Vibration on acceleration

lumbercis

Moderator
Hi all,

Wondering if you all had any ideas of things to check for a vibration I've been experiencing which feels like it's centered around the front passenger side wheel. The vibration is most noticeable at higher speed while on the gas. It feels reduced when I let off the gas.

I took it to a mechanic recently and they said it was a bad front mount but I think they may have gotten confused with the vibrations from my poly rear trans mount. Also the front mount has been replaced with a new OEM mount within the last year or two so it seems unlikely it's already torn.

The car has a Speed Source poly rear trans mount, newish OEM front mount. Unknown mileage side mounts. New OEM F/R subframe mounts. All the front A-arm bushings have been replaced with either poly or OEM. Struts are Koni yellow with new OEM strut top mounts. Endlinks and swaybar bushings have been serviced in the last couple of years. Brakes haven't been serviced recently and are probably overdue.

I'll pull the front mount off and check it if I have to but wanted to get thoughts of what else might be the culprit..

Thanks
J
 

lumbercis

Moderator
From googling around, which I probably should have done first, it looks like a likely culprit might be CV joints/axles.
 

yyonline

Member
Bad outer CV joint would be my guess. Autozone sells Duralast/Cardone reman axles that fit the all-trac for $50. You will need to get new dust shields from Toyota though, and they're a bit of a pain to install on the axle. Toyota P/N 43247-12010 for the ABS dust shield, as most rebuilt axles come with the ABS rings.

Other possibility - the stock axle has a rubber dampener clamped on to the axle. On my Celica ST, that rubber dampener fell off the clamp and was just rolling around on the axle shaft causing a lot of vibrations. Still, I would have thought your mechanic would have seen that if that were the case.
 

88gt4DE

Active member
I had a stupid thing like that with an aftermarket motor mount on timing belt side of motor .... pissed me off for a long time ... Didn't start till I replaced the one on the drivers / trans side ...
 

lumbercis

Moderator
Just wanted to update that this was fixed. Turned out to be a bad outer tie rod end. Not sure why the first shop I took it to got it so wrong but I took it to another place and they identified the problem. Got new OEM ends put on and the vibration is gone.

I wouldn't have thought that the problem would have been tied rods since I replace the inner and outer tie rods within the last two years with Moog parts. So I'm surprised they went bad that quickly. However, the roads around here can be pretty brutal especially during the winter when the potholes open up. So I guess this is just a lesson to not assume and do all the standard checks even if you think it "can't be" a recently replaced part.

J
 

88gt4DE

Active member
Wow ... Yeah never assume after you did it its not bad again. Very true ... and I've also experienced that with moog parts too. yer not alone ..
 

underscore

Well-known member
I've seen parts from some of the highest regarded names be DOA, just because it's new doesn't mean it works unfortunately.
 

lumbercis

Moderator
I went for OEM on the tie rod ends and U-joints I had done this time. The tech told me Moog were "just as good" but I figured better safe than sorry especially on the U-joints. I'll report back if the OEM's end up not holding up.
 

88gt4DE

Active member
Just as good my ass ... LOL ... I work for Toyota and I will never use non OEM ball joints or tie rods ever again unless I am forced to due to discontinue ...
 
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