1998 GA with manual transaxle has some issues

[jakalman2003]

I was hoping you could help me decide what to do about this car. I have a friend who will sell me his 98 GA se with the 2.4 and manual transaxle for about 1000 bucks which I can pay him over time as I fix it so it works. The only problem is that for some reason when you are going 30 or more, usually in third gear the whole car jumps to the right making it very hard to keep on the road. This transaxle, at least I am assuming it is a transaxle, is the second one he put in it. The first one lasted about 100k miles and this one is less than a year old, it was also a salvaged trans. I have looked online for the transaxle and its issues and so far I have found nothing except for a couple people who are also looking for the same transaxle for different reasons. One of them being the syncronizers(sp?) however that usually means you can not put the car in that gear which is unrelated to this problem. I have also read that inner cvs go bad but this guys mechanic insists that its the transaxle. I havent had a chance to drive it yet to experience this for myself but it seems kind of odd that it would have the same problem twice and that no one ever seems to talk about it. I just want to figure out if this car is worth working on. I am now selling my last money pit, a 1999 Dodge Durango, which cost about $5000 so far just this last year to keep it running and I dont want this to turn into the same thing because I cant afford it. Thanks, Jared

[dlwdkh]

Check to make sure one CV axle is damaged. There is a rubber bushing inside them that will get mangled and it could cause symptoms like this when they are mangled and worn out. Also check the motor mount brackets. Make sure they havent been moving about. The upper mount and the lower mount on the passenger side are bad about giving out.

[xeroinfinity]

Welcome to AF Jared.

Sounds like a bad lower trans mount, or its loose.
It is on the pass side down under.
Could also be a busted spring on that side.

My 99 SE was doing simular things when I broke my lower mount last summer.