i purchased a 2008 dodge caliber last year, currently it has 115k miles on it. i had my recommened 100k maintenance done at my local tire kingdom, everything was done except for the transmission maintenance which has to be done at the dealership. That was 15k miles ago and now i am having recurrent jerking while i am driving and i notice it is mostly when the car is shifting gears, it was 300$ at tire kingdom and I am afraid that it will be more at the dealership. I have a few mechanic friends but I would like to go to them with more information if anyone has any.

I recently had a cracked alternator and serp belt replaced because it snapped while i was driving. Anything i can do at home to help combat these issues until i can get all my money together or am i breaking my car down driving it like this?

 

Welcome to the forum.
Is your transmission a manual or the CVT2 automatic?
There should be no jerking from the CVT2 trans since it never shifts gears, it just changes the pulley spacing and should be smooth at all times.

 

it is automatic, i am not sure what cvt means.... one day i was idling for a moment at a light and the car shut off on me! my boyfriend said something is wrong with the timing belt but i am not sure if he knows what he is talking about. since it is automatic what could the jerking be from?

 

It doesn't have a timing belt in the engine, it uses a chain There is a metal belt in the transmission. The jerking could be from a bad spark plug or coil. How many miles are on the spark plugs? They should be changed every 30,000 miles.