I bought my 98 Accord LX, automatic, about a month ago, and about four times since then, I've pulled up to a stop light, or came to a stop, and the engine will start shaking really violently. It almost feels like its a manual and its about to die, its hard to explain. Its been happening more and more often. It has 124k miles on it, so I got the timing belt, water pump, and spark plugs replaced, but it still acts up randomly. Like I said, it doesn't happen all the time, but Id like to know if anyone knows whats wrong with it so I can get it fixed ):

 

sounds like misfires, or bad timeing, check ur distributor replace the plug wires(people tend to over look the wires)

 

When it starts shaking/shuddering, what are the RPMs at?

Also, a broken engine mount can cause horrible shaking too.

 

when mine broke, before i knew, i would slam the glass becasue the on ramp to the highway was really messed up and you had about 10 feet to merge and i would feel a very loud thunk

 

whenever it happens, I keep a close eye on the temperature gauge/RPM's, and neither goes up, it just shakes a lot. Would a broken engine mount cause constant shaking though, or intermittent like I described? :0

 

that kinda sounds like it, because it happens after I brake. Although the other day I was at my friends house and we had just installed my spark plugs, so I revved my engine to see if they were working and it started shaking...

 

open ur hood, push the throatle cable, the engine should have no more then 2-3 inchs of movment, when my mounts where broken it was like 5-6 inchs or movment

 

theres not too much moving normally, but Ill go check it out and report back later, thanks (:

 

Broken engine mounts are typically noted by the car wanting to peal out every time you move from a dead stop ..... but then again, I blew all 5.

 

A 1998 automatic 4-cyl has a vacuum-operated rear engine mount. Its controlled to get very soft at idle in P or R. Any other time it goes back to its normal stiffer state.

Test it...
Crawl around & look for the rear mount, buried down between the engine & firewall. Make sure the vacuum hose is connected to it. Find the solenoid valve on the vacuum hose, & unplug the wiring connector.

Warm up the car, have someone put it in DRIVE & stand on the brake. You go up & unplug that wiring plug, or plug it back in. It should make a tremendous difference in the shaking you feel inside the car. If theres no difference, you have narrowed it down to that mount. Now you have to figure out whether its a busted solenoid valve, bad wiring in the car (for that circuit), or maybe the mount itself is bad.