ayS

well, i put on a trd axleback exhaust and it seems like the virbations went away for me. hehe....

06B0X

Oh oh oh I wanna add the following!!!!

I was sitting in a drive-thru and had the most AWFUL sound come from my car with less then 500 miles. I was like what the heck, it's brand new!!

Took it to the dealership only to find out that the hood was not adjust properly and when the compressor came on, it was causing an odd vibration. They fixed it lickty split and its been fine ever since. :-D

EZ-BAKED

I have a 04 it has had the shakes sence i got it new. when the a/c is on or sometimes @ a stop light i have taken to dealer 3 time they never find anything wrong. its a weard shake and dosent seem right.

kev9910

Yes, the dealer is right about the engine being so small that it doesn't have much weight to not feel the vibration. But toyota makes great cars, honda's aren't as good actually. My experience working at diffrent dealerships shows that toyota is a little better than a honda.

Bdiddy

My car gets the shakes sometimes as well when i have the ac on. I think they may just be that the ac parts are using up some of the cars power so it casues the rpm fluxuations. But I don't know much about this stuff so My guess might be completly wrong

nnnickkk

mine vibrates like crazy, even worse then stock due to my engine dampener. its normal.

vintage42

What's with your dampener?

nnnickkk

its there to keep the engine still, thus power to the ground. one end goes from the engine mount then one goes to the shock tower (comes with a bracket that bolts on to the shock bolts). the vibrations go through there to the body to the whole car. i like it. its effective, but if your at idle at a light with a girl or something shes like wtf is your car gonna break or something? lol. you can definatly feel the vibrations.

Johnny_BoyzxB

My 06 Xb has 10,000 on it and vibration problem only ocurred after oil change place installed new air filter (i live up a dirt road) improperly. I checked under the hood and found that the air filter bousing was obviously wrenched around to stuff in new filter. Wouldn't even shift out of 2nd until i got to Toyota dealer. Worked perfect on test ride! He said Toyota recommends oem parts not after market especially air filter. I changed back to Toyota air filter and vibration is minimal but I can still feel it a very little bit. Wasn't there before. the air filter housing visibly vibrates now before it was almost imperceptable. Toyota just said keep checking it. The oil change place is just playing phone tag with me.Everyone is saying a bit of jumping in filter housing is normal.
So no worries?

amec2ldo

Hello all. Thanks for all the great info regarding engine vibes at idle. I have a 2004 xA purchased as a repo in 2008. It was my daughter’s until very recently, so I wasn’t aware of the problems. The first thing I found (thanks to this site) was the common problem of the hose not secured in the clamp on the firewall. A few posts indicated it was a fuel line, but it’s actually a vacuum hose running to the vacuum switching valve (VSV) that hangs on the side of the air box. The hose wouldn’t stay in place, so I secured it with two plastic strap ties in an ‘x’ pattern (each one routed behind the firewall clamp in different directions).

Now for the loose air box that plagues our cars. The problem is three worn rubber bushings where the bolts pass through the bottom of the air box. For easy access I completely removed the air box cover by:

1. Disconnecting vacuum hoses on both sides of the VSV.
2. Disconnecting electrical connectors to the VSV and to the MAF. You can also disconnect the wire harness clamp with a pair of needlenose pliers by the pinching plastic clips where the clamp is attached to the air box cover.
3) Disconnect the large vacuum hose attached to the rubber air intake duct. Loosen both clamps and remove the air duct.
4) Pull the intake duct from the bottom of the air box. This is the harder plastic duct running from behind the left headlight. No tools required and no need to remove the duct completely…just work it side to side while forcibly pulling one end from the bottom of the air box.

Unless I left out a step, you can now undo the air box cover clips (for access to the air filter) and remove the cover. I found it easier to remove the cover by leaving the filter in the air box. Now remove the air filter and voilà – three bolts! Now move the air box around and you’ll see how loose it is on the bushings. You can’t tighten the bolts because of the steel sleeves in the bushings. My first inclination was to just remove the sleeves. After reinstalling the bolts I saw a noticeable difference. What I didn’t like was the bolts weren’t that tight without the sleeves installed (no metal to metal contact). Tightening them too much would further destroy the bushings. I made a few attempts to reuse the same bushings and sleeves with washer stacks, etc., but I still wasn’t satisfied. I also learned the bushings aren’t sold separately…you have to buy the WHOLE air box at $260!

I stumbled across the final solution at AutoZone. I took a chance and paid $3.99 for Dorman wiper motor bushings (part number 49450). Unbelievably, they came as a set of three – exactly what you need for the air box. They fit like a glove! To see what I mean, leave one of the old bushings in place and install one of the new ones in a different hole. The old bushing is a very sloppy fit, the new one doesn’t move at all. So I installed all three new bushings. I also used the new steel “hat” sleeves that came with them by installing them from the bottom up. I realize two of the three original steel sleeves aren’t like the new ones, but trust me when I tell you the new ones work well.

