Hi Scotty,
I recently started feeling vibrations from the floor of the cabin and also vibrations in the steering wheel. The vibration from the steering is most noticeable when I am not moving. It feels like I can feel the fluid running through the steering rack. When driving I can also feel a lot of vibrations from the road (less vibration of smoother roads and it gets worse on roads with coarse surfaces). Feels like I am feeling the road directly. Finally, I have some steering shakes when I hit a bump or pothole. All of this makes the ride feel really rough
I suspect all of the vibrations and shakes are due to worn-out steering rack bushing. What else can I check out for. I intend to fix it myself.
Thanks
Bases on what you described, I think the vibration can come from worn shocks. Replace them.
About the low mpg, follow Scotty's video on cleaning the MAF sensor and throttle body. Also, run some fuel injector cleaner.
@yaser, thanks for the help. I have cleaned the MAF sensor and hopefully should give it some driving to get it recalibrated.
I also feel this jolt when I cold start the vehicle in the morning. I feel it through the steering like the engine or something gives way when I get to do a cold start. However, when I physically monitor it at startup there is no visible movement in of the engine and transmission.
Yu might have a mechanic check the transmission and motor mounts.
Thanks. just to also note, something when I try to accelerate a little hard I hear this clicking sound, from the driver's side which is also where the transmission is. Don't know if it is coming from the transmission or from the Axle.
Well check the steering ride positions but also check the struts and check for worn tie rod ends
Hi @scottykilmer,
Thanks for your response on this. I did check all of the struts, tie-rod ends, ball joints but could not find any physical damage to any of them. The vibration has gotten worse and sometimes makes the vehicle stressful to drive. I also feel some play from the passenger side wheel, I hear a knocking sound when I turn the steering fully to the driver side.
A second question is about the sound coming from the engine, the engine sound has gotten incredibly loud and sounds different from how it sounded before. It sounds like it has a hump to it and my MPG has gotten terribly bad. I usually have a combined 18-20 MPG in the Toyota highlander 2007, 3.3ltr V6 engine. but now the best I get is 13MPG.
I did try to scan it, but the scan tool was unable to retrieve any data about the drive train (engine, and transmission).
What should I look out for?
Thanks
Hi @scottykilmer,
The vibration comes primarily from the passenger side wheel, and it increases with the roughness/bumpiness of the road. I feel the vibration in the dashboard, the steering wheel, and even the pedals.
Hi @opeyemi,
Have you checked the brake rotors ? from what you describe it is possible that the brake rotor is warped and causing the vibrations.
For your steering, have you checked the power-steering fluid ? the reservior is on the top left, if you can shine light through it its fine, if its dark you probably have to change the fluid a couple or more times.
Also, how much is the car driven ? If the transmission fluid is going bad(usually after 60, 000 miles) that can cause noises in the front wheels as the same fluid runs through the transaxle. You could also change the fluid in the transfer case (in the case you have a 4wd), just to be extra sure.
hope this helps.
Thanks for your response.
The car is not driven too regularly say about 500miles a month. I did a transmission drain recently and not too long after this is when I noticed the problem. I did drain the transmission fluid and put in back the same quantity, but I noticed that when I checked the transmission fluid level, it is higher than the gauge marking.
I suspect that the torque converter is not holding the oil as I noticed that when I did drain it, almost all of the specified capacity of 8.8 liters was drained. I expected that the torque converter to still hold about 2litres of the oil.
The power steering fluid is clean and correctly guaged as well.
@harb7gner,
I also feel this jolt when I cold start the vehicle in the morning. I feel it through the steering like the engine or something gives way when I get to do a cold start. However, when I physically monitor it at startup there is no visible movement in of the engine and transmission.