Vibration while stopped at light in gear

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Jan 20, 2007
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I''ve got a 2004 LX and a 2000 LC. The LX is my daily driver and I've recently changed all the diff fluids to Royal Purple. Since doing this, I've got a noticeable vibration when sitting at stop lights. Maybe it's me just paying added attention to it, i don't know. What I do know is that when I put it in neutral the vibration is gone. The drive shaft is not loose, I don't have a similar issue in the LC, and both vehicles are running the same fluid.

I'd like to get to the bottom of this vibration and get rid of it. Can anyone offer an opinion or suggestion?
 
Motor mount, really? What, if anything, else can I do to trouble shoot that and pinpoint which one? And I'm trying to understand the physics behind it vibrating in drive and not in neutral.
 
Can't answer your question but that's how my daughter's Celica acted with a broken motor mount several years back.
 
I have an 04 LC with mobile one synthetics in front dif, rear dif and transfer case that is doing exactly the same thing. I have 66,000 miles now - I switched to synthetics at the 60 k service. At 65k I had the fuel injectores flushed and the throtle body cleaned which did not help at all. Any thoughts?
 
I have a 2005 Land Cruiser w/ about original 20K miles on it by me (bought it as brand new 2005 vehicle in 2009; a left over stock at dealer), daily driver, using Red Line Synthetic, it's doing the EXACT same as described, the vibration is very minor, but enough to notice when all is quiet. It'll go away when in neutral or parked, I did notice recently on a longer road trip, it stopped doing it for a while but came back the next day. I had dealer looked at but they didn't find anything wrong.......should I change it to a different brand oil? Any other suggestions?
 
All those weights that have been removed:whoops:

I like how Mr. T doesn't fix the potential problem at production, just update the TSB every year:confused:
 
Thanks for the info Hoser. My VIN is outside that range and I have 61k and change on the odometer now. I left a message with the local service shop to see if they can swing something for me though.

It seems those of us reporting the same problems here are using synthetic fluid in the differentials. Maybe we're onto something here and the viscosity or weight of the fluid we used has something to do with it.

I guess it's important to note that I did not change my transmission fluid at the same time because the transmission on the 2004 LX is different than the transmission on the 2000 LC. The 5 speed has a higher service interval and does not call for the same fluid as the LC.
 
That would be tough to correlate how synthetic fluid in the diffs and t-case make any difference when at idle, they aren't moving at all.
 
I admit I am ignorant when it comes to the details of the LC and LX powertrain. I was thinking along the lines of something spinning within the transfer case while the transmission is in gear. This spinning would create some kind of buffeting effect and the weight of the fluid could impact that in some way. When the transmission would be placed in neutral or park. the power is removed, spinning stops, as does the buffeting. I'm only presenting my hypothesis here. If someone can provide me with some diagrams or tell me what is actually happening I'm all ears (or eyes). I would like to know.

Lexus folks called me back and are looking into what they can do for me as this TSB hoser attached is Toyota, not Lexus. I'll post that info as it may be helpful for someone else later.
 
Lexus has a similiar TSB posted in this thread but without the details:

EXHAUST BOOMING AT IDLE
Service Bulletin Num : 00104 - FEB 20, 2004 NHTSA Item Number: 10006197
Component: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM

The difference between idle and drive is also the engine RPM. So that is something to consider.
 
But I think the sounds came from the engine compartment rather than all the way in the back tailpipe....
 
I noticed a vibration sound coming from the back drivers side when at a light with the transmission in drive, but it would go away when I put the vehicle in park. I tried putting it in drive with the emergency break on and the sound continued, so I jumped out to find it. The sound appeared to be eminating from the back drivers side of the roof rack. When I grabed the roof rack, the sound would stop, but I could feel the throb of the vibration through my hand. I have no idea if this is a problem or not. Fortunatly, the truck did not drive off without me.
 
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I have the same noise in Drive or Reverse when I'm stopped. After some diagnostics, and reading other post, I check the heat shields, etc hoping it wasn't something worse, then I traced the vibration to the components under the glove box. If I put pressure on the evaporator/expansion valve thing the noise stops...I tightened, every bolt I could see, but still makes the humming/vibration. :bang: I plan on taking them off and reinstalling tonight to make sure there's not something else lose (this is on my 2004 BTW)
 
I had a similiar vibration. had it to the dealer for 90k service. They found the botton motor cover was missing a few bolts.
 
When you say motor cover, are you talking about the skid plate, or the oil pan?
 
Could be low on freon and causing the compressor to cycle and or bad HP switch causing hard load on the engine. I see that often in GM cars.


Just a thought.
 

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