96 Achieva Jerks while in Gear

[soadrocks]

I own a 2 door 96 acheiva with 100K miles. I have had it for a couple years now with little to no trouble. First problem, couldn't shift gears after starting. Problem was fixed relatively cheap ($200), needed new spark plugs.

Now, my car was running smoothly, but all of a sudden, it started to jerk while in gear, like when your car runs out of gas. The car jerks while driving. it can go at 40 MPH, but it jerks. the mechanic thinks its an engine problem. I had it towed to a transmission place nearby since it was the only place open on a saturday.

They reccommend to take it to a place that specializes in engine work. What you think it is?????????? Please help. any sugggestions, greatly appreciated.

thanks.

[computerdude14]

Originally Posted by soadrocks

I own a 2 door 96 acheiva with 100K miles. I have had it for a couple years now with little to no trouble. First problem, couldn't shift gears after starting. Problem was fixed relatively cheap ($200), needed new spark plugs.

Now, my car was running smoothly, but all of a sudden, it started to jerk while in gear, like when your car runs out of gas. The car jerks while driving. it can go at 40 MPH, but it jerks. the mechanic thinks its an engine problem. I had it towed to a transmission place nearby since it was the only place open on a saturday.

They reccommend to take it to a place that specializes in engine work. What you think it is?????????? Please help. any sugggestions, greatly appreciated.

thanks.

well from the way you described it "jerking", id highly doubt that its an engine related problem, especially if it only seems to do it in gear. what i would recommend is that next time your driving when it starts jerking, just put it in neutral, and if you have a tach then see if your rpms jump or surge or something like that. if you dont have a tach, then try to listen to the sound of the engine as soon as you shift it into neutral, and see if it sounds like it revvs higher or if it surges or anything like that. if it simply seems to go down into idle or whatever, then that would indicate about a 99% likelihood that its NOT engine related. im guessing that your car is an automatic? if so, then its very likely that your transmission is on its last legs. if its a manual, then it could be a number of things but still would be likely that the transmission is failing. does it have trouble shifting when its not jerking? let me know.

mike