Schmerts

I drove my daughters 2004 RX330 today...she's home from college. When accelerating, there is a strong vibration from the engine bay..seems more pronounced on the passenger side. Looking at the engine with car in gear and foot on brake, the engine seems to move some toward the firewall. I can see the top (dog leg or dog bone I think they call it) mount is worn...the rubber donut is cracked and there is movement of the engine there..

So my questions.....would changing just this top mount be advisable without doing the lower engine mount and transmission mount at the same time? My back is hurt right now and the bottom mount looks like more than I could handle right now by myself. The top (dog leg) mount looks to have easy access. I don't want to pay a shop, I'm sure it would be a fortune. The vibration occurs under acceleration on the passenger side of car.

How difficulty is the engine mount to change myself...has anyone done the mount themselves? I haven't looked into the transmission mount, but I would imagine there is one there as well that would benefit from changing. PS....car has 207,000 miles....we've owned it for the last 2-3 years and 45,000 miles.

Thanks for any insight or replies.

MattRX

The top mount is easy can be done in about 10 mins with some wrenches and 1/4” sockets. If you’re getting some vibration on the passenger side even if the dogbone is replaced later, it may be the lower mount or rear mount. You can look underneath the lower mounts to see if they’re leaking hydraulic fluid or if the diaphragms are torn. Rear mount is just a piece of rubber like the dog bone.

Doing just the top mount is fine, I did that on my Highlander years before doing the rest. The bottom ones are harder but not bad once you get the hang of it. The engine / trans needs to be jacked up pretty high to get them out but loosening (loosen, not fully removing the top bolt) the front lower mount makes it a lot easier.

The driver’s side (trans mount) made my shifts smoother after replacing it

The passenger side mount (engine) got rid of a vibration I had in idle while in gear, also it reduced the vibration in the cabin under acceleration and made the idle so smooth you could barely tell the car was running

The dog bone would reduce the lurching on acceleration

For the rear mount, I never noticed a difference changing them as they seem to almost never wear out. It seems like it’s more of a limiter / stopper than an engine mount, but I’d visually inspect it to see if it’s bad too. It’s located on the passenger side in between the steering rack and rear of engine.

Felix

If you can, change out the dogbone (top on passenger side) your self & see how that feels....The dogbone deals w/ the rotational force of the engine, being sideways (east to west) the others deal w/ the weight of the engine, as the dogbone doesn't deal w/ the weight.

Schmerts

Mattt RX and Felix, thank you very much for the helpful replies! I'm picking up the dog bone tomorrow, so I will start with that. Along with the mounts, the suspension and front end seems a little loose. I will get it aligned as I bought new tires today. Hopefully suspension/struts are OK. Never had Lexus/Toyotas until the last few years and never needed to do any repairs. Not sure what the weak parts are of the RX330 front end that typically wear...and help there?. I'd like to do some maintenance and get another few years out of the vehicle. It runs great and has 40k to go until the belt will need to be changed.

MattRX

The lower control arm circular bushings see the most stress out of anything under there (based on my 2002 Highlander, and two RX350s, applies to Camry too and other cars on our Camry-based platform). Thankfully apart from those (they're not as hard as some people make them out to be to change), the suspension & steering is very forgiving and easy to work on, and is overall a great design that has remained unchanged for decades for good reason. When I did an overhaul on the Highlander's suspension a few years ago, the original ball joints, tie rods and all of that were still in great shape, but I decided to refresh it all anyway and it was worth it for a tighter feeling. The struts are typically the first to go, then those lower arms. Inner tie rods were a little loose on my 02 HL and 08 RX when I changed them, but didn't have any play or anything, outers were fine, but my RX had a torn boot on one, the part itself was still okay but I decided to change it while I had the car on jackstands.

chuyrobles

That dog bone is easy to replace and easy to rip. I think I’ve replaced four on our ES350 with 290K mikes. But I never experienced vibrations on acceleration due to that torn strut mount. The one time I did, it was a worned out passenger-side CV shaft.

Felix

4 on the same vehicle, sounds like cheap auto parts store parts. Really sounds like you need to use a oem dogbone. But then the 2gr is a smooth engine as well as the U151 trans........Hopefully your shop that'll do your alignment, checks the suspension for any wear before they do the alignment.

Margate330

I would consider the top dog bone mount entry level DIY and a job most people can do.
Labor shouldn't be much at a shop either, it's a 10 minute job with power tools but they may want an hour labor regardless so it can be a ripoff sometimes if that's the case.

