V8- Vibration in Gear at Idle

[NJshadow93]

This just seemed to start within the past month or two. When my engine is fully warmed up at operating temp, if I'm in gear stopped, like at a stop light, I feel vibration in the steering wheel. If I put it in Neutral or Park, the RPM increases and the vibrations go away. It runs perfectly otherwise, no strange noises. It also seems to be inconsistent and happens about 70% of the time now. RPM seem to be at about 600-650. The air filter is new and the spark plugs were changed last year. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[chaz]

did you switch to an oiled air filter? maybe try cleaning the maf sensor & TB even if not.

 

[NJshadow93]

I ran a K&N filter for a short time (couple months) in this truck last year but have used the stock one after. A few months ago I put an AFE pro dry filter in. I will clean MAF and Throttle Body today and report back.

 

[Troymclure]

Have you checked the motor mounts? I had the a vibration but only in gear, turns out the Toyota dealer forgot to bolt up one side of my motor mounts and it was completely loose.

 

[lehiguy]

You might check the plugs again, they can crack and fail, my wife's 3rd gen had two cracked insulators.

 

[NJshadow93]

Have you checked the motor mounts? I had the a vibration but only in gear, turns out the Toyota dealer forgot to bolt up one side of my motor mounts and it was completely loose.

How do I check them? Any pics for reference? Thanks in advance.

You might check the plugs again, they can crack and fail, my wife's 3rd gen had two cracked insulators.

Yeah that's probably not a bad idea. I'll check them out if the easier things don't resolve it.

 

[Troymclure]

How do I check them? Any pics for reference? Thanks in advance.

You need two people. Pop the hood, and have someone watch the motor. Start the truck, and put it in gear with your foot on the brake. Give it a little gas and watch the engine. My motor jumped up about 6-8in up on the side that was broken. Its a rare thing to have happen, but with no other symptoms, and its not running poorly, its a good thing to check

 

[NJshadow93]

Just thought I should provide an update. Today I cleaned the MAF and Throttle Body. The Throttle Body was very gummed up with carbon and needed a cleaning pretty bad. This seemed to resolve the issue! Ever since I cleaned it, the vibrations have not come back at all, not even a little bit. Hope this helps others.

 

[NJshadow93]

Update again...after a short time the vibration returned. I also noticed it occurred at the same time this annoying rattle would occur coming from underneath. I checked all the heat shields and they were good, so now I thought I had a bad catalytic converter and it was broken up inside and rattling around. I knocked around on the pipes and realized the noise was coming from the other side. I took it to a local shop and thy determined the flange gasket was bad because a bolt had corroded so badly and popped off. So it turned out I had an exhaust leak. They put a new bolt on and tightened it down and it's all good now.