Hey all,

Ive got a 2000 4Runner 3.4L w 333,000 km. Recently I’ve noticed a pretty significant vibration starting around 90 km/hr and is bad up until around 110 km/hr, where it gets better above that speed (but never seems to go away completely). It almost feels similar to driving on the “rumble strip” on the sides and middle of some highways. I think I feel it more in my seat than in my steering wheel, but I definitely feel it in both so it’s tough to tell.

I believe it’s power train related because it only seems to happen if I am giving it gas; if I take my foot right off the throttle (coasting down a hill for example), it goes away as soon as I take my foot off, and starts again immediately upon giving it any sort of pedal love. Also, I put a completely different set of wheels and tires on (winter set) and it has the exact same symptoms at the same speeds, so I doubt it’s a wheel balance issue.

Thanks for any tips or ideas!

 

Take a look at the Center Support Bearing (Carrier) see if its loose worn out.

 

4Runner has a double cardan joint, not a carrier bearing like Tacos, a lot of people miss the 5th grease nipple on the needle bearing in the centre of the cardan joint on the rear shaft, but they don't fail often, the rear U-joint takes a beating and is usually the first to go. You could try it in AWD or 4x4 (depending on model) and see if it changes, if it does, try removing the rear drive shaft and see if it goes away. Sounds like your in Canada, if its a salty as it is here, I noticed all the factory balancing weights on my older 4R's drums and drive shafts decided to rust off, and the drive shaft itself looked terrible, never been quite as smooth as my non-rusted 4R. Also rear diff and rear axle bearings could be the issue along with a few other uncommon things,

 

It turned out to be a bad u-joint, as I had suspected. Just before I took it in to the dealer, it started clunking every time I would shift from reverse into drive after driving in reverse for a bit.

Dealership only charged me 1.2 hours even though it apparently took them over 4 as it was seized in and broken, and they also inspected my front end for free. Not bad...

 

It's nice when flat rate labor works to your advantage