Oldsmobile/Buick: motor and/or transmission mounts, spark plug wires, cv joints

Question
hello....I have a '86 ciera 2.5 L 4-cyl.
The engine idles and runs great. For some reason
it has a lot of vibration and shakiness at the
engine. When I bought the car, the motor had
recently been out and built. I'm thinking they
may have left some mounts off of the motor and/or
transmission but I don't know where they are supposed to be located.
Can you help?

Answer
Hi Dale,
Well what I'd do is take the car back and have whomever did the install look at the car. Or if you choose not to, at least a shop mechanic that knows where and what to look for to be certain. I would not try and perform this repair on your own. The reason, your car is front wheel drive. The transmission is actually a transaxle, which is bolted to the engine. This is a job that requires specific tools, a lift to get under the car and check, and may or may not require pulling the motor completely out or to some degree including the cv joints. However, there is a possibility that at the time of install they may have goofed on the firing order of the engine. It is quite easy to get a wire crossed. So, check your spark plug wires to make sure they are in correct on the distributor. A crossed wire will cause a motor to vibrate badly. Hope this helps! Good luck......Ray