i am just looking for a little help with my brothers car , its a 1987 toyota celica st and its a 5 speed. now i know that this is for hondas and acuras but bear with me its not my car and this is sort of a generic question.

the problem is upon acceleration the car jerks back and forth op to about 40 miles an hour. if you hold the clutch in just the right spot the car doesnt jerk, but that isnt too healthy to ride the clutch all the time. can anyone help?

 

i think i've found the problem... it's 20 years old.



i have to stop with these comments.



have him test the compression on all the cylinders and check the spark plugs while he's at it.

 

Spark plugs, fuel filter

 

Could be alot of things...
Could even be a loose ground issue like me...
Any more info? Does the tach jump around?
Don't know what u mean by holding the clutch just right so it doesn't hesitate? Can you elaborate on this?

 

i mean that if you hold the clutch in just the right position the car runs smooth. too much and its in neutral , too little and it jerks back and forth like shaken baby syndrome.

i'll have him check all of the things suggested

 

Ok,
It definitely sounds like the clutch...
I would have to lean away from the other things, because it sounds like the clutch is not engaging correctly...
Check the clutch linkage... I'm assuming it's cable operated and not hydaulic. It could be the cables are old?
Keep us updated!
Later

 

clutch, fuel filter, throttle cable, bad internals, bleeding of the clutch, vaccuum leak dude I dont mean to be an ass or anything but wow you name it and it could cause that. but goodluck

 

Come on man, at least try and help him figure out the problem...
Obviously it could be alot of things, but if you read what he posted above, (when I asked him to elaborate) he said it only runs smoothly when the clutch pedal is at a certain point in it's travel. This leads me to believe that it has something to do with the engagement of the clutch, not anything to do with the fuel system, throttle cable, or bad internals...

As for your comments about the bleeding of the clutch, or a vacuum leak, I do agree with you these could cause the problem, as they are involved in physically moving the clutch, so he should definitely check it out, good point.

Any updates for this thread, Sharpe?

 

how "jerky" is the accel? if the car's pulsing is more like huge and violent shuddering, it could even be a misaligned front end; plausible for a 1987.

 

nothing new to report yet, i dont get out there much. as for the jerkieness it is pretty severe, like if someone was shaking you back and forth violently