The lower mounts I'd rate at medium to advanced on the DIY scale only cuz lifting the motor a smidge will be required and a lot more tools and knowedge is needed.
Some things I don't consider to be DIY, doesn't mean it can't be done but out of reach a little for most.

Schmerts

So I got the dog bone replaced tonight. When I changed it on my 2006 Highlander, it seemed to go in easy. On the RX330, it was extremely tight on the upper mount near the firewall. I wound up taking out the bracket (3 bolts) that holds the lower part of the dog bone. Easy job, but I haven't driven it yet to see if it improves.

MattRX....I do think there is more than engine mounts going on. Seems when I am stopped and let off the brakes and quickly apply the brakes, there seems to be some body movement or something (awful, lol) going on. I only did this in my garage, so the 'test' was very low speed, but it didn't feel or sound good....like something was loose. Need to jack it up when I do the front rotors and brakes this week, but I fear it may be struts or something, no idea. I've don't lots of DIY over the years on many different cars, but never messed with a suspension, struts or even axles.

Margate330....I probably have to tools to do the mounts, seems like a job I could do if I had some time. I'm a 'medium' home DIY person, and they look pretty doable. I guess it depends on how much a shop would charge. 3 of my kids drive Toyota's/Lexus and I haven't had to do anything really. Lots of maintenance items seem to be hitting all at once. (My 08 RX350) is making a loud bearing noise....maybe water pump. I've watch videos of that job....I'll happily pay to have it done by someone with experience...what a nightmare it looks to be.

Chuyrobles....did you change the CV shaft yourself? Curious to know if that is a DIY job or not.

chuyrobles

Yes, I replaced CV shaft myself, but it was on an 07 ES350. Have also replaced the one in mom’s 98 Sienna, passenger side. The setup is virtually identical. It is relatively easy if the center bearing is not seized due to rust.

If you feel movement in the suspension when braking, that can be related to suspension, like ball joint and/or control arm bushing.

On your RX350, remove the serpentine belt and rotate each pulley by hand. They should rotate smoothly and not feel gritty-like. Also pull the pulley in/out - there should be no movement. It is normal for most power steering pump pulleys to have a little in/out play. Not sure about the AC pulley.

Margate330

This is key.
On passenger side it's usually rusted/seized at that bearing.
I used a long chisel and sledge hammer on the metal housing on CV from back side to get it coming out.

It was seized in there good.

Felix

[QUOTE=Schmerts;11419176]So I got the dog bone replaced tonight. When I changed it on my 2006 Highlander, it seemed to go in easy. On the RX330, it was extremely tight on the upper mount near the firewall. I wound up taking out the bracket (3 bolts) that holds the lower part of the dog bone. Easy job, but I haven't driven it yet to see if it improves.

MattRX....I do think there is more than engine mounts going on. Seems when I am stopped and let off the brakes and quickly apply the brakes, there seems to be some body movement or something (awful, lol) going on. I only did this in my garage, so the 'test' was very low speed, but it didn't feel or sound good....like something was loose. Need to jack it up when I do the front rotors and brakes this week, but I fear it may be struts or something, no idea. I've don't lots of DIY over the years on many different cars, but never messed with a suspension, struts or even axles.

You'll want to check the strut mounrs & the A-arm bushings first & then the b/j's (ball joints) which hardly ever go out. If its the bushings, easier to swap out the A-arms vs the bushings. If its the strut mounts, don't use KYB strut mounts, use the oem only. The KYB struts work great, thou.......I went w/ KYB struts, using the original springs & using oem strut mounts. If your swapping out the w/p, good time to swap out the T-stat as well......

Margate330

I'll 2nd that.
KYB strut mount include the bearing- use oem toyota bearing instead cuz huge difference in quality and that bearing is for sale separately.

You'll see how junky the KYB bearing is if you buy it and compare to your original bearing.

MattRX

I’ll 3RD that! Here’s the KYB bearing after 3 years on my 2002 Highlander. Went back to the used factory ones and all was well. The KYB struts are doing fine

Schmerts

So I had the wheels off today and the lower A-arm bushings are shot. Apply the brakes with he wheel turned and I could see the movement and the rubber bushings on both sides are deteriorated. Not sure what kind of a job this would be. Preliminary searches show shops charge 10 hours and it will need an alignment...ouch!! I hope not. Has anyone done this job? I would assume you replace the entire new arm, no way to press a new bushing in there. I'm glad to at least narrow down the problem. Oh, and one of the CV boots is torn.