I'm at whits end with this. I am trying to help a friend figure out what is wrong with her 01 highlander. i know she has slightly warped rotors, theres vibration when breaking. The problem i cant solve is that when she hits 40mph it starts shaking side to side. i know its not the struts, its not a vertical shake. it feels like something in the front is bent. she didnt have any front end damage, she was rear ended but it was only a tap. she had the wheels balanced so thats not it. the bushings look good, i lifted the front end and tried to shake the wheel to check the bearings and nothing. anyone with any ideas would be greatly apreciated. thanks.
Is this a 4wd by chance? I ask because I have a 4wd that will shake like you describe, though not as bad, from about 40 to 50 mph. My theory is that the fluid in the transfer case is due to be changed and the viscous coupling is binding in that one speed range.
I, too, had the tires balanced and that had no effect. I would suggest also having a 4-wheel alignment check. She could have worn suspension parts like worn lower control arm bushings or worn ball joints.
It is a 4wd, i didnt think about the T-case. the shaking feels as if it is coming from the very front, i think ill get the suspension components checked. I looked it over and the linkage and tie rods all look good, i dont see any unusual wearing. Ill let you know after i take it in. thanks.
OK...just changed all my fluids. I'll post another thread on that topic, but as I mentioned a couple of posts above, I was hoping that the T-case fluid change would help the vibration. It may have just a bit, but while I was under the car the likely source of the vibration smacked me in the face. The drive shaft in the 4WD version is split into three sections with 6 u-joints and 2 carrier bearings. None of the u-joints have grease fittings for service so the joints are pressed and staked at the factory.
I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. My guess is that the OP's problem is associated with one or more bad u-joints. I remember riding around in my buddy's Catalina when his u-joints were going out. You would have thought the car was going to shake apart.
I don't even want to think what a replacement shaft would cost. The only upside is that since it is in so many sections, you might be able to find the bad section and replace just that.
Sometimes you find the problem by eliminating what ISN'T the cause. Before doing any drive shaft or axle, I'd check, in the following order;
- Wheels. Rotate front to back.
- Brakes, make sure you can freely turn front wheels when they are off the ground and don't have a binding caliper.
- Outer tie rod ends. With car in park and running, have someone move steering wheel back and forth. Put your fingers around the outer joint boot and feel for any up down movement.
- Inner tie rod ends. Here you'll have to pull the tie rod bellows boot back so you can look at and get your fingers around the inner joint. Same steering wheel rocking as above.
- Ball joints; you'll have to jack the car up and get the wheels a few inches off the ground. Put a large prybar between tire and ground and rock the wheel. Use fingers to detect ball joint play.
- Check CV axles; with car in the air, can you rotate the axle back and forth where the axle moves but the inner CV housing is still? Significant play in the inner (transaxle side) joint can cause vibration under acceleration, but typically goes away at coast. Outer CV joint wear usually shows up as whining, grinding or clicking on turns.
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'02 Highlander
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'01 Civic
I don't know about the OP's situation, but I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that my shimmy is driveline related...possibly a bad mount, carrier bearing, but probably one of the driveshaft sections. In my experience , bad ball joints and tie rod ends show up best over rough terrain, braking, or turning. In my case, there's a harmonic setting up between 41/41 mph and about 45mph. Doesn't matter if coasting, accelerating, or decelerating. If I get it solved, I'll be sure to post back.
Update on my vibrations. Quick recap: whole vehicle shimmy from about 40 to 50 mph. Tires had been rotated and balanced, but no help.
Took it to the dealer (Courtesy Toyota in Orlando) and they really went out of their way to diagnose the problem, including removing the drive shaft to inspect it thoroughly. Turns out that the Goodyear POS tires on there are the culprits. They have a side to side wobble in them that you can't really balance out. I paid for a load force balance and the tech remounted several of the tires 180* out from their original mountings. Definitely better but the ultimate solution is to replace the Goodyears with a good tire.
I doubt this is the OPs problem, but figured someone else might have some similar symptoms some day.
major vibrations when going over 40
Re: major vibrations when going over 40
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