94 camry v6 le vibration

[bronzemaxell]

my vehicle is 94 camry v6, 170k miles,
recently experience vibration, and i highly suspect it is the front wheel bearing, don't know if it is driver side or passenger side

here is my symptom

driving on local street, at around 10 to 25 mph, if i let go of the gas pedal, or accelerate lightly, sometime i hear thud sound

while turning, particular left turn, i hear thud thud sound, it sound similar like bad cv axle clicking, but both front cv axles were replaced 8k miles/ 1.5 years ago, along with 4 new struts, strut mount, strut insulators, sway bar end links.

i've been hearing low thud thud sound when driving on local street for a few years, especially on a cement median divider, that can echo the thud thud noise, it is almost like one thud per tire cycle, and the thud noise more frequent (faster) as i speed up.

and more recently, while i accelerate or decelerate going straight, the whole car (including the steering wheel) shake left and right, feel like drifting, more pronounce at 35 to 40mph, and if i give a little gas, it is less noticeable shaking. and less pronounce below 30mph, or 50 to 60mph.

the vibration is not the really from a warp rotor, because i experienced vibration while acceleration and cruising as well.

any idea what cause this vibration?

[Mister_Perkins]

Sounds like your motor mount (s) are going bad or your differential bearings in your transmission are going bad

[Chris Crash]

Sounds like a bent rim.

[bronzemaxell]

oh, i forgot to mention
while at cruising speed, about 30 to 40mph, and the car is shaking, i shift the level from D to N, the car still shakes

i've been the only one driving the vehicle lately, and didn't recall hitting any pothole or curb, and last week, it was all fine, and today, it was just start shaking.

in the past, when i experience this problem 6 month ago, i jacked up my car to see what is going on, can't find anything loose, lowered it down, and shaking problem disappeared for a while, then would come back, i would imagine a bent rim will also give shaking problem.

[Mister_Perkins]

yeah a bent rim could account for vibrations as well.

It sounds like it could be a combination of a couple things.

Try rotating your front tires to the rear and see if it helps first

[bronzemaxell]

here is some update

i jacked up the front of the vehicle, and put jack stand on both side, then start the engine and put in drive, found the knocking noise from inner cv joint by the intermediate shaft.
the knocking/clicking noise from passenger side axle in the frequency of 1 tire cycle per click, which has been recently replaced due to torn outside cv boot.

no abnormal sign of noise or vibration from driver side axle.
both wheel bearing seem ok, brake calipers seem ok

what are the chance the differential or tranny cause this noise?
or bad passenger side axle.

[Chris Crash]

Aftermarket axle or OEM?

[bronzemaxell]

it was replaced with new aftermarket axle at the shop.
the v6 has 6 hex bolts at the inner joint, and the grease leaked out 6 months after the new axle was put in because those hex bolts were loose, that was when the vibration started
i took it back to the shop and they re-greased and thread-locked the hex bolts on both axles. and no vibration until last week again.

[Chris Crash]

Yeahhhh it's probably the axle. Aftermarket ones tend to be crappy.

[Mister_Perkins]

Originally Posted by bronzemaxell

here is some update

i jacked up the front of the vehicle, and put jack stand on both side, then start the engine and put in drive, found the knocking noise from inner cv joint by the intermediate shaft.
the knocking/clicking noise from passenger side axle in the frequency of 1 tire cycle per click, which has been recently replaced due to torn outside cv boot.

no abnormal sign of noise or vibration from driver side axle.
both wheel bearing seem ok, brake calipers seem ok

what are the chance the differential or tranny cause this noise?
or bad passenger side axle.

What you need to do is jack your car up in the front (Jack stands in place), remove the tires and slide under the car.

Once under the car, grab the axle by the inner Spline Section (Metal not the boot, closest to the transmission) Push up and pull down on the axle. Keep note of how much play you see. A Bad Differential bearing will have excessive play

Your differential has bearings on the outside of it where your axles slide in. They do go bad as they are a wear part

[bronzemaxell]

Mr. Perkins

do you have any more detail on how to replace the differential bearing if that is indeed the problem?
i am just hoping a simple half cv axle can fix my problem.
will remove half axle this coming weekend to if knocking/clicking noise still there without the half axle

[Mister_Perkins]

Originally Posted by bronzemaxell

Mr. Perkins

do you have any more detail on how to replace the differential bearing if that is indeed the problem?
i am just hoping a simple half cv axle can fix my problem.
will remove half axle this coming weekend to if knocking/clicking noise still there without the half axle

I haven't personally replaced the bearings on my toyota differential before, so I can't really help you there. That picture is from my 96 accord differential.

When I changed the differential bearings on my accord, I pulled the outer case off the transmission , pulled the 1st - 5th / reverse shift forks and gear shafts , then the differential was right at the bottom of the case.

Toyota transmission may be a different design, and since its an automatic it will be completely different too because it has clutch packs, and stuff..

I will try to find some information to help you out though on the differential, how to get to it, and how to replace it though