Then I reinstalled the air box and tightened the bolts firmly. What a difference! I put everything back together (after cleaning the MAF) and took it for a ride. I will tell you it didn’t take care of all vibes associated with these small engines at idle, but it made a VERY NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE! Let me know if this helps!

cwilliamhicks

@amec2ldo has it here!
I have a 2006 Scion xA with about 55k miles on it. It just recently started making a banging rattle noise from under the hood in drive and reverse, but only at a stand-still at idle.

I diagnosed it this way: I had someone sit in the car, pull the handbrake, put it in gear, and hold the brake while I went around front and checked under the hood. As soon as I popped the hood I could see the airbox dancing away, vibrating and making the rattling noise. I put my hand on the airbox to dampen the vibrations and the noise decreased (and even stopped) as I applied pressure to the airbox.

Using amec2ldo's suggestions, I did the following:

- removed the airbox cover, as if to replace the air filter. I kept the electrical connections but removed a few hoses as needed to move the top half of the airbox to the left over the engine and get it out of my way.
- removed the air filter.
- removed the hard plastic intake tube that feeds air to the bottom of the airbox. The part that goes to the bottom of the airbox just pulls out (it snaps back in) and there's one 10mm screw holding the other end by the front left headlight if you need to totally remove it.
- removed the bottom half of the airbox by removing the three 10mm bolts using a ratchet and extensions.

This was my first time working on this car and I noticed everything is 10mm, even the heads of the hose clamps... nice.

With the bottom of the airbox out I could work on it with ease. Replacing the three rubber bushings with the Dorman part 49450 bushings was easy once I realized to slide the metal inserts out first, then push the rubber bushings in and then reinsert the metal inserts. I positioned all three so the metal flange was on the inside of the airbox to face the heads of the three bolts.

Installation is the reverse of removal, and right away the airbox isn't rattling around any more. It still visibly shakes back and forth, but the vibration is being properly dampened by the new rubber bushings.

I found that while advance auto parts stocks the parts, I went to three that supposedly had it "in stock" with no luck. I ended up getting it off rockauto.com when I ordered some parts for other projects.

amec2ldo

Glad to see it worked for you cw! Truth be told, the air box bushings were a big improvement for me, but the real fix for the vibes and noise I was experiencing was to replace the motor/tranny mounts (all 3 from rockauto at a DEEP discount over the local stores and other online parts sellers). The difference was night and day. The car now rides like new.

cwilliamhicks

That sounds about right - with an engine that shakes this much every piece of rubber is going to be a regular replacement item.

About when did you replace the mounts? My xA only has 55k on the clock and the rattling from the airbox started a few months ago and was taken care of by replacing those bushings. I'm trying to think when I should plan on replacing the engine mounts.

xBBQ

I would like to chime in with my own data on the "vibrating engine / Vibrating Airbox" item.

It is important to note that this little engine has some inherent vibration that is "normal". the vibration I describe below is beyond that normal vibration.

My 2005 AT xB has 157,000 miles on it. At about 150,000 miles or more, I started to notice a visible and AUDIBLE engine vibration. The most noticeable symptom was the NOISE created by the rapid front to back vibration of the air filter box. In fact, in retrospect this vibration was so severe that it sheared the wires of the IAT sensor that is hooked on the air handler:


I inspected the bushings/studs that attaché the air box to the engine and they appear sound to me. They are tight and not cracked. I have NOT replaced them as described in the posts above.

I then took it to an independent import mechanic who replaced three motor mounts. He said they were looking worn and would alleviate the excess vibration. The vibration is lessened, but definitely still persists as described below:

If the engine is running, and I have the car in gear (D or R) but I am stopped, then the air handler vibration occurs. Under these conditions, RPM are low, sub 800 it appears. If I shift in to N, then RPM increases slightly, toward 900 to 1000, and the vibration is not audible. Putting the car back in gear brings the vibration back as the RPM decrease. Likewise, with the car in gear, if I apply the breaks while simultaneously giving the accelerator gas to raise RPM, the vibration goes away or diminishes as the RPM reach 900-1000.

Has anyone seen the symptoms above and found a fix other than engine mounts and the air box handler studs?

cwilliamhicks

For what it's worth, when I replaced the airbox mounts with the dorman parts the existing bushings did not appear worn at all. The difference was night and day, however - other than the vibration inside the vehicle, you could see the airbox dancing away, which lessened noticeably. Definitely do those since it's so cheap and easy.

I don't like the idea of messing with the idle speed by changing the throttle linkage since the engine computer is trying to control the idle as well, probably with an idle air valve.

xBBQ

Excellent feedback. I will follow your lead and replace them. I do admit I was contemplating changing the idle speed, and agree it would not be a great idea.