Vibration gets worse by the day

2007 Tacoma - base - 2WD - 2.7 engine - auto trans

125K miles - no vibrations. 125.3K a slight vibration started at 25-30, 55-60, and 90-95 mph. Not in the wheel - it's in the seat and chassis. Get on the gas (or hold the throttle steady) = vibration. Get off the gas = vibration instantly disappears.

So I balanced the tires to 0.0, drove 2000 miles to Florida and back at 80-100 mph. The vibration got a little worse. Replaced 215/70-15 Capital tires with 235/75-15 Michelin LTX's. I balanced them all to 0.0 but it made no difference in the vibration.

A hundred or so miles later and the vibration is almost constant and is increasing on a daily basis.

The driveshaft u-joints seem rock solid to me - zero axial or radial play in them. The rear mount is intact and looks nice.

What do you all think is failing here?

Can a defective torque converter cause this kind of vibration?

PHM
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Mark and pull the drive shaft and check the joints. One may be seized. Can't tell that with the shaft in.

 

I have to install an oil furnace tomorrow - but maybe Tuesday morning I can get it on the lift and pull the shaft.

Anything toyota-whacky about the u-joints? Can I just pull some retaining circlips, press the old ones out, and the new ones back in?

PHM
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motor mounts?

 

Anything is possible.
However he said it would go away. Under a certain condition. You would THINK a dead or broken mount would vibe under all conditions.
Not necessary the fact. Gotta start somewhere and something to keep in mind.


Joints are nothing fancy.
If its bad just clean the grooves and cap surface before you install.

 

since you have a one piece driveshaft (standard cab), probably u joints....be careful, once they start to go parts explosion could happen at any moment while driving, it can get real nasty if that happens...


unless you abuse the truck or tow really heavy trailers all the time, I doubt seriously the motor mounts are the problem, Toyota builds some pretty beefy units....


also, the u joints may seem tight when you check them, they could be in a dry state and binding...I grease mine every 5000 miles when I change the oil, peace of mind...

 

So you have a vibration and drive your truck 80-100 mph?
Probably u-joints if I had to guess. Not a good thing if they break going that fast.

 

But I can tell you that a truck identical to mine has allegedly been driven by someone of my description at speeds which would be legal on the autobahn. <g>

Without even slight play in them (admittedly; checked with the drive shaft installed) I find it hard to believe that the u-joints are 'dangerously' loose - to the point of the shaft being likely to explosively fail. But the vibration is worse by the day - and as Mr Mike so eloquently stated: ya gotta start somewheres! - so I guess I'll put it on the lift tomorrow and pull the shaft to check the joints. While it's up there I'll flush the transmission fluid too. Time for some Mobil 1 juice I guess.

If that doesn't show and fix the problem I guess I get my transmission guy to check and offer an opinion.

I have driven rear wheel drive vehicles with bad u-joints where there was 1/2" of slop in the u-joints. CLUNK! every time you got on or off the gas. And there was no vibration like this little guy has - it's pretty darned substantial. And has advanced from "can you feel that?" to "damn; am I going to make it home?" in almost no time.

I'm am hoping it's the shaft but my spider sense has me leaning towards a torque converter coming apart or something like that. Although I sure do hope it's not! <g>

PHM
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This truck was used for sales calls for the first 100K miles. The frame hitch wasn't even added until about 110K miles. Since then it has towed an empty 18' steel flatbed about six miles, an empty 6 by 12 enclosed trailer less than 20 miles, and a 5 by 8 mesh-bed trailer with maybe 1000 lbs. on it less than 50 miles. It has generally been babied and driven-for-mileage for it's entire life.

Nonetheless; I'll check the motor mounts. Can I just rock the engine around with a length of pipe? Or maybe put a floor jack under the oil pan and try to lift it off the mounts that way?

PHM
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I WOULD NOT JACK BY OIL PAN
I WOULD USE A CROW BAR AT SAID MOUNT OR JUST HAVE SOMEONE REV THE ENGINE AND TAKE A LOOK

 

obviously, the OP is a numbnut...


the driveshaft with a bad U joint sometimes will not have play, but one or more of the cups have gone dry, the needle bearings haven't turned to dust yet and the U joint is binding, an explosion will happen if you keep driving it, sooner or later...


