xile6

So I got a 05 tC last night. It has some work done to it. Normally I get a stock car and just fix it up how I want,
but it was pretty much there and good price so couldn't pass it up.

Now on to whats going on.

First there is vibration when accelerating. I haven't had the time to jack it up and check everything out (been in the 100F outside).
But drives fine only has this wild vibration when gassing it.

2) The guy before me mess up the shifter. Its been cut, so there is no threads on it. Does anyone know where to get a cheap OEM shifter from?
I check eBay and don't even see them. I see some short shifters for $90 but that's just to much IMO for a short shifter.

3)The car has an anti theft light (picture of a car with a key).
This light tends to flash while i drive the car. Is there suppose to happen?
Also do these cars come with OEM alarms or door unlock?
I plan to add an alarm soon.

4)The clutch pedal feels kinda hard. (i have a stage 3 in my Civic and its still softer then the tC) is this normal?

5) there is an unplug gret single wire connector by the driver side headlight. I don't know what this is for. Everything on the car seems to work.

Ill try to get a pick later of the wire.

xile6

So got some time to check out the car and do some work.

1) turn out to be the front right wheel bearing. I order new parts and will install when they come in. Had to do the same thing to my Civic,
so i have a 20ton press should be able to same amount of work. Crazy it only vibrates when accelerating. I known wheel bearing to make noise all the time.

2) Since short was metal steel (not alumi.) i simply welded a bolt to it and use that to screw on a shift ****.

3) Still dont know

4)research show that most people say its just a stiff pedal.
5)Did some google images and found out that plug is for OEM foglights.

Mjdavis1994

I may have some insight on that "stiff pedal" if you're still paying attention to this post. I had a brand new clutch master cylinder, slave cylinder, pressure plate, release bearing, and clutch plate and had a hard pedal that would disengage the clutch but sometimes was rough and turns out they put a plastic bushing in the Clevis pin for the master cylinders Clevis. Why I'm not for certain but mine kept breaking a slight crack in the plastic and would cause an extremely hard pedal because instead of pushing in the master the rod connecting to the pedal would bend in an L instead of pushing the rod in. I ended up welding mine (the inner part of just the Clevis itself not to the rod) to keep that bushing from breaking and my clutch is 100x better. The adjustment is exact and there's no guessing the engagement point. I press the pedal about an inch and a half down and it's completely disengaged. Fell in love with the cars clutch after that. It's worth a check.

xile6

The clutch seems to be ok. It is stiff but not unuseable. Also heard fromsome other tc owns that its normal.

My problems now are still vibration in the car.
I change the fron pass wheel bearing and ball joint.
That help alot.
Jack it up and nothing moves.
But still wobs / viberate
Had all new tires , balc them and and alingment done. Still the same problem.

Also a new problem has come up.
My evap emission wont complete.
Ive had thr car for about 2weeks. I check the codes every few days and theres none, everything else completed but the evap.

Mjdavis1994

Yeah that's how mine was it's worth a shot to check if you wanna get the pedal lighter. That plastic bushing is what causes that hard feeling in the pedal about half way down on pedal throw.

Is the vibration a vibration or pulsing? if it's still doing it my money is on your cv axle. Check both your axles for play/ torn boots.

And your EVAP won't turn on? I'm not sure how you know that without a code sending your check engine light on. If I'm misreading and it threw a code for your EVAP system the most likely cause is your gas cap. These cars have a problem with the caps not sealing or the locking mechanism breaking on it sending your EVAP system off. You will get the same result from overfilling your fuel tank.

xile6

The steering wheel doesnt shake.
The front ofnthe car does. Around 20mph to 35mph you can feel a wobble.
When accelerating you feel a hard vibration.
Its harder in the 20-35mph range.
If i am crusing 60mph all is fine.
If i gas it, it will vibrate/ shake.

As said i got brand new tires, balc and wheels aligned.

What should i look for in the axles?
Last i check the boots where good and i didnt feel any play in them.

And on the evap. I mean the readness wont complete.
I have had the car for almost 2weeks and the evap readyness is incomplete.

I never had a car take longer then a day to complete all emission checks.



And thanks for the help

Mjdavis1994

For the half shafts let the car cool down and put it up on stands. There's the upper and lower joints on the cv axles. Attempt to move the axle in and out of the transmission and in a circular motion (not turning it holding it stationary and rotating it) and there shouldn't be much if any movement. If there is they are either failing or bad.

