Steering Wheel Resonance / vibration

[sptsdn]

Investigations are proceeding as is my test-driving of Discovery 4's with the intent being that if I have to buy one it will have a sticker on the rear window... 'My 200 had a vibration that Toyota couldn't fix. I did it myself with this....'

If a vibration is driving you crazy, I'd hate think what all the little problems you"ll have with the LR would do to you!

It's interesting that we haven't had more people complain of a vibration here assuming it's a widespread issue. I have a very, very slight resonance in the steering wheel when ever I'm driving up a slight incline (the vehicle is under a bit of load) and the RPMs are at around 2000. Again, it's very slight but enough for my wife to ask, about it - and that says a lot!

Next time I'm in for service I'm going to ask about it and see if they have any bulletins.

 

[tempestv8]

It seems that the steering resonance or vibration problem seems to be limited to the diesel V8 motor, which naturally, is not available in the USA.

So that's why most of you guys on this forum (USA centric) would not have heard about this issue.

 

[walw]

My diesel 200 had a rattle under acceleration & resonance @ 1200rpm from new. Took it in at the 1000k service to get the rattle fixed, I didn't mention the resonance because I didn't want to complicate things. Anyway they found a loose washer in the steering column, a wrap of electrical tape fixed the rattle while waiting on parts. No worries, warranty at work. Righto in it goes for the 10,000km service, I am still keeping it simple & don't mention the 1200rpm resonance. Steering column apart, mechanic says something along the lines of "oh crap no thrust bearings either". More parts ordered. My mate the sales manager rips the service manager a new one & off I drive again. As I left their dealership I noticed the resonation was gone. No one at the dealership mentioned any work other than the service & non-steering column fix but I'll ring them on Monday & try to find out what they did & get back to you.

 

[tempestv8]

Wow, that's interesting! Why weren't these "thrust bearings" on your vehicle? Should it have been there in the first place?

What model year is your diesel 200?

Do keep us informed!

 

[walw]

I assume the bearings prevent a stering shaft movng around inside the column.
Its a 2010 diesel VX, picked it up April 1st

 

[walw]

I spoke to the service department today.
They reckon all they did was the service & reassembled the steering column when they realised they didn't have all the parts they required & replaced the screws in the inner guard that they forgot to reinstall at the 1000km service.
My guess is that they tightened or taped up something when the steering column was reassembled.
The service guy suggested that the inner guard may have been flapping at speed but the resonation was related to revs not speed, plus they were in there prior to the first service.

Anyway you could check your inner guard screws & get your dealer to check your steering column next service. They did the above plus a wash & vaccum in 5 hours to mine.

best of luck

 

[Tonyos]

This just appeared on www.lcool.org

'Just got word that Toyota are testing 4 vehicles in Australia with a new vibration kit installed to reduce the vibration at, and around 2000RPM. The tests will go for 3 - 6 months and are all in Toyota owned vehicles. They expect an upgrade kit to be available then.'

Can you please advise if this issue has a remedy yet? Thank you, tonyos@bigpond.net.au

 

[CSteppe82]

I am curious too

 

[territory2010]

I am curious too

Hi I have a new 200 series complete with vibration 1500- 2200 in park also there when driving.as a retired motor mechanic I was thinking harmonic balancer or torque converter. my son has just taken delivery of a 79 series ( manual ) it also has the vibration.So a spoke to a gent who
manufactures after market harmonic balancers and was about to make 1 for the 4.5 .He could not work out why the balancer was so heavy and had so much rubber in it ,until he heard my story .He believes Toyota have tried to mask the problem, which could be a design problem.
I see the V 6 has a vibration problem to , may be the same V angle.cheers APR Melb Australia

 

[Tonyos]

Please duly update if you find harmonic balancer issue or appropriate fix.

Thank you.

 

[Andrey]

Hi all,
I had the same issue for the last few months. In my case not only steering wheel but the whole car was shaking. My car is diesel by the way.

Here's my message on another Toyota forum:

"Hi all,
I have the same issue. Vibration occurs only on 6th gear when going 115-125 kph at about 1500-1600 revs. Whole car is shaking. Thought it might be because of the chip or the 3" exhaust system or because I shut off the EGR. But looks like a lot of people experience the same. Will get in touch with my dealer and let them know about the issue."

And here's another message I posted today when the problem was solved:

"I just fixed the vibration today and all I can say is WOW! Before I explain how I did it I wanna tell that besides the car shaking effect I was also experiencing some bad engine sounds when taking off from stand with full throttle. There were some kind of rattling and boiling sounds like there was too much fuel or something. I was blaming the chip or the EGR that was totally shut off by me recently.
Long story short, you wanna know what it was? As it turned out the car was shaking and rattling and everything else because of the bad diesel fuel. Even though I was always buying the fuel on the best fuel stations like BP and SHELL eventually it turned out that their diesel is total poo. Who could've thought that the best looking fuel stations are selling bad dieasel? I was always buyind diesel on SHELL but a few day's ago I accidentially tried another russian fuel station called Tatneft. The first thing I noticed that there is no more rattling sound and the car is taking off from the start much easier. The engine was also working much smoother.
And the most important part that while driving today, for the first time in the last few months I did not experience any shaking at all, under the same conditions where it occured before.
That was actually an eye opening experience.
So guys, if you are experiencing the same car shaking that I was at 115-125 kph on 6-th gear, low RPM, just try changing the fuel station and may be your problem will be solved."

Good luck in solving your vibration issue everyone.

 

[ntsaint]

FYI on this, after about 1 month of driving and verification...

Pulled my factory boards/steps, and....resonance is gone.

No changes made other than deleting the boards.

 

[Aido000]

Since new I have experienced resonance through the steering wheel. It has got worse as time and mileage have gone on. To a lesser extent, you can also feel it through the gearshift. I reported it a total of 4 times (in 12k). It got to the stage where it was driving me crazy (my hands 'buzz' at the end of a long drive). I had an ARB bullbar fitted at 5k but a week before that was done I emailed the Toyo dealer for the record describing the problem to a 'T' and also pointing out that I did not want the impending bullbar fitment to be blamed for the steering wheel resonance. Dealer took the vehicle at 12k. Toyota Australia looked at it. They blamed the bullbar. I was uummm upset

. When faced with my previous email and the dated invoice for the bullbar fitment (a week apart) they reviewed it again and all of a sudden they find that this is a global problem and that Toyota Japan are fully aware of it. Dealer said to expect 'revised' parts to be sent out and fitted... possibly engine mounts but he wasn't sure. More detail later. Asked that I sit and wait until problem determination has run its full course in Japan. I asked if it affected only Diesels. They said yes but I have heard from owners with gas engines that also have the problem.

So Now I sitting here waiting ...

Mark
200 series diesel

Hi, had my injectors replaced by Big Rock Toyota July 2021, now has this exact problem. Didn’t have it before. 2010 200 Series Sahara.