Yet another vibration mystery...

[Robiscus]

...wrapped in a riddle, inside of an enigma.

I have a 98 SR5 that I bought off of my brother in law. It only had 116,000 miles on it and I was in love. It had a slight vibration in the steering wheel and to a lesser extent, through the rest of the truck. The tires he had on it were oversized and complete crap, so I snagged it off of him for a good price ready to deal with the wheels/tire/balance issues that I was quite certain were the problem.

Fast Forward: The tires are new, the wheels have been balanced and speed balanced on and off of the car, but the vibration persists.

Here is the wrinkle-
This car drives like a dream when the engine is COLD, but after 15-20 minutes of driving(about 25 miles), it starts shaking. I've known my mechanic for years and he's seen everything, but we're pretty perplexed at this. The latest development is that he put it up on the rack and watched the bottom when the engine was warm and the gas was stepped on. He said the transmission was actually lifting up when the engine revved.

He's going to look into the transmission mounts and see if they went bad, but I think we're going into strange territory here. Have you ever heard of anything like this? Could a transmission shake around so much that you feel it through the whole car?


The transmission isn't perfect in that I have felt a little bit of slipping here and there, but I had it serviced, it leaks no fluid at all, and doesn't make any strange sounds. Are transmission susceptible to shaking like this?


*been lurking for a while and I answered a lot of early questions I had about 4Runner vibrations through the search function. It was immensely helpful, so thank you all.

 

[LINY4Runner]

It's absolutely a possibility.

What you need to do first is isolate the vibration.

If it is indeed the transmission mount, you would only feel it under acceleration. That means coasting wouldn't make the truck shake. If this is the case, I would have weeded out the tire balance a long time ago.

Try and isolate the vibration, under what specific conditions do you get this vibration.

 

[410toy]

check drive shaft. might be out of balance.....? while you are down there lube everything and see if it goes away. you are sure its not the tires?

 

[Robiscus]

I think I'm still feeling vibration when I am coasting.
*Its an automatic transmission btw

Honestly I am about at the end of my rope when it comes to the wheels. I've reached a point where I feel like I have to buy new wheels simply on a hunch and thats a huge chunk of change for a hunch. I had my wheels looked at by one tire place, then I went to another tire place and had them balanced off of the car. Now I'm faced with the prospect of searching out a place with the perfect machinery to do it right(a Haweka balancer?), but my mechanic(mechanic #1) told me that that is just for cars going over 100 mph on a track.

My other mechanic (mechanic #2) told me that my drive shaft runs "as smooth as glass" and it isn't in the pumpkin or the axle. He said "30 years of experience here", a vibration like this is always in the wheels.

So I went to a tire place and got new BFGs and had the alignment fixed.


But the distinguishing issue is this - the car runs perfect when the engine is cold. Only after a while driving does it "shake like its doing the watusi"(mechanic #1's words). The tires are perfect, and the alignment is perfect, and the wheels are balanced, so how can the car change into vibrating mode after driving perfectly? Are the tires swelling up and then exagerating imperfections in the wheels?

That sounds a little funny doesn't it?

Could it be the timing belt?

 

[raydouble]

You should ask him if he has a lug centric adapter for his tire balance machine.

 

[LINY4Runner]

You should ask him if he has a lug centric adapter for his tire balance machine.

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:
I can't believe I didn't think of that...

 

[TRD4runner97]

Same issue here.... WHAT A PAIN!!!

I have the same issue....116K miles on a 97 4Runner LTD 4x4.... Drives perfect for the first 5-10 miles..... after that, as soon as I get to 55+ mph, the vibration starts to come... I can feel it in the whole truck,not as bad on acceleration though, but when I hit the brakes, it gets REALLY BAD!!!! Violent shaking throughout the whole truck. If I stop for about a minute or two, it goes away. But once I drive for a few minutes and get up to speed again (over 55 mph), it will come back....

I have changed front and rear differential fluids, transfer case fluid, lubed all driveshafts, new rotors and brakes (Tundra brake upgrade).

NOTE: My front differential was very low on fluid.

All of this happened after an accident.... Just trying to sort it out...

ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS?

I an beating my head against the wall at this point....:ybrick:

 

[JeremyH]

Yes, you can absulutely have a bad tranny mount. I've replaced them before on other vehicles...

 

[JeremyH]

as soon as I get to 55+ mph, the vibration starts to come...

Your problem sounds like a driveline vibration. This can be anything from a bad driveshaft u-joint to the driveshaft simply being out of balance.

 

[Robiscus]

Thanks to everyone for their input.

Its a lightening of the load on my mind to see someone else with the same problem as well.

I'm going to hear back from my mechanic today and I'll contribute the prognosis.

 

[twitchee2]

maybe you dont feel it when its cold becuase the motor revv's up high while cold. however unlikely, it is possible your rotors are so warped they are themselves out of balance. you said it gets really bad when you brake. seems like you have done almost everything else, so it is an option and maybe something to think about.

 

[Robiscus]

^I put new rotors and brakes on in the back when I got it.


Here is the update:

I called my mechanic tonight, and he didn't work on it today because he has a friend with a 3rd gen 4runner who wants to come in and have it serviced. When his buddy drops his car off, he is going to swap out the wheels on my 4runner with the other guy's wheels and see what happens. We want to rule out the wheels

BUT today he took it on a drive to get some parts and had it running for a while to warm it up, then he took it on the highway and brought it up to 65mph. Its raining today in Los Angeles. The big surprise was that there was NO vibration on a wet road. He was amazed.

