Toyota Camry Vibration at Idle

[terrynham]

Hi,
I know a few other people have addressed this before but I just wanted to make sure. I have a 1994 Toyota Camry with a 5S-FE engine (172,000km), and everytime the car is in gear and is idling (ie: at a light) it would start shaking/vibrating, this at times can be quite strong.

I took it to a few Toyota dealers and mechanics shops, most of them suspected the Engine Mounts, however most of them told me either the Top Mount (dogbone) or the big one at the front, or even both.

However, I am not sure if changing these 2 engine mounts will solve the problem, since I will need to pay around $400 to get them changed, I want to know for sure. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Gen3cruiser]

Your camry will still vibrate. I just replaced the dog bone mount and it didn't do a thing, but if your engine mounts are blown still replace them. From day one it has vibrated at idle. It's just in the design of the Gen 3. From 0 to 205000 miles it still does it, but runs strong as the day we bought it.

[terrynham]

Im not expecting a total loss of vibration, but would changing the engine mounts improve the situation?
if not what would you suggest that would work?

[Nico]

Are you sure the engine is running well btw ? I mean no idle problem for instance ?

[terrynham]

i think the engine is running perfectly well, i just had it serviced last week, with no other problems found.

the problem is that at idle it vibrates, which can be felt in the steering wheel and seen in the shaking mirrors. the mechanic at the service last week said he couldnt find what was causing the problem......however he suspected the front engine mount, but cant be sure.

[Nico]

If it holds idle I really don't see anything else than the engine mounts indeed. However I think there might be cheaper places to buy them than your dealer. On ebay for instance they sometimes have some for a quite good price. Probably worth a look

[Gen3cruiser]

Dude, all camrys do that. Mine does the same thing, shakes at the wheel and such. Just put it in neutral if you don't wanna feel it at the stops. Live with it, or just get a new car.

[Canoe2]

Have you checked ?
a) Sparkplug wires
b) compression ratio of each cylinder

[I4 to V6 Swap]

Check the idle control sensor. I think that is what it is called.

[terrynham]

I visited another mechanic recently who also suspected the engine mounts, he said he had another customer with the exact same problem, and changing the big front mount fixed it. Since we are kinda friends he said that he could change the new one in for me and if it fixes the problem then he will charge me for the job, $280. However if it doesn't fix the problem, then he will put the old one back in and not charge anything.

sounds like a good deal to me, should I take up his offer?


oh yeah, and I should point out, when I put it into Neutal or Park it will stop vibrating for a few seconds but then will start up again even when not in gear?

[Rolla97]

yeah my 97 corolla does that too. i suspect engine mounts but too poor to have it checked and fixed. Could it also be tranny mounts?

[SolaraTRD]

I have a 2000 Solara with only about 27,xxx miles.

It vibrated since day one I got it. Well, more than before since it's ageing, but u know what I mean. (5s-fe) Wierd. But very small vibration, i always think of the transmission???

[burchard]

My camry 95 automatic 2.2 L LE 276K Km started vibrating last summer. I changed the dog bone mount, it was still vibrating, I changed the front mount , still vibrating. I cheked the tranny mount , looks fine. I am thinking about changing the rear motor mount, but I am afraid it won't make a difference. The idle is perfect (750 rpm) an the vibration decreases considerable (buut still there) when I shift to N. The vibration is stronger on D than on R..... any comments, Thanks

[itsmycookie]

Get yourself a can of throttle body cleaner and a toothbrush. Take off your rubber intake hose. tape the brush to a stick or something to make it longer. Open the throttle plate with your hand, and spray some cleaner into the plume thing. Then brush around. Keep doing this for like five minutes(take brush out and clean it off with cleaner) Then spray some cleaner around all of the sensors and bursh em off. Then rehook your intake hose on and start up your car, it'll sound a little weird at first. but just rev it up a little, and then let it idle for a while.

I would guess because you car has so many miles on it that it is going to be really dirty in there.

[Deuce]

Cleaning that won't change the vibration, maybe boost your economy. If it really bothers you, put the car in neutral when at a stop light.