'02 Jetta 1.8T front end shake

[ghanesha]

got this car used about 2 months ago, still covered under my 3k/3month warranty but the dealership mechanics have no experience with Volkswagen and the general manager is giving me such a hard time getting them to outsource it to a real VW shop. the car has had a slight shake, typical of an alignment problem, from about 40-55mph... one night about a month after purchase i took it out for a 2 hour drive and now this is the biggest (almost scary) problem i have : front end seems to shake on acceleration ONLY, if i let off the gas it is smooth as could be, if i'm accelerating pretty fast the shake is barely noticeable, once i hit my desired speed though in order to maintain lets say 55 or 65mph i just gas it enough and that's enough acceleration for the engine to shake like mad. this is more and more noticeable when i hit bumps on the road or when i take a high speed curve while holding on the gas. seems like when the suspension is compressing the shake travels through the entire car. the dealership said they replaced a boot (i'm assuming CV related) on the right front, it seemed to calm the shake for about a day, but now it's really heavy on the left side... do you think that could be the problem with left side? those guys are just pulling trial and error on that car. another thing i hooked up my ODB2 connector to it with my laptop and the error code said engine timing was off, i did clear the code a couple times just incase and it has come back, i have never had a car shake like that when the timing is off but could this be related ? any help that could potentially save me a couple grand would be very appreciated, thanks.

[demaleon]

Hi
I drive a 2000 vw jetta 1.8 turbo auto, I have the same problem
what the hell it is?
thanks
[email protected]

[esmith17]

Lift the car with a jack. you can do this on side at a time. after lifting car shake the wheel from right to left if you feel play you may have a problem with your steering linkage such as your outer or inner tierod. The shake the wheel up and down if you have play this way you may have a worn out ball joint.

[danomac4357]

I have a 1999 Jetta GL 2.0. The car was lowered before I owned it. Both CVs were blown out. Installed New CV joints left and right side. Installed factory springs and new struts. Removed low profile wheels and ties, put factory wheels and tires back on. Car wobbles in the front. Goes away when shifting into neutral. Wobble comes and goes, sometimes more severe, sometimes almost unnoticeable.

The tranny slips a little sometimes when accelerating from a stop, and there is an approx 2 second delay in engagement when shifting to reverse.

I am wondering if the wobble could be related to the tranny or not. I also wonder if one or the other CV joints may be bad out of the box.

[inafogg]

look at dates of threads......... best to start new 1