GS is shaking hard from the engine when I go to stop
Thread Starter
Rookie
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 67
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From: GA
GS is shaking hard from the engine when I go to stop
Hey guys, hoping you guys can help out. My 98 GS300 with 222,000 miles is doing some shaking from the engine when I go to stop. I've also noticed it shaking a little when I'm under 40mph. It kind of feels like a 5-speed when you don't get the clutch in all the way and it jerks and then it just has a consistant shake so I just put my brakes on and rev up the rpm's a little and it's good. The engine light is on (I'm getting it tested tomorrow to see what it is saying it is) it starts to blink sometimes when it shakes real bad. I thought it might be gas so I added some redline gas treatment and a full tank of Chevron Premium w/Techron (OK that was my commercial, cause I normally use QT or Kroger "cheap gas" so I'm still driving that to see if that works. I also put it in Neutral to check and see if it was my transmission (not sure if thats a good acid test) but it still acted up so I'm thinking it's not the transmission. So then I started thinking since it's only doing it in under 40mph conditions, I started thinking maybe it's a spark plug or spark wire. Anyone got any suggestion??? I need some help.
Kinda sounds like when my torque converter went out 
it would shake cause it was locking up... It too was doing it at 40. Doesnt hurt to check your tranny fluid to see if its black. Catch it now before it gets any worse cause when it happened to mine, I lost 4th and 3rd gear within a week even after I changed the fluid and filter. 
and usually when the check engine light starts to blink, that means something is VERY wrong and you should not drive it any more! Once you get it scanned you'll know exactly whats up before anyone will answer here with a bunch of guesses.
it would shake cause it was locking up... It too was doing it at 40. Doesnt hurt to check your tranny fluid to see if its black. Catch it now before it gets any worse cause when it happened to mine, I lost 4th and 3rd gear within a week even after I changed the fluid and filter. and usually when the check engine light starts to blink, that means something is VERY wrong and you should not drive it any more! Once you get it scanned you'll know exactly whats up before anyone will answer here with a bunch of guesses.
sounds like you have a misfire. Most likely you have 1 or multiple bad coils. It is recommended to not drive the vehicle when the CEL is flashing, you could be causing damage. If it is a misfire due to a coil and not an injector or lack of fuel, you are putting raw fuel through the exhaust which could end up destroying your cats.
not really. After I rebuilt the motor on my Mustang my dumbass forgot to plug in the injector on the number 4 cylinder which is at the passenger side back of the head.
Dynoed the car after and it felt weak. I lost HP and torkes and I was like WTF is going on?
I replaced these...
Cylinder heads? Check
Intake Manifold? Check
Throttle Body? Check
Complete exhaust system? Check
OK so why did I lose power?
Figured it out that I forgot to plug it in....after I noticed the engine was shaking...HARD.
Plugged it back in, let the car burn out all of the crap in the combustion chamber and was back in business.
Dynoed the car after and it felt weak. I lost HP and torkes and I was like WTF is going on?
I replaced these...
Cylinder heads? Check
Intake Manifold? Check
Throttle Body? Check
Complete exhaust system? Check
OK so why did I lose power?
Figured it out that I forgot to plug it in....after I noticed the engine was shaking...HARD.
Plugged it back in, let the car burn out all of the crap in the combustion chamber and was back in business.
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not really. After I rebuilt the motor on my Mustang my dumbass forgot to plug in the injector on the number 4 cylinder which is at the passenger side back of the head.
Dynoed the car after and it felt weak. I lost HP and torkes and I was like WTF is going on?
I replaced these...
Cylinder heads? Check
Intake Manifold? Check
Throttle Body? Check
Complete exhaust system? Check
OK so why did I lose power?
Figured it out that I forgot to plug it in....after I noticed the engine was shaking...HARD.
Plugged it back in, let the car burn out all of the crap in the combustion chamber and was back in business.
Dynoed the car after and it felt weak. I lost HP and torkes and I was like WTF is going on?
I replaced these...
Cylinder heads? Check
Intake Manifold? Check
Throttle Body? Check
Complete exhaust system? Check
OK so why did I lose power?
Figured it out that I forgot to plug it in....after I noticed the engine was shaking...HARD.
Plugged it back in, let the car burn out all of the crap in the combustion chamber and was back in business.
that would be a whole other sound a big DUH to me LoL I just woke up leave me alone 
then I wish I had a dead piston when my torque converter went out
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No one on here believes me, but start using some 2 stroke Amsoil Marine oil in your gas. 1 oz to every 5 gallons. That dilutes it down to 500:1. It will clean out any crap in your gas and engine.
I almost guarantee a misfire. More often than not, its going to be a coil or 2. Every once and a while it could be an injector. Also a few times I have seen spark plug tube seals leaking bad enough that they saturate the spark plug and cause a misfire. In that case you would notice blue smoke coming out the back of the exhaust. With basic hand tools you could always pull out the spark plug closest to the radiator, to gauge wether or not you have oil leaking in there.
Thread Starter
Rookie
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 67
Likes: 0
From: GA
Hey I appreciate that. I'm with you. I'm really thinking it's a misfire as well. I'll post the Check Engine light reading later this evening. When we get this fixed, I'd love for someone to help me add it to the DIY Fix list or something. I'm seeing some others with similar problems. I'd like to help out someone else with all the good help you guys have provided me.