X2 on jacking the engine up by the oil pan...asking for trouble...BTW, if the motor mounts were bad, the radiator fan would be making all sorts of noise as it would be hitting the radiator cowling under acceleration or deceleration...just sayin'.


Hope you get it all sorted out before something bad happens...

 

I have since seen (on the internet) that a cup full of needle bearings running dry may cause a vibration. It never occurred to me before you mentioned it as that has never been my experience with drive shaft or half-shaft u-joints in the past.

Nonetheless; I bought a new pair of grease-able u-joints and am going to tackle the driveshaft first. And once I have it out I figure I may as well the replace the u-joints no matter what they look like.

And since the truck will be in the air anyway - I got a case of synthetic ATF and a filter so I can flush out the trans fluid at the same time.

Mr. Numbnut
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check the shaft balance while you got it pulled out.

 

LOL, you came here and asked the questions, then came back with your version...I do believe you were provided some good information in regards to both problems...


Driveshaft vibrations are annoying, I chased one for over two years in mine, finally got it sorted out, I have a two piece shaft, and it was not the U joints, I came here to TW and after some searching found the solution to my particular problem, great place with a wealth of information by using the search function...


Again, hope you get it sorted out....

 

I'm sorry to have doubted you all. You were right about the vibration issue.

I did finally get the universal joints changed in the Tacoma this morning. The rear u-joint was fine all around and three out of four cups in the front were fine - but one front cup had rust in it. But there was still almost no play in it. If I hadn't felt the heavy vibration myself I would have called the man a liar who showed it to me and told me that that was what has caused any vibration at All - let alone made it vibrate to That degree. <g> I'm telling you; I never would have thought it possible. Hell; I have driven vehicles with u-joints so bad that the yokes were wearing on the crosses - the cups were completely worn through - and they didn't vibrate like this bastard did. <g>

Anyway; track tested to 90 mph so far and it seems pretty silky - so I have no doubt that that one bad cup was the problem. And look at the bright side - at least I got a set of big Michelins out of the deal. <g>

Last night I got a case of synthetic ATF and a filter but I changed an engine in a Honda Accord today and that ran too late to let me flush the Tacoma transmission today.

The tranny flush is the last thing on my to-do list on this Tacoma. I had wanted to get Mobil 1 ATF but none said that it was for Toyota's so I got Valvoline MaxLife instead.

Oh no: one of the rear axle bearings was slightly rumbling when I was still looking for the cause of the vibration - so I guess that is still waiting for me to get to. And the rear brakes are probably down to 30% too. Still; once the transmission fluid is flushed I will count the truck Done until warm weather. This 5º nonsense sure ain't for me. <g>

Thanks for all your help - you all were right about the u-joint.

Mr. Numbnut
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I MAY NOT BE CORRECT ON THIS BUT I BELIEVE I AM
I THINK THAT TOYO FLUID FOR THE TRANNY IS THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE FLUID FOR OUR TRUCK

 

Although it says on the Bottle: T-IV spec - which is what my 2007 calls for.

PHM
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Glad it was a simple fix. Seen this to many times not to warrant a quick inspection. Hey, look at it this way. You now know something new to pass on to help someone else.

 

Just wanted to add, when you mentioned driving the Taco at speeds between 80 and 100MPH, that spurred the numbnuts comment more than anything else, if the universal decided to explode at those speeds, especially the front one, you probably wouldn't have been posting about your vibration problem, just sayin'...


Besides, it is a truck, not a race car....


Anyway, good thing on the fix, just make it a habit to grease the sucker with every oil change and you should be good to go for a long time...

 

Some Tacoma trucks take WS transmission fluid - but I think that is only earlier years than 2007.

I use Mobil 1 engine oil in all my vehicles and thought to get Mobil 1 ATF for this 2007. But I couldn't find it specifically stated that it was for units requiring 4-IV fluid - so I bought a synthetic ATF that did say that on the container. Which was: Valvoline MaxLife.

After your caution I went to the Valvoline website and confirmed that they do say to use MaxLife for 2007.

What is the difference between WS and 4-IV anyway? Does anybody know what the differences are between all the Dexron fluids, Ford fluid, Chrysler fluid, etc?

PHM
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