Cbird

Was on the freeway tonight and had to merge over to let people on from the on ramp. I have it quite a bit of gas to get out of the way but to my horror the car started to shake. What gives?

on the ride home I was messing with it some more. It seems to be relative to throttle position rather than RPMs. If I floor it, it shakes like a leaf. Also worth mentioning that when the shakes occur the shifter handle shakes violently

Sometimes when I floor it (in 5th still) it will be working just fine and then at some point start to shake.

None of the other gears are like this.

5th works just fine for cruising and light acceleration, so pretty much what it was designed for. Just want to make sure it's not the start of a bigger issue that needs to be dealt with right away.

I just "taught" my girlfriend how to drive a manual. Obviously she was less than perfect at it for her first time and I can't help but think that has something to do with this.. I remember explaining to her that if you floor it in 5th you will move really slow so I know it was working at that time.. Man, what a bummer.

Edit: Thought I might also add that sometimes when putting it into gear at a stop (1st or reverse) I can hear and sometimes feel a clunk, well, I hear the clunk and feel a vibration in the pedals.

I sometimes notice a small "stutter" when in other gears. Like lets say I just shifted to 3rd, smooth clutch operation, in gear, then a hic-up. I don't know. Maybe that's important, maybe it's not.

Cbird

upon further review it is actually every gear, not just 5th. If I give it too much gas and "strain" the engine too much it shakes.

It's always accompanied by a squealing and a ticking noise from below the car maybe? Don't know if that means anything.