Hello everyone, I'd greatly appreciate it if you had a moment to answer this fairly odd question about my fairly odd car, a 2013 Scion xD 4-speed automatic.
I've noticed after I've been stopped for more than a couple of seconds or so, the car sometimes starts strongly vibrating if I am in gear. It goes away when I put it in neutral or park. I have 113,000 miles and there are no lights on the dash except for a pesky TPMS light that we can't get to turn off. I tried scanning the car but my scanner is pretty old now and doesn't seem to work on most cars, otherwise I'd provide codes.
My first thought is that it is the spark plugs, and I don't know if they've been replaced or not, I only bought the car a few months ago, and all I've done so far is replace the transmission fluid and serpentine belt. I've also read on a forum on this site from a few years ago that it may be vacuum-related.
P.S. if Scotty reads this I just want to say thank you for all your car advice, I went from wanting to get a Subaru Impreza for the sake of AWD to getting this "Toyota" for the sake of a reliable car, and I in fact do not really need AWD, it has been absolutely fine on FWD.
If you don’t know the history then spark plugs would definitely be worth checking other wise you need the car scanned. Could be looking at a mounting issue or a driveability issue but you won’t know for sure until it is scanned
Thank you for the reply. I will see if I can order a new scan tool and send back any codes that pop up after the scan. I believe the life interval for spark plugs is 100,000 miles, so I might just replace those anyway.
'the car vibrates in idle (after a run), but it stops when taken 'out of gear'..'
It might be a stupid remark, but I don't see how that can/could change the functioning of the plugs...
When you put the tranny in D or R again, does the vibrating return?
Is it impossible, something in the transmission is causing the vibration?
IMHO you could start with renewing your plugs (which is to come) before you invest $4000 in a professional obd-2 reader.
It would be a 'repair free of charge' 😀
I know this thread is kind of old but for others that might need information. The poor idol could be due to your timing chain tensioner or just the timing in general. It also could be a dirty throttle body. Just clean the plate and throttle body. A vacuum leak as mentioned could also be the cause. After trying all of the above with no success you could disconnected the battery cables and touch them together to reset the idle or you may need a OBD2 reader that can relearn the idle. I had the same problem with my 2013 Scion XD and a new timing chain tensioner cleared the problem right up. Hope this helps somebody.
I know this thread is kind of old but for others that might need information. The poor idol could be due to your timing chain tensioner or just the timing in general. It also could be a dirty throttle body. Just clean the plate and throttle body. A vacuum leak as mentioned could also be the cause. After trying all of the above with no success you could disconnected the battery cables and touch them together to reset the idle or you may need a OBD2 reader that can relearn the idle. I had the same problem with my 2013 Scion XD and a new timing chain tensioner cleared the problem right up. Hope this helps somebody.
I only bought the car a few months ago, and all I've done so far is replace the transmission fluid and serpentine belt
113,000 Miles and you changed the transmission fluid, and now it has a rough idle. This might be the problem/issue right here.
- Was the ATF changed prior to your purchase in the past?
- If it's a 2013, it should have been changed around 2018. If it wasn't and you just changed the ATF, it may be slipping and contributing to the rough idle.
- Was the vehicle idling rough and giving you problems prior to the ATF change?
Other things I'd look at include bad battery/alternator, ignition coil pack failing, slipping transmission after changing, torque convertor issue.
If you're out of your depth, you should just send the car in to have a proper investigation