As for the EVAP system are you doing city driving or highway? Where is your fuel level at when you're driving?

xile6

I move both axle and half shaft. On the axles there is very little play. moves maybe about 1 or 2mm.
I rotated it and it rotates about 2 or 3 degs.
The half shaft has no in and out but the same 2-3 deg rotation play.
I took a video i can upload it to youtube and post it.

ON the evap.
I drive mainly city @ 50mph but i do about 15-20 miles mon-thr on the freeway @ 70ish mph.
i have put in 3 tanks of gas since i got the car. normally fill up at 1/4 tank.
The first tank i got i let the low fuel light come on to test it.
Everything else has completed its test but the evap. I dont know the drive cycle for the evap. Im not to worried as i dont have emission until next year, but i would like to fix problems while i have a lil cash on hand.

MY biggest problem with this car is this shaking.

Mjdavis1994

That sounds like your cv axles are okay. Have you checked for faulty engine mounts?

And it's best to drive with no stops to get the EVAP system to pass but sometimes it takes 500+ miles when it's being stubborn so it may just be a time thing. You have any inspections soon?

xile6

i dont have emission until 05-2017. Just thought it was weird that it didnt set and i been about 600miles since i got the car. (dont know if it was set when i got the car as i installed an alarm day one so battery got unplug. )

i havent check the mounts. is there a good way to check them.
Normally when one is bad i can feel the car shaking badly at idle.
This car doent do this.
but i will check them for crack last today.

Mjdavis1994

I was just curious and when you removed the negative depending on how long it was removed for the emissions may take longer where it has to relearn everything. If you're not getting a code for it I wouldn't worry about it where you don't have to do emissions for a while just periodically check it till you're good.

And in addition to checking for cracks/worn mounts have a buddy get in and you can look at the engine. Have him/her rev it up and if the engine jumps or has excessive movement you know a mounts bad. They have videos on how much is too much movement on YouTube.

sciontc_mich

You just described aftermarket axles. Very typical as they never include the dampers that the factory have attached to the axle shafts. It's very sad to what the previous owners of these tC's have done to them over the 10 years they've been out on the market. You will not feel any play in the aftermarket cv joints, and everything will appear "good" and "normal". Fact that they aren't balanced is the problem. My friend just got some carquest branded axles, and they vibrate on his tC under hard acceleration, but when cruising at speed, no vibrations. The remedy is simple, buy the Toyota ones, new and remanufactured available. That's really the only solution.

Also for 05 there were some of the tC's had bad evap canisters (charcoal canisters) that were never able to work. Yes I was around back then at the beginning of scion to know..Toyota replaced them back then under warranty and changed the design, I don't think there was a service bulletin or a recall. That's what happens with first year production, always bugs. I remember the canisters weren't purging their vapors so when someone went to fill the gas tank, it kept clicking off (too many vapors in the tank).

The readiness won't complete because there's a problem with the evap controls that control the charcoal canister. Now if you can't do the testing on the evap, take it to someone who can, that way you'll know what you have to replace.

mjdavis1994 is also correct that you should check your engine mounts. You never said how many miles were on this car, but chances are 100,000 miles is the time the engine mounts begin to get weak. And being an 05 you're probably close to that already.

xile6

Thank you for the information.
I did some research and found a guy (user name "web" on another board) that use some OPpart axles and said there just like oem and work put great for him.
So i am going to order some a set friday and put them in and ill update on that.

The car has 170k on it. The motor mounts dont look crack or anything like that. I can launch it and doesnt feel like the motor is going to jump out. But i will get someone to help me check everything.

On the evap system i will research that. But what really needs to be done? A new can?

sciontc_mich

oh yeah I know web, if it works for him it'll work for you. I was just mentioning carquest because my friend just replaced them within the last week. I'm not sure how long ago web said that brand was good. Things change all the time like moog brand some of their stuff used to be good, now it's really bad quality. That's why I mentioned that. Guess you'll have to get that other brand and see. Hope it's still good! I know carquest has a lifetime warranty on theirs. Advance auto owns carquest so you can get them at advance as well. I think it was about $140 total for both sides

too bad you don't see what Toyota's remanufactured axles cost. I know that would solve the vibrations immediately. But up to you, depends on how much money you have.

