Weird Vibration Only In 5th Gear

When driving about 45 mph in 4th gear it rides smooth. Shift to 5th and right away I get a vibration. As I speed up it doesn't get worse but I feel it from about 45mph to 60mph and then after 60mph it rides smooth again. Also if I am driving at about 55mph it vibrates then I let off the throttle it quits. I have been searching forums for about a week and cannot find anyone with a problem like this. Your help would be much appreciated.

 

You need to break the vibration down to engine related or transmission and driveline .
I would start by looking at the universal joints on the driveshaft . Get under the truck and give the driveshaft some grease .The proper way to check universal joints is by removing the driveshaft .
Look at when your last engine tune up was done . Can you duplicate the vibration in the driveway ?
If you havnt done any engine related tune ups , do some basic stuff - changing plugs , fuel filter , air filter to start .
Once you have done this , you have a base line .
When you are in 5th gear , you can feel the slightest engine missfire

 

Wouldn't an engine misfire trigger a code ?

The reason I ask is I just had this exact discussion with a tech at Toyota today

 

Bama may be able to answer this better but on the older trucks like the OP ( 1995) , the computer looked at sensors and timing 8 times per second .Not long enough to catch everything like missfires , bad plugs and such .
Newer vehicles should catch missfires much quicker .
My wife has an 05 matrix . I can pop a plug wire off while its running for a second or two and the ecm doesnt catch it ???

 

Okay thanks for the input. I thought it would probably be transmission or driveline. But I will check the plugs wires air cleaner and fuel filter tonight and let you know if it fixed it.

 

Is the vibration primarily in the shifter, fifth gear only, and only under load? If so, I live with it too. Hasn't changed at all since I bought the truck 13k miles ago. If I shift into 5th gear at either 47 mph or 57 mph then it's almost imperceptible and will stay that way at any speed. There's a slight vibe in the floorboard that's somehow transmitted through the shifter; if I push forward slightly on the stick, all vibes disappear. I personally think it's a design issue with the Toyota 5 speeds. Heck, it's not even limited to Tacomas - it happens to Corollas, Camrys, Celicas... look around the internet, there's complaints here and there.

Threads related to that:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/4-cylinder/90663-5th-gear-vibration.html
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/te...r-vibration-5th-gear-manual-transmission.html
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/232251-5th-gear-vibration-shake.html
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-tacomas/277658-shifter-shaking-5th-gear.html
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/114974-vibration-shifter-50-mph.html
Inspect the u-joints just in case, sometimes a failing u-joint can cause vibes that are only felt in 5th. Driveline harmonics can be funny sometimes.

 

Has anyone figured out a solution to this problem? All of those links above don't have a definitive answers. My 99 4x4 Xtra cab, only in 5th gear, light throttle, lower speeds, the whole truck begins to shudder and vibrate. I don't feel it in the gear shift, I actually feel it more in the steering wheel. I don't see any slop at all in the drive line, I have kept the U-joints lubed pretty well over the years. Any help please?

 

I would check motor mount rubber, and transmission mount. I had same issue some years back on 95. Trans mount rubber was hard like a brick. That fixed my vib. Imagine motor mounts could also get hard.

 

Sorry to revive this, but has anyone found a solution to this? My truck is doing this too!

 

exactly the problem that I'm having, except mine doesn't begin to smooth out until 70+ and the vibration doesn't stop simultaneously with letting off the throttle, but stops about a 1/2 second after.
Mine started after I had a used engine and new clutch installed. So far I've been back to the mechanic who installed the motor, my mechanic, a front end shop and a transmission shop.
All have tried to be helpful and all have invested time trying to solve the problem, but can't identify the problem.

The transmission shop said that it could be a misfire issue and attempted to explain that certain misfire issues are only apparent in 5th gear, but my mechanic says that a code would show up if it was misfire.

Is there some way that the misfire wouldn't register on the diagnostic machines?

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

anyone figured out what their problem im having the same problem if it helps i just had my clutch done it didn't do it before and my T-H bearing is starting to make noise already after only two weeks and where my clutch engages and disengages has changed since i left the shop thinking they did a poor job