1999 Chevy Cavalier CV JOINT PROBLEM?

AMANDA24

MEMBER
1999 CHEVROLET CAVALIER
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
95,000 MILES

Hello,
My name is Amanda. A couple days ago I was on my way to school. As soon as I got off of the freeway, I had to come to a light. As I started to break, the car started wobbling/shaking and when I stopped it felt as if the car was going to die. My father and I had just replaced the battery a couple weeks ago so I knew it wasnt the battery. When I began to give the car gas, it kinda of did a kick. It felt as if someone had hit my car from behind and then it went forward. I drove a couple more miles to the school and everything seemed to be fine so I thought maybe it was the anti lock breaks that made the car shake as I was breaking. But as soon as I made a right turn into the school parking lot it began shaking again and making a loud grinding noise. So I pulled into a parking space and left the car. My dad and I went back and towed the car home. The car starts fine and switches gears but it wont move more than 6 inches either direction and wont move when we push it in neutral. My dad seems to think that it is a cv joint problem? Is this one of the options of what the problem might be?

1 Reply

MERLIN2021

MECHANIC
17,250 POSTS

If it's wobbling its more likley to be a hub bearing that needs to be replaced. Jack the car, shake the tire side to side and up and down, any movement means a problem. Remove the tire, the axle nut the caliper the rotor, three bolts from the front side, removed through the hole in the hub flange, pull old hub, replace the part, it's all one piece. While it's up, check the boot on your CV joint, if it's split open change that too. You should have heard clicking going around corners if the CV was bad.