sonyman

I've been dealing with a vibration in my driveline for around a year now. It's between 45 and 55mph, gets worse with more throttle, and is barely there when just coasting in that speed range. The Lexus tech that has looked at my car has done many things in an attempt to fix the vibration, including replacing the leading arm bushings (carrier bushings), the caster arms, rebalanced the wheels and performed an alignment. He inspected the transmission mount and says it looks good, and my idle is fairly smooth as well. I still get a clunk occasionally from the front right and a clunk from the rear right if I drive over certain bumps or take turns certain ways, but since it's not consistent, we haven't been able to diagnose those noises.

At this point, he wants to re-torque all the suspension bolts to try to fix the noises, and replace the driveshaft to fix the vibration. This is going to be very expensive, so I'm asking my fellow CL'ers, even imploring you for help. If there is anything else you can think of that could be the source that I can have the tech look at, please let it be known!

Edit: By the way, 81,xxx miles and it's a 1995 California spec.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

did u have the tires rebalanced on a Hunter balancer?

and trust me, after 12 years, ur Trans mount could use a change.

check engine mounts.

EDIT: and the driveshaft bushing.

LiCelsior

iTrader: (32)

he said he got it balanced lol.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

post edited.

Klierslc

You didn't mention the U joint. I'd start with that, and have the shaft balanced while you have it out.

Christian

Hello,

I just had my engine mounts replaced yesterday and it made a big difference. One was allready broken. Now there is no vibration at all. Its like when the car was new.

Chris

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

How about something as simple as worn shocks? Anyway, even at 53K miles, my 99 LS suspension is making a lot of noises as well. One day I got to get under there and just inspect all the bushings and engine/trans mounts.

Blavatsky

I need an alignment and hunter re-balance anyway (new wheel setup), but I also have that vibration and some less than lexus ride quality at times. My mechanic and I agreed on old shocks (118k on the car), so I'm doing the new shocks/mounts/bushings thing next.

sonyman

It doesn't feel like a wheel balance issue to me. I've felt balance issues before and this feels more cyclical, rather than a lumpiness from the wheels. I doubt it's the shocks making the noises at least, because it happens even when the suspension is under very little load. I could drive over a tiny bump and it could do it, or again and have it not.

As for the mounts, the technician was confident that my idle would also be rough if the mount were bad, and he says it looks fine, but you think it's worth replacing?

Regarding the u-joint, the tech said that they do not replace them. The only replace the whole driveshaft assembly. By driveshaft bushings do you mean the flexible couplings? The tech said he's never had to replace them, but the new driveshaft assembly does include new ones.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

my trans mount is broken into several pieces and my idle is perfect

and by dreiveshaft bushing im referring to the big piece of rubber connecting the driveshaft to the rear diff, the one that tends to break down llike all rubber does over time.

dashan

Are the Tranny mount and rear mount the same thing?
And Park place lists it for like $33.

http://www.parkplaceplano.com/en_US/?s_ocid=pdsrch

Thanks.

richonenz

Do the engine mounts and take the tranny mount out to see if it needs done , and do the same with the rubber driveshaft ring , it sounds like the vibration wasn't always there ?
If that's the case then it's down to something deteriorating , so that most probably means rubber things .

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

i think so

dashan

Just call the dealer, they are the same thing.

sonyman

The vibration wasn't there when I first bought the car, but showed up about a month later. Would it be wise to do all the mounts, or just the transmission mount? If it ends up being the driveshaft, I'd rather not have thrown away several hundred on all the mounts. The driveshaft "ring" is the rearmost flexible coupling. A new driveshaft assembly also includes 2 flexible couplings so I'd rather not purchase one. A member of the US LOC replaced his not long ago in an attempt to fix a vibration and it did nothing for him.