bcorey

i have an 01 with 137K on her - I developed a vibration at idle about 2 months ago - it was very slight and almost hard to detect - I could only hear / feel it when I was backing my car out of the garage and the rpms were around 600-700. Two months later and it has become increasingly noticeable - it's much louder and it occurs all the time (still only at real low rpms). I took it to the dealer last week to have them take a look at things. They re-torqued my drive shaft flange bolts as well as my sub frame bolts and said a few were on the loose side. They checked the engine mounts and said they were in good shape. In the end, they couldn't come up with anything and said that they felt (they being the service rep. and the head tech) perhaps it was behind my console area. I don't think this is the case as I can almost feel the vibration once I engage the transmission. It happens in forward or reverse but not in neutral (engine rpms jump up to ~1000 at that point and it goes away). I only notice it at low rpms and once I get about 1-2mph, the noise/vibration disappears. Any one have any ideas on what might be happening?

Thanks!

jimbosr1

i would be willing to bet its your engine mounts.if you put a piece of wood under the engine and lower your car and allow the wood to absorb the vibration you will see the mounts are bad.you can not look at a engine mount and tell if its good or bad.buy your engine mounts on line and have a tech install them and you will be in love with your ls again.lets us know how it turns out.

Lynzoid

engine+tranny mounts. cheap. effective.

LS430Lexus

I agree. I had a similar problem with my '97 LS400. You cannot visually evaluate the engine and trans mounts. Once they were changed, the vibrations ended and the smooth ride returned.

bcorey

So it seems the consensus is that it's the mounts and I've read additional post that seem to indicate that is the most likely cause - one question I have then is why would the head tech and service advisor not be able to figure this out? Any thoughts on replacing the tranny mount first to see if that works?

Thanks for the replies!

Boomer01

Has anyone swapped out the engine and tranny mounts themselves? Is this too big of a job for a do-it-yourselfer with not a lot of experience? Does it require a cherry picker to lift the engine?

jimbosr1

you can do it with a floor jack,how ever if you are a noob you should let the pros do it.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Like some of us 2-gen LS owners, you are beginning to come into that range of various rubber mounts being worn. Your symptoms are typical for engine and tranny mount wear. Ours will be a bit different but just so you can see what happens as the miles accumulate on these mounts.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...placement.html

sojah

iTrader: (1)

dude that was a nice write up thanks for the link,, however i think i would leave that one for the pro's.

bcorey

RA40 - Thanks for the tutorial - the engine mounts look a bit out of my range but the tranny mount definitely looks doable - Thanks again.