Dodge Shadow Pulls When Decelerating.

They need to check the axles. It may be that the engine needs to be realigned in the engine bay. What is possibly happening is that the engine is twisted in the engine bay The engine/transmission mounts have slotted holes for this. This should show up on a 4 wheel alignment bench or if they measure the distance from the front wheels to the back wheels. Both wheels need to be the same distance from each other.

Sounds like the alignment place they used didn't know what they were doing.

Ted

This is true. It is always a good idea to perform a four-wheel alignment on a regular basis. If just the front is aligned, it will miss these other types of problems.

-Kirk Matheson

That was a good first step. If the car wasn't dancing this particular jig before the axles were replaced, it's a fairly safe bet that either the axles themselves or something related, disturbed during the axle swap, are causing the problem.

Erm...why did he do that instead of checking his work and the parts he installed?

Right...that makes sense. If the car had needed ball joints and suchlike, shouldn't he have noticed and said so before beginning the axle job?

H'm. "Certified"?

Ye gods. Sounds more like a repair shop with 5 certified shotgun parts-changers and 0 diagnosticians, certified or otherwise. It's

*possible* all those parts needed changing, if the car has been used hard and neglected for the last 12 years, but here again, if the front end was such a decrepit mess, why didn't the first tech bring it to your attention?

Again...? OK, well, it can be difficult to find _good_ "remanufactured" CV axle assemblies, but for that reason, this is a step I might have expected to see out of your first tech when you brought the car back.

It sounds to me as if the engine might not have been centred on its mounts properly after the axles (and then the mounts themselves) were replaced. This is a critical setting on these cars. Adjustment involves loosening the engine mounts and moving the engine-transaxle assembly leftward or rightward until a particular measurement is obtained down at the left and right axles. Guessing isn't good enough. If the engine is all the way over to the right or to the left, the backlash when you lift off the gas can bind up the axle and give a push in one direction or the other. Doesn't help if your steering rack is loose on its mountings, but generally that kind of looseness is accompanied by a great deal of noise over rough roads.

That one's almost as good as "It's the *computer*!".

DS

Well folks. As a last resort, the mechanic finally replaced the engine mounts again and realigned the motor. Voila! No more pulling. Total cost since I originally took it to the first repair shop: $983! Not bad just have have the axles replaced, don't you think? Are there ANY descent repair shops left out there??? Thanks for all your help guys. I appreciate it.

Tubbsy

OK, wait a sec. This is now, counting the originals, the *third* set of engine mounts. What was wrong with the first replacements?

I suspect all that was needed was the re-centering ("realignment") of the engine on its mounts.

Ye gods. Ya got soaked, spun and hung out to dry.

There are, but you sure didn't find 'em on this adventure!

So, did you have to tell this so-called mechanic that a bunch of non-mechanics recommended aligning the engine, or did he figure that out for himself?

If you had to tell him, what did he say when it worked?

Ted