prior to the mount change. I do a lot of over-the-road driving, IE Philly area to Daytona Beach. Have an appointment with the GM dealership that changed the mounts to show the mechanic what is going on. And yes, I’m sure the replaced axles were reman ones.
rixriv