yota4life6

hello yotatechers!!!
Hoping someone can chime in and help me out here...

1995 4runner 4x4 auto 230k miles.. 3.0

At mid and high speeds, I have a terrible vibration/rumble.. its a combination of vibrate and low end noise... I can almost feel it in the seat of my pants and can watch the rear window (when its down a bit) vibrate or tremor in the rea view mirror... its almost a pulsating feeling.. A rotating problem no doubt, BUT NOT THE TIRES... when I let off the gas and coast, it gets worse but goes away at 45mph and below.. I can feather the gas around 55+ and make it come and go as I feather the pedal...

List of repairs/replacements (to rule out)
new tires
new u joints
new rear diff oil
multiple balancing/alignments
rebuilt 3.0 (just throwing that in there)
new shocks
new coils
and alot of heart and soul, and head scratching...

The vibration was there before all the repairs above and is still there with absolutely no difference..

I HOPE THIS HELPS YOU GUYS NARROW IT DOWN..., I COULD REALLY USE THE HELP...

one addition: When cold, the truck doesnt want to shift into OD for a dew minutes.. WHAT IS THAT TELLING ME... IS IT RELATED TO THE VIBRATIONS?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

yota

okie81

Drive shaft? They can get thrown out of balance by dings and bumps sometimes....

abecedarian

The trans not going into OD when cold is telling you that either the engine/trans is too cold to go into OD, or the temp sensor that tells the ECU that things are warm enough to go into OD is failing/failed... or everything may actually be working fine depending on how cold it is there.

As for the vibe- since you say it gets worse when you let off throttle, driveshaft balance is not likely the problem... either transmission output shaft bearings or differential input shaft bearings would be one guess... or possibly the bushings on the rear axle are worn allowing the axle to pivot too much under decel and are changing the angle of the u-joint at the rear of the driveshaft enough to cause a vibration.

86Toyrunna

id say check out that thrid member in the rearend.. if all that other stuff has already been done then thats where id start lookin.. also an idea.. when you drain the gear oil out of the rear.. pay attention to the coloring and texture of the oil.. does it have a real heavy metalic sheen or enven metal debris (bits of gear, bearing material.. and any outher good presents that might be hiding in there).. that can kinda let you know if your on a good trail.

abecedarian

adding to my last post- I missed the part about you saying you can feather the throttle and make it come/go away at will....
So like 86Toyrunna suggests, the input shaft to the differential could be the problem... or maybe the output shaft from the transmission/x-fer case.

yota4life6

thanks guys..
when I drained the gear oil, from what i can tell (and I did make a point to look) it looked pretty normal


someone once told me that our driveshafts couldnt be rebalanced, just replaced... is this true?

considering I dont know enough to be tackling some of these jobs.... What is the best way to approach a service/repair center when looking for help with this?
Do I send them to a particular area (that I learned on yotatech) or just hand them the keys and telll them what I am feeling..
What I have experienced in the past is like a doctor does.. TRY THIS AND SEE IF IT WORKS>>> I end up replacing parts that had no bearing on the problem.. really frustrating

Thanks again..
yota

abecedarian

drained the gear oil? trans or diff? makes a big difference when you consider the driveshaft has two ends. (not trying to be rude, just maybe implying as much info as possible helps)

any driveshaft can be balanced. bent ones just require a lot of weight.
no seriously, if the shaft is straight, it can be balanced.

if you're gonna take it to the shop, tell them everything in the first post you made, and everything you've done trying to isolate the problem. don't tell them you've talked to us. just act like we're little birdies on your shoulders confusing the hell out of you. (j/k). if you've got a laptop or pda with wireless connection, post what the mechanic says and we'll get back to you.

yota4life6

thanks abecedarian..
I appreaciate the info and input..
as far as gear oil, I have only drained and replaced the rear diff... I have checked the trany fluid level, etc.. it seems fine.
Can old or bad oil really cause this type vibration? I am still learning.. lol

Thanks again
yota

scuba

Subscribed.
Im experiencing similar problems, and i just had my ujoints replaced and dshaft ballanced by a shop.
Getting new tires soon so we will see

abecedarian

it's not the oil that causes they problem. the purpose of draining the oil is to see if the oil is burnt/discolored and if there are any contaminants in it from worn bearings, broken gear teeth, etc.