So we're back focusing on the wheels again. My hunch is this: my jackass brother in law(who i got the car from) put an odd wheel on the car from a junk yard or somewhere and the set doesn't match up.

Regardless, we'll see tomorrow.

*I'll keep updating this thread because vibration is such a recurring problem for so many 4Runner owners and these forums are a great resource.

 

[aberry1401]

2001 SR5 NON-4X4 Same Problem

I have a 2001 SR5 (94K miles) that I have been the only owner of, never in an accident so far (knock on wood). She has been mostly great.

About a year ago, my boyfriend was driving & stopped too far into an intersection. He's used to driving a sporty car, so he floored it in reverse to get back out of the intersection. Right after that, my 4Runner started bumping & kicking a bit (which had never happened before, ever), then died in the middle of the intersection after we got moving again when the light turned.

Long story short, it was something to do with the part that controls the oxygen ratio for the engine. They replaced it at the dealership & everything has been fine ever since, until about 10 days ago. Suddenly, I'm getting this trembling/tremor through the car on acceleration. I've also noticed that it is less or absent when the engine is cold, and sometimes seems to require tat I break 60 mph or more before it kicks in. It also seems to disappear when coasting.

I'm not a car junkie, so I took care only of the most basic things first: oil & filter change (it was overdue) & tire rotation & balance. Neither seems to have made any difference.

I'm taking it in for its state inspection tomorrow, so it'll be interesting to see if anything shows up when they hook it up to their computer.

Other than that, if anyone figures this thing out, I would love to know what the heck is going on.

Also, it would be good to know if continuing to drive it like this is causing any damage &/or is dangerous.

 

[Robiscus]

Update:
The vibration has been rectified.

My mechanic called me sunday morning and said "I figured it out. Come by tomorrow morning and I will fix your car in fifteen minutes." To say I was skeptical is putting it lightly. He did it. He said it came to him at 4am and so far the vibration has been diminishing more and more every time i drive the car.

The no-slip differential didn't have any lubricant added to it!

For whatever reason, the stuff just wasn't in there and the friction caused the whole car to shake - shake like the wheels were screwed up. He said he remembered a Bronco from 15 years ago that had the same problem and they tried to chase the problem down a million different ways before figuring it out. Ford even boned up for $1500 of repairs before the problem was uncovered.

 

[raydouble]

Update:
The vibration has been rectified.

My mechanic called me sunday morning and said "I figured it out. Come by tomorrow morning and I will fix your car in fifteen minutes." To say I was skeptical is putting it lightly. He did it. He said it came to him at 4am and so far the vibration has been diminishing more and more every time i drive the car.

The no-slip differential didn't have any lubricant added to it!

For whatever reason, the stuff just wasn't in there and the friction caused the whole car to shake - shake like the wheels were screwed up. He said he remembered a Bronco from 15 years ago that had the same problem and they tried to chase the problem down a million different ways before figuring it out. Ford even boned up for $1500 of repairs before the problem was uncovered.

How the hell did he know that, unless he is the one who didn't fill it?

The front diff was completely empty? Is that what you are saying?

 

[Robiscus]

It was the rear differential, and it wasn't empty. It needed lubricant additive. We had been through everything and he figured it out that that must be the problem. So far, he seems to be right. The vibration is a slight, fading flutter now thats slowly disapearing.

He certainly wasn't the guy who didn't put it in. The car was vibrating when I bought it. I was certain that the wheels needed to be balanced and the tires needed to be changed(as were two different mechanics initially). Which was okay with me because the kook i bought it from had cheap ass oversized tires on it and i planned to switch all of that out, but the vibration persisted.

 

[JD gadban]

Engine vibration on 99 4 runner

My whole car vibrate when it is on drive and or on reverse while stopped when on park . while I am driving no problem, one mechanic said the motor mount look good, I guess Drive and reverse means when it engages the transmission could it be the transmission mount, I appreciate any advice.

 

[MrBobDobalina]

It was the rear differential, and it wasn't empty. It needed lubricant additive. We had been through everything and he figured it out that that must be the problem. So far, he seems to be right. The vibration is a slight, fading flutter now thats slowly disapearing.

He certainly wasn't the guy who didn't put it in. The car was vibrating when I bought it. I was certain that the wheels needed to be balanced and the tires needed to be changed(as were two different mechanics initially). Which was okay with me because the kook i bought it from had cheap ass oversized tires on it and i planned to switch all of that out, but the vibration persisted.

What was the additive? I know there is V/LSD rear ends that need a special modifier to help with the chatter in the clutch plates...But again those are Limited Slip/Viscous Style rear ends. What diff do you have? I am just curious, maybe there is an additive I am supposed to be using....

 

[Jared Pabis]

My '99 has the same vibration issues. I always thought it was the wheels/tires, but then I had new wheels/tires installed and the problem persisted. A few people said it could be steering rack bushings, but I am eager to try this solution.

Can you offer any insight to the lube/additive? Do I have to take off the diff cover ?

 

[1985taylor1925]

Suddenly, I'm getting this trembling/tremor through the car on acceleration. I've also noticed that it is less or absent when the engine is cold, and sometimes seems to require tat I break 60 mph or more before it kicks in. It also seems to disappear when coasting.

This sounds exactly like what mine was doing some time ago. It was an injector. However if that is the issue your check engine light should be on. And they will find it when they run the diagnostic.