Help me diagnose this please

[kibon]

Hi guys, as you can see this is my first time here..but i need you GA guys expertise please.

My mom's grand am is having some problems, and i can't quite figure it out....then again I haven't started replacing parts yet, b/c i wanted to get some direction first.

anyways...i did some searching and from what i've found it almost sounds like the CV joint is th culprit...but i never found anyone with the same problem as mine...so here goes...

When accellerating hard from a stop there is a heavy shudder (almost feels like the wheels are bouncing) that feels like its coming from the drive shaft and/or tranny. it only does it under very hard accel, and will do it while turning under med-hard accel..both left and right I THINK, i cant quite remember if it did it while turning left, but i know it does it turning right.

There is also some heavy duty clanking and clunking going on when turning hard at slow speeds.

i think it could be the struts/springs/boots to start with, and from what i read it could be the CV joint as well.

i'm not a pontiac guy, i do a lot of work on my saturn though..so im very knowledgeable with overall mechanics, just not the GA's...so please gimme as much detail as you can.

Thanks guys.

[levey]

After you have checked the above items...check the motor mounts/tranny mounts. Also....Stay tuned. I'm no expert. But there are a few members that are.
Thanks....Levey.

[SE2000]

Tell your mom to stop the leadfooting!!

A CV joint would likely only be a problem turning the opposite way, if you hear it turning left, then it would be the right one.

[kibon]

hah, ya she doesn't lead foot..its just that i noticed that it also does that when i tested it out trying to track it down.

it turns out it does jump the same turning both left and right. i did check the motor mount and it appears to be failing... lots of play in the rubber.

is there only 1 motor mount on the left side? (looking at the engine from the front)