If anyone can please help ill appreciate it! I have a 12 Scion tC with 16,000 miles. I did get the car per-owned I got it with 15k miles. Every time I'm at a stop light my car vibrates/shakes, i can feel it in my pedals and my steering wheel. Sometimes I can feel my drivers seat shake as well. I already took it to Toyota because it's still under factory warranty and they said its normal and to not worry about it, but if you drive the car longer the vibration does get worst. I already put it on the lift and checked if it was the motor mounts and they seemed fine, and also the bushings/control arms. In the outside everything looks fine. I'm not sure what it can be i know its not normal. No codes are running so I'm stuck with out a clue of what it could be.

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The idle timing could be set too low or a cylinder misfiring. You might want to try replacing the spark plugs. Certainly get a second opinion at a repair shop - the dealer might just say it's normal because they don't want to take time to troubleshoot it for you - it's definately NOT normal.

 

when idle the rpm is around 550. thats what i figured that they are just giving me the run around. i might change the plugs but at 16k i didn't think it was necessary. How do you fix the idle timing issue?

 

For a Scion tC they'd need to adjust the ECU to change/correct the timing. It's all done electronically. If they can't or don't want to do it then call around to various shops to see if anyone can 'tune' your car or adjust the idle timing for you.

Probably take a half hour to hook it up and dial in the required settings. The equipment required to do this can cost $2K+, way too much unless you are running your own repair shop.

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Thanks I appreciate it! this problem has me in the edge!
I also saw on other forums of other people having idle issues could be Scion has not recognized this as in issue.

If there is nothing that I can do to fix this, I'm just going to trade it in and be done with this.

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maybe the idle gets worse if one races the car a lot. sounds like the previous owner beat on it a bit.

 

I'd probably change the spark plugs (it's less expensive) and if it's not fixed with that then get a shop to tune it.

 

Sorry but that has nothing to do with the idle. I don't drive mine easy at all and have no issues with idling.

To the OP, do you have an auto or a manual?

 

I have 22k miles with 0 idle issues. I idle 550-600 steadily. Never seen my car any lower. Manual 13tc

 

I have only seen mine dip to 500 but jumps right back to 650 and stays there, and this is monitoring via scan gauge. I have 37k on mine, manual as well.

 

It's the faint vibrations we feel when stopped at a light. not always there but sometimes you can definitely feel it. I can see why people may not notice them, but if the driver's seat is shaking then this is a clearly exaggerated and serious problem, the key will be to reproduce this problem at the dealer to have them check it out. otherwise they will give you the "it's normal" BS.

I was just taking a guess, which is why i said maybe. Is it possible that flat-out driving can cause the ECU to malfunction?

 

That's what I'm thinking. Smh, some people just don't know how to take care of a vehicle.

 

Mine idles around 550ish and it's auto. What I probably will do is change the plugs and if that doesn't work I'm just going to have to live with it because the dealer isn't going to do nothing. I already took it to two different Toyota's and they said nothing was wrong.

 

Ask you dealer for a phone # for something like a regional manager for Toyota corporation.
And if they don't want to give it to you, just call Toyota customer line or something similar and they should help.

They oversee the dealers. This is BS, I have 2012 tC, manual with 25 K and no issues whatsoever.

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Forgot to mention, mine is 16K and i feel slight vibrations sometimes.
I do remember what it was like for the first 5,000miles. I did not feel any vibrations back then.

 

Do you know what a torque damper is? Google it and see if the original owner installed one. These will make this happen and it's perfectly normal. Otherwise, doesn't sound good and the dealer there is an a-hole.

 

It kinda sounds like how solid motor mounts feel. Try popping one out and looking, sometimes people fill them with window weld and other similar stuff. If the PO modded other stuff it wouldn't be too unlikely the filled stock mounts.

 

It doesn't have one. Should I install one?

 

What I'm thinking of doing is just replacing all them with the dealer ones, cause the dealer won't do it, guess im going to have to pay up and do it myself

 

Have good look at one first. You should be able to tell if they're the problem.