1988 Festiva rocking when getting on/off the throttle

[stapler8]

Hey, I've been having this issue with my Festiva for a while now, but it's gotten worse in the last few weeks. When I get on/off the throttle - especially in low gears - the whole car rocks back and forth. Brought it to my mechanic because it was grinding at full lock and he diagnosed worn CV shafts, but doesn't think the rocking was related and suggested I take it to a transmission shop. To me it seemed reasonable that worn CVs could be causing the issue, but I trust him pretty well. I did get both my outer boots and one inner boot redone last year.

Any ideas on what could be the cause would be appreciated. If it isn't the CVs causing the issue I don't want to dump money into it to get those done just to find out my transmission's on its last legs. '88 Festiva L, 4-speed.

[theastronaut]

That sounds like the sway bar bushings- check the ones at the radiator support and the ones at the lower control arms. They've been bad on every Festiva I've owned. The SuperPro brand that The Festiva Store sells will last for decades, the parts store rubber ones don't hold up as well.

[stapler8]

That sounds like the sway bar bushings- check the ones at the radiator support and the ones at the lower control arms. They've been bad on every Festiva I've owned. The SuperPro brand that The Festiva Store sells will last for decades, the parts store rubber ones don't hold up as well.

Thanks for the quick response. Bushings look old to me but I don't see anything catastrophic. Took some pics of them if you don't mind taking a look. Tried shifting the sway bar around by hand, might be a little play in it but it's hard to tell. At any rate the engine's stronger than me.

https://imgur.com/a/VHyJJsz

[Nerddage]

I am having a similar issue, my superpro swaybar bushings just came in. I can swap them tomorrow and see if that helps and let you know. But I have some front end damage that might be the cause of my shimmy/rock. Your drivers side swaybar bushing does not look great, that gap could be contributing to the play. Either way, I will swap mine and let you know.

[Nerddage]

I swapped mine and it is better, but not perfect. And just to clarify, mine only does it when I am launching off the line not when driving conservatively. I used to have to battle to keep it going straight off the line, now it just shimmys a bit but keeps going straight. And compared to my bushings, yours look a whole lot better. I think mine are jacked up because of the front end damage, they only had a couple thousand miles on them and they were in bad shape. I would still replace all the front end bushings if I were you, and go from there. And CVs aren’t too pricey if you are willing to do the work yourself,

[1990new]

That happened to me one time and I finally found out what it was when I accelerated quickly from a stop light and the lower control arm separated from the steering knuckle.
The bolt that locks in the lower control arm ball joint in to the steering knuckle had come out. I had driven it a couple of days like that not knowing what was causing the rocking.

Link to and older thread about this. https://fordfestiva.com/forums/forum...g-decelerating