I know the evap can was bad but I can't remember if it was more than that, you should probably do a search on here and cstc (the other forum) to see what you can find about the evap problems. The info is still here, see what they're problems were. Chances are that it's the same problems, we all experience these same issues from time to time.

Yeah you should take a look at sparksparts.com look at some of the parts diagrams for oem axles, at least so you can see what the oem is supposed to look like (with the dampers installed on the axle shaft). That way you can see what you're missing with the axles you have now.

and hey you're welcome for the info, yeah I'm an old school member of this forum, been around the tC world for awhile, I just don't make it online as much. glad the info could help ya. and like I said, definitely search here, there's over a decade of info! same with cstc's website.

xile6

Well did some searching and googling pix.
And it seems the oem driver side axle has a reduced shaft towards the break rotor.

Oreillys had a brand like that and they labled as Remanufactured.

MasterPro CV - CV Axle Shaft
Line: MPV | Part # 60-5237

So i said ah let me try this and see what happens it was $60 plus tax.

Swap it out and rip down the street to get my core charge back.

And holy **** the car rips pretty good.
The shaking and vibrations in the driver side was almost all gone.

My pass side does have a small vibe to it but the car is 10x better.
Ill probably order the pass axle from this brand and see what happens. (They didnt have the pass side in store)
The oem pass side has a runber donut on the shaft tho. And the masterpro cv one doesnt.

So i hope this helps anyone that is looking to fix the shaking and vibration.

Thank you guys for all the help.
Never had an axle caise these problems before.

sciontc_mich

ahh so you went with the ones from oreilly. Sometimes you just have to be the beta tester and try out something.. Glad to hear that it worked out! I know a couple years ago the aftermarket was one bad one (vibrations) after another. But yeah only the oem has that damper "donut". So whatever vibration is left, nothing can really be done except to look at reman or new Toyota ones.

I'm glad I could help you out and I stopped by the forums again. It hit me like "hey, he's describing an aftermarket axle, perfectly".. lots of junk aftermarket parts out there! Another one for people reading this in the future, stay away from EMPI brand, I've heard their axles are snapping in half lately! ouch..

xile6

Pick up the pass side axle and all vibration is gone. Car runs great. Now i can move on to my turbo setup.

The evap still hasnt set but i found iut im allowed 1 not ready and still pass, so i wont worry about that till next year.

Almost forgot. The anti theft light. Mines always stay soild when car was off and flash while driving.
Found out that it was stuck in program mode for new keys.
To turn that off you must put the key in and turn the ignition off-on 5 times then remove the key.
So now my light flashes when car is off and light turns off while driving.

sciontc_mich

awesome, look at that.. replaced both axles and no more problems! Good to hear that! When you took the old ones off, did they have the dampers (donut looking things) on the shaft?

so the evap is something you can take your time and try and diagnose over the next year.. and the antitheft light/programming was corrected. Why was it in that mode anyway? Weird.. but hey you're fixed and now the anti-theft will work correctly.

Sounds like good news! But let me know if the old axles you removed had those damper donut looking things on the axles..

xile6

Old axle did not have the donut.
The new ones dont either tho.
The pass side looks the same as my old one. But the old one did have a bad bearing at the half shaft. When i pull it out you can feel a grinding when rotating it.

Now the old driver side axle was one thicknessthe whole shaft.
The new on shaft gets smaller as you get closer to the wheel side (pix of oem axle show this also)

And the anti thieft light was probably like that because i found out i only got the valet key. I called a locksmith and was qouted $85 for a new master key. Which ill going to do in a few days.

I brought a cheap techstream.
It will let me run some test on the evap system. So ill be working on that soon.

**edit
Load up techstream and ran the evap testing.
Everything came back as pass.
Turn the car off and back on then scan it again.
And bam everything is ready.

So im all good to go.

sciontc_mich

I just got the email telling me there's a message here! sorry for the delay.

Oh you actually got a toyota techstream?! lucky guy! so you finally forced it to update itself by forcing the test. There we go, good!

Now about the axles, no donuts means those were aftermarket that were in there. And not being correct, I don't doubt it. The ones you got sound like they're supposed to be. Good!

So now everything is fixed.. always nice to hear!