1996 Chrysler Concorde Shaking

[bobbyg123]

Hey all,

My Concorde shakes at about 20 to 30 mph and then stops at higher speeds. I have a 3.5L motor with avbout 160K miles on it. It might be shaking when the transmission is shifting but I really can't tell. Also there is a popping sound coming from the front end when breaking or when first accelerating. Any Ideas? Thanks in advance!

[theFREAKnasty82]

you may have worn tires or an out-of-round rim. The popping sound could be a worn control arm bushing or sway bar bushing.

[felix888]

Originally Posted by bobbyg123

Hey all,

My Concorde shakes at about 20 to 30 mph and then stops at higher speeds. I have a 3.5L motor with avbout 160K miles on it. It might be shaking when the transmission is shifting but I really can't tell. Also there is a popping sound coming from the front end when breaking or when first accelerating. Any Ideas? Thanks in advance!

I had the exact same problem with my 99 concorde, had the wheels balanced three times and it kept reoccuring. Turns out it was a busted tie rod. My father in law was able to replace in about two hours and the replacement part was $60.00. Chrysler was going to charge $350.00! to fix it. It was about moderate in difficulty.

[Bizzy102]

Tie Rods On Lhs, Concords And Intrepeids Are Juck, They All Go With Some Of The Smae Symptoms.

[bayoucajun101]

If you hadn't got it figured out yet, I had exactly the same problems with my 96. The knock during take off and stop is a broken transmission mount (bad rubber); easily replaced. The shaking during acceleration (through the steering wheel); bad transmission fluid & filter. Replace both. Remember Dodge & chryslers only tale ATF +3 or +4. If somone added the wrong fluid in the past there's your problem.

[Ryuichi]

Could too much transmission fluid cause the same problem? I just got my mom's car for Christmas, and it shakes while accellerating. I don't know too much about cars yet, so I'm not sure where the drain plug for the transmission fluid is.

Also, the cruise control randomly turns itself off. The computer has recently been rebuilt, and that fixed many problems with it.

[rchene]

Did you find the solution to the shaking problem?

[rchene]

Symptom: Front shakes very badly during acceleration, especially bad at 45 - 70 mph. it was worse with light acceleration, not too bad bad if you floor it through these speeds.

I finally fixed the problem! I had taken it to the dealer for diagnosis and the wrote it up for everything under the sun EXCEPT the CV axle. I questioned that since I thought the RH inner seemed too loose. They assured me that was normal for these cars. I've been replacing parts gradually for the last 1 1/2 years since and been unable to find the solution. Finally compared my CV to another Concorde that didn't have the shakes. CV was much tighter. I replaced the CV axle today ($60 @ AZ) and the shake is gone.

The needle bearings had come out of one of the 3 slider rings in the inner joint allowing the axle to come off-center.

[JMulhollan]

I have a 96 concorde as well and it shakes too, but it does not shake during acceleration only when it is idling. I am not car savvy at all so I'm not sure what it could be. I have a friend who knows a lot about cars and mentioned to me what it could be but I cannot remember what it could be.

Also, my car always seems to drift to either the left or the right when the steering real is straight. I've had the car aligned 3 times in the past year and every time it gets aligned and the tires rotated it seems to drift in the opposite direction. I had a tie rod replaced not too long ago too.

Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

[AWP9521]

The engine shaking at idle problem (especially on the 3.5 engine) is caused by a leaky intake manifold gasket. Should you attempt to fix it yourself, get a haynes or chilton's manual for the car and read through the procedure a few times before doing the task, should take you a few hours to do the fix yourself.

I seem to have the same problems with the car drifting, I'm thinking that the tire diameters on the car are so far off that it is causing the drift, and yes rotating them does make the drift change direction, also I have found running one tire a little soft and the other at a higher pressure tends to cure the problem somewhat (still drifts but not near as bad) which leads me to believe i have a tire problem. I'm getting a new set of tires next week and feel that it will cure the problem, will post if it does.

Regarding the Tie Rod Ends, well the outer ends indeed will wear out in time as they are not greasable, replacement units are so their life can be extended. The inners admittedly are not that great, they are merely a rubber bushing that will deteriorate in time and cause sloppiness in the steering system. Replace those bushings with bushings made by "MOOG", these replacements are made of polyurethane and are blue in color, the steering will be much tighter, more responsive, and will wear much longer than the factory units. If you do it yourself, keep in mind there are washers between the bushings and the steering rack, do not loose them when removing the rod ends, the bushing kit does not provide a replacement washer, only the bushings and the bolt locking plate, and make sure those bolts are tight, they work loose and you can have some bad problems.