JeEVeS

i hate to rise the dead like i usually do but this time its on purpose. i am getting the same problems as described above. and this is the closest to the search that matched my criteria

similar issue that you are having. with the vibrations on cruise (between accel and decel). over 60 vibs all the time. but i can feather the throttle like 5% to make it go away. this started a week ago and i just took a trip to bend and it had me on edge the hole time.

While driving i have concluded it must be tranny or diff. from here i need to look at my d shaft for dings. another thought i just had would be out put bearing?? of the engine? i don't think that exist, just main bearings and thrust bearings in there but i have had thrust bearing issues before and can't count that out of my new problem.

so tranny somewhere
diff input bearing
driveshfat if i have dings?

sundog kid

Sorry to thread jack, but what would the look and consistancy of chocolate milk mean? lol

Thats what the remainder of my rear gear oil looked like when I did that bearing. no metal in it though.

northtorrey

I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon here...my '01 4runner with 120K miles started experiencing the exact problem described in the original post. I haven't had a chance to do much troubleshooting yet but I'm all ears for more tips on how to resolve this OUTSIDE of the stealership. I'll be changing the diff fluid first to see what it looks like.

Any other ideas? yota4life6- how'd you get it resolved?

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Check for any play in the drive shaft, at either end or at the slip yoke in the middle. How? Lay on back under the truck, grasp the drive shaft in both hands and push/pull as hard as you can, up-down and side-side and if any play is felt, that is usually too much. Could be loose pinion or t-case output flange, loose u-joints or a worn slip yoke.

And on a 4WD, easy way to isolate the rear shaft is to pull it and drive around in FWD and see if the vibes go away or not:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...FixingProblems

malteserunner

iTrader: (1)

Make sure you have greased the slip yoke. If it's dry, it can cause a little shake. Also, are the u-joints in line with each other? They need to be. Good luck.

JeEVeS

Thanks for the input 4crawler ( and thank you for the info on your site), and malteserunner. it got me up and out like indian jones.

So when you go to jiffy lube, they get you up the somewhere, and do all this stuff. but they do grease fittigs such as these, or at least they play pretty good.

I however am a MAN. I do my . damn manhood. it was on the list of things to do. The spider gear in the rear of the shaft was shot. i got down and started to move it back and forth and when it twisted i was all huh? i don't know if this is usual but only looks as though two (out of four) of the spider's bearings are shot. on this idea, i know this "spider bearing" has another name though escapes my thought at the moment.

so that was the initial find and i thought, hrm, another new frontier. something i definitely want to know how to do and now i get to do it, sweet. :rolleyes:

But then a much different and worse movement discovered. The output shaft on my transfer wobbled like a broken elbow. not good i say to my self alone. but at least the third seemed good, I'm not ready to play in those two coffee cans yet.

O, and i also the culprit of an infamous rattle, a rock made home on my gas tank skid.

So i remove the drive shaft, third still looks good, but the jam nut for the output flange was loose to the finger. i only have a 30mm wrench until tomorrow ill pick one up, but my wrench wouldn't fit inside the flange but i tightend it up as much as i could.

So just cause i haven't yet, i went for a drive in front wheel drive. um. well i made it home alive. basically don't do that unless you need need to. On acceleration my truck was everywhere. the open diff didn't know what to do with the crazy 22re power i got under the hood.

So earlier today i ordered a few goodies from marlin like a rebuild kit for the tranny. I think i may as well call them and add on a transfer rebuild kit. i bought my turbo tranny used with unknown miles so it would set my mind at ease knowing I have gone through it. maybe it is time to try and post up a rebuild of tranny and transfer.

sry bout the long high jack.