mb12345

I have a '97 ES300 with 130K miles on it. I am having an intermittent vibration in the steering wheel at high speeds that I need your help with. Here are the symptoms:

- Once the car is on the highway at 60mph, about 10 minutes into it, the steering wheel starts to vibrate.
- The vibration builds up and gets worse and is quite intense. Passengers in the car can also feel the vibration.
- When I hit the brakes during vibration, the vibration increases and the brake pedal pulsates.
- After about 15 minutes of driving, the vibration completely goes away. I don't get the pulsating brake pedal anymore either. The vibration doesn't return during the same ride, even if I drive for 2+ hours.

I had the brake master cylinder replaced a couple of months ago. The problem started a few days after that job (not right after). I never had this vibration problem before that replacement, so not sure if it is related or just a coincidence.

I have had the wheel balancing and tire rotation done 3 times in the past couple of months, but that hasn't fixed the problem.

I took it to my mechanic. He asked me to get the wheels balanced which obviously I had done earlier. The brake pads and rotors were fine, so he couldn't attribute the vibration and pulsating brake pedals to warped rotors.

Any ideas to what is causing this intermittent vibration? It always happens after 10-15 minutes of driving on the highway at 60mph+, stays for ~15 minutes during which the brake pedal pulsates and increases the vibration if I brake, and then goes away and doesn't return in the same drive. It appears this only happens once the car gets from cold to hot, and once it is gone, doesn't return while the car is hot.

Thanks in advance for your help.

BDSL

Assuming your brake rotors are fine, other things to check:

Ball joints
Lower control arms
Tie rods
Wheel Balancing (Road Force Balancing)

mb12345

If balancing is an issue, wouldn't the steering wheel ALWAYS vibrate at high speeds? Would the brake pedal pulsate and steering vibration increase while braking? In my case, I get the vibration and pulsating brake pedal ONLY for about 15 minutes and then everything goes back to normal. I don't get any steering wheel vibration nor pulsating brake pedal once the vibration is gone. Just wondering if road force balancing could fix this? (I got a quote between $100-150 for road force balancing, so just trying to determine if there is a possibility this could fix the problem before I go there).

Timothyj

Tire problem? I had Toyo tires on my 04 es and vibrations that would come and go. Got rid of them and problem went away.

Tim

llcoolpass

WHEEL+TIRE BALANCE issue, most likely, but also can be your axles, brakes, and suspension. with my low-end torque, and FWD 5spd, my front tires lose balance every year hehehe

mb12345

I have a feeling it is the master cylinder pushrod adjustment. While driving on the highway today, the vibration in steering started occurring after about
10 minutes. I started feeling the pulsating pedal while braking. I put
my foot under the pedal and tried to lift it upwards while driving. As
soon as I did that, the vibration went away and there was no pulsation
while braking.

When I returned home, I felt the vibration coming back. I pulled over
(as I was on local roads), turned the engine off, put the car in
neutral and tried to push the car. The car wouldn't move. Then, I
lifted the brake pedal slightly with the foot and tried pushing the
car again in neutral. Now I was able to move the car.

That could explain that the vibration is occurring when the brake
pedal remains slightly pressed. Though I don't understand why this
would only occur after about 10 minutes of highway driving and go away
after 15 minutes.

If this is indeed the case, should I just take the car to the mechanic
and ask him to adjust the master cylinder pushrod?

BDSL

Don't tell your mechanic to do anything.
Just tell him the symptoms and let him do the checking.

willhickey

iTrader: (1)

my 97 camry does the same thing v6. it starts at 60 and gets worse the faster you go it has to be suspension related......., it started doing it at 84k for no apparent reason and still does it now 138k im confused also i shook down the suspension and one of the tierods was A LITTLE bent but i dont think that would cause it would it?