I've had this pretty bad vibration through the steering wheel since I replaced the front engine mount with a cheapy and I was pretty sure that it was due to that so I just dealt with it for quite a few months till I recently got some extra cash and bought a much better mount and replaced it again. Much to my surprise it didn't help at all. I tried jacking the engine up at each and every mount location with the mounts unbolted from the engine taking the pressure off of each one seperately and nothing made a difference. The vibration still transfered through the car and the steering wheel mostly. I'm now 99.9% sure the problem isn't a mounting problem but is more an engine running problem. The engine doesn't seem to run too badly other than it seems to vibrate abnormally.

I am an auto tech and have access to some diagnostic websites and found one on decarbonizing the engine. Anyone hear of this or have any experience with this? One other thing I had in mind was the harmonic balancer being bad although to look at it while its running it doesn't have any wobble to it of any kind. There is no rubber protruding out of it either. Any help would be greatly apreciated whether your a fellow tech or a driver who ran into this yourself and remember what the shop did to fix it.

 

the vibrations are felt at idle...and its not longer the engine mounts yet the engine doesnt look or seem like its vibrating out of the norm?

i have no idea what is wrong but could a bad powersteering unit do this? I'm just throwing ideas out since you seem like you know your stuff.

Does the wheel still vibrate if you rev the engine a little?

 

You didn't post the year, engine or mileage. It could be a worn balancer assembly, not easy to get at and I doubt is the problem.Did you disconnect one plug wire at a time to see if the vibration gets worse orstays the same?

 

Yo... check ur ignition sys asI hada similar prob b4 .. start with ur spark plug wiers ... put it into drive hold the brakes while acceleration slow ... feel it if its not smooth then ur wiers need's 2 be changed .. also check ur plgs they might be wrong or cracked or needs to be changed.
but over all check everything related to ignition as u might discover things that u can fix & make a better drive.

good luck

 

I apreciate any suggestions. I know enough to bet by but when I'm at a loss I'll take any suggestions over none. I thought about the p.s. rack causing it but I don't feel vibration at the rack itself. I feel it throughout the front of the body of the vehicle.

As far as the vehicles info sorry about not including all of that. its a 1993 2.2L us sedan with about 180k miles.

As far as the ignition, I suppose its possible but it doesn't accelerate poor like I figure it would if the wires were bad. the gas mileage is great. the motor does seem to be shakey but not like a skip shake. It's more like a higher frequency vibration. You really cant see the motor shaking but if you put your hand on the intake you can feel it vibrating.

I was leaning towards either a whole brand new motor mount kit from toyota which would probably cost more than the frigen car is worth OR possibly like camry313 mentioned the balancer assembly. What I was wondering about that though is how it would get worn if its all the same type of steele as the crankshaft and run off gears what would wear causing it to be thrown off like that?

One other possibility I thought of was the harmonic balancer if it even has one. does anyone know if the lower crank pulley is also a vibration damper and if so could it be bad but not appear bad by looking at it spinning?

 

There is a backlash adjustment on the balancer shaft but I have no idea if that would causea vibration. Does it vibrate at idle and smooth outat higher RPM's? Does it vibrate when driving as well as parked?
Check your crank pulley bolt for proper torque. By pulling each ignition wire off to see if vibration gets worse or stays same is a way to isolatethe cause to one or more cylinders. It's hard to understand an engine vibration being felt through the steering column.The steering column is not connected to the engine except through the P/S hoses. Is this amanual or auto trans?

 

An easy way to test your ignition is to accellerate up a steep hill to load your engine to see if it misfires. You can also check some sparkplug wires by spraying water on them with a spray bottle. This works best at night and with wires that are completely exposed, unfortunately plug ends are inside the valve cover. I wonder if you have a burned valve if your mounts are good. Cylinder leakdown can verify this. I take it that your car runs smooth at all other times except idle. Did you have the vibration before you changed your mount for the first time?

 

Ok The shaking I'm getting isn't just in the steering wheel. That is just where I feel it the most. The engine vibrates so much that it vibrates the hole car even though I BELIEVE the mounts are good. It doesn't vibrate like a cylinder skip but more like a weight balance problem. The advice about the lash adjuster on the balance assembly shaft definately interests me although I'm wondering how possible it would be to go bad or out of adjustment and not make any noises. The engine does not make any noise at all. I'm not ruleing out ignition but the car definately doesn't have any problems accelerating under a load like up a hill.

 

I reviewed my FSM and the balance shaft lash inspection and adjustment can be done while the engine is in the vehicle - but it isn't easy. Needs a hoist and dial indicator. You need to removethe oil pan and oil pickup tube. I would say not for a DIY'er. My understanding is this vibrationhappened all of a sudden? It would seem that if thebalancer lash adjustment was out it would creep up on you not just be OK one day, not the next. I would get it diagnosed by a Toyo dealer, then decide if you can fix yourself. I'm wondering if thefront and rear crank bearings are going (180K) so that the crank is not turning in a circle any more? Is it leaking oil at the crank shaft? None of my thoughts are simple fixes or low cost. You've seemed to eliminate ignition/misfire and engine mounts - but it's strange to get the vibration in the steering column when that's not connected to the engine. The whole car must be shaking.[sm=smiley21.gif]

 

Exactly as I said before, the whole car is shaking but when you drive it you notice the steering wheel the most because thats where your hand is and being the shape of it, it tends to do more dancing. The engine doesn't leak oil but I'll look into the crankshaft play anyway. As far as it happening over night, I put in a cheap stiff front motor mount, got the vibration and blew it off because I knew what the cause was. About a year later I finally corrected it by installing a hydraulic motor mount but instead of fixing the problem it didn't to much of anything. I ruled out the motor mounts by lifting the engine off of each of them one at a time and the vibration barely changed. I'm thinking sometime within that year of me living with the vibration from the stiff motor mount something else went bad or like you said gradually went bad. I'm going to look into the lash adjustment next time I'm at work. It's worth a shot. Thanks alot. I'll post up when/if it gets solved.