96 camry 4-cylinder wagon rough idle
 

I have a 96 camry 4-cylinder with a rough idle. It sits at about 750 RPM and shakes the steering wheel- sometimes not so bad, sometimes unbearable. It is much worse in drive than in park or neutral. The shake can be gotten rid of by raising the RPMs to 1000. I already replaced the engine mounts since they were not great anyway- except for the one on the transmission. I cleaned the throttle body and applied seafoam to the engine. everything seemed to help slightly but nothing solved the problem. problem doesnt seam to be connected to outside temperature and is actually best when the engine first starts up since the RPMs are higher. It all started after the water pump was replaced by my mechanic. I thought the distributor timing might be off but I'm not sure this car has distributor timing- and I don't know anything about timing. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

The 96 still has a distributor but may also have pickup at the cam pulley.

Take the car back to the shop and ask them to check if the belt is off one tooth. They should be able to check by removing the distributor cap and checking for appropriate rotor location when the engine crank is set at 0 degree, No 1 cylinder at TDC on compression stroke.

Also have them check for vacuum leaks, perhaps a vacuum hose was removed for some reason.