I need help with my car

Hello there everyone, my engine been shaking since the beginning of Summer. For example, everything I go to a complete stop I feel the shaking like my car exists. When I put my car in neutral it does not shake badly. When I drive it shake smooth ride. I also notice today my antifreeze is leaking and I check and the only thing its had is water and looks of junk in it/ The junk is not getting in the Reservoir thing and it only in the wear you put 50/50 in. Someone told me one of my mounts is going bad' because of the shaking. But the other night I notice in the bottom of my engine it looks like steam comes out like a train. The other day when I try going uphill, and my engine shuts off and when I put the car in park, started to creak again with no problem. I have been checking my are and it has not been overheating like crazy I really need your help, I been trying to figure out what's wrong. Please, and thank you for the help.

Rachel,
Sounds like you have a series of issues going on.
It does sound like you could have a bad motor mount.
You mention "junk" in your cooling system, that could mean you have a bad intake manifold gasket causing oil & water to mix.
You also have a leak in the cooling system, with the leak you describe it is surprising that you are not overheating. It is very difficult for someone to diagnose all the problems without seeing the car. You really should get to a shop & have them identify what is at fault for all the symptoms.
Good luck!
Jbird

Yesterday, I check for the leaking if it came back and it was not there. I drove my car and it was not overheating and still drove normal. I do believe the mounts are bad, and how many mounts does my 97 Riviera have and how much will it cost to get it fixed.

Do you have the supercharged engine?

washu45 wrote:

Yesterday, I check for the leaking if it came back and it was not there. I drove my car and it was not overheating and still drove normal. I do believe the mounts are bad, and how many mounts does my 97 Riviera have and how much will it cost to get it fixed.

Will you do the work yourself? IF so then you should get a factory service manual (check eBay, search for "service manual 1997 Buick Riviera" but don't get the CD, get the General Motors books, for instance this: 1997 Riviera manuals on eBay) and a good source for parts, even if you're just checking prices and stuff, is rockauto.com - they have a lot of parts pictured on their site.

If you are not doing the work yourself, you might want a manual set so that you can read about the maintenance and repairs - you'll become able to describe problems well and to some extent to determine when people are bluffing.

no it's not a supercharge.

albertj wrote:

Will you do the work yourself?  

Since her namesake can fix spaceship motors she ought to.



It's no problem for the greatest scientific genius in the universe!

washu45 - The non-supercharged engines have a plastic intake manifold which is prone to warping.  It's possible this is the source of your coolant leak problem.

RockAuto.com is a good resource for pricing parts.  A mechanic will generally charge more for the parts if they have to find and order them, and sometimes mechanics won't install parts if you order them.  But some will.  

How many miles does your car have on it?  Is it otherwise in good shape?  Do you want to keep it?  

If you pay for someone to replace the intake manifold and the motor mounts it could potentially go over a grand.  It's going to be tough to estimate without knowing what you need in parts, or what the rate is for your mechanic.  If you look on Rock Auto though, the AC Delco lower manifold is $402.00.  Will the cheaper option do?  Personally I don't know, but someone here will.  If you also need the upper manifold, it's in the $70 range.  The manifold gaskets run anywhere from $16 to $90, depending on what you need.  These are probably the best prices you'll find.

Rock Auto doesn't have the motor mounts.  I don't know if they're even available anymore, but someone here might know a source.

If you have a garage, tools, and mechanical aptitude; you can do this yourself. However I wouldn't recommend it if you're not a mechanically oriented kind of person.