Car Vibration Issue, Need Help

[protess]

I just bought my car from a lexus dealer, just about a week, it's used 2011 ES 350, mileage about 30K, I noticed some vibrations on my car and idk what's the cause of it, so I hope if there's any of you guys can help me figure out what the cause of the problem is..coz I'm completely a noob on car stuff...

the issue is my car vibrates when in 'D' drive while stopped at a stop light/sign, but vibrate stops when placed in 'N' neutral..so...plz help...

[VBdenny]

Sounds like the idle is high which causes the transmission to strain against the brakes. Look at your tachometer as the car is idling in Park. Should be around 800. Of course when the engine is cold, it will idle high until reaching temperature. In the past with carburetors, that was done to keep the engines running. Now the high idle is most likely for emissions reasons.

Since you just bought the car, I'd take it right back to the dealer and find out why. If you told me it had 130,000 miles and it did it I'd question why. Put a lemon in your coat pocket in case you have to set it on a desk or something.

[protess]

Sounds like the idle is high which causes the transmission to strain against the brakes. Look at your tachometer as the car is idling in Park. Should be around 800. Of course when the engine is cold, it will idle high until reaching temperature. In the past with carburetors, that was done to keep the engines running. Now the high idle is most likely for emissions reasons.

Since you just bought the car, I'd take it right back to the dealer and find out why. If you told me it had 130,000 miles and it did it I'd question why. Put a lemon in your coat pocket in case you have to set it on a desk or something.

I took it to the dealer yesterday and they ran a diagnostic on this car, and they said nothing wrong with it...and they said it's normal...so idk what to do now

[VBdenny]

I can't how that is normal. My 2004 ES330 with 120,000 miles idles perfectly smooth. Can't even tell it is running. MY IS250 idles high for a few minutes then is also very smooth. A Lexus should not vibrate. I'd contact Lexus corporate even though it is fruitless. I contacted them and never heard back. Look at the RPM's when it does this. Shouldn't be over 600 or so.

[protess]

I can't how that is normal. My 2004 ES330 with 120,000 miles idles perfectly smooth. Can't even tell it is running. MY IS250 idles high for a few minutes then is also very smooth. A Lexus should not vibrate. I'd contact Lexus corporate even though it is fruitless. I contacted them and never heard back. Look at the RPM's when it does this. Shouldn't be over 600 or so.

Gotcha, I'll go contact them again and see what else they can do to find out the issue...anyway, thx for your help~~

[LjeksesES]

It could be a bad motor mount, dirty throttle body, vacuum leak...

[VBdenny]

Oh yeah, certainly many things it could be. Usually something very minor. With so few miles I'll take a wild guess. Many people to save money use economy gasoline that they save a few dollars on since Gas'n'Go gasoline is cheaper than say Sunoco or Shell. Not Top Tier fuels in other words. Cheap gasoline burns just fine and people smile about the money they are saving as they cruise around. Happiness can go on for years but eventually the lack to detergents in the fuel eventually cause injectors to clog and throttle bodies to accumulate gunk at which point the car begins to run poorly. People with cars that never get over 3,000 RPM's and run inferior gasoline tend to gunk them up. As kids we would do what we called a "690 Tune Up" where we went on 690 and dropped the hammer. You can actually see a brownish cloud from the exhaust if the engine is mega-gunked.

A (cheap) suggestions which has worked for me in the past. Buy 2 bottles of a top quality Complete Fuel System Cleaner at an auto parts store. Don't opt for the cheaper stuff, the stuff you want runs about $10 a bottle. Add both to your fuel tank upon next fill up and then use the accelerator rather heavily (when there are no cops around of course) and over a few days you will notice an improvement. Had a friend with a Cadillac who had similar issues to the point the Cadillac replaced the computer which of course did not correct the problem. I did a 2 bottle add on his Caddy and a few days later it was smooth. Not saying this is your problem since I am here and you are there but it is a cheap way to maybe help. Either way, it will clean your system and not cost you over 20 bucks.

Denny

[protess]

Oh yeah, certainly many things it could be. Usually something very minor. With so few miles I'll take a wild guess. Many people to save money use economy gasoline that they save a few dollars on since Gas'n'Go gasoline is cheaper than say Sunoco or Shell. Not Top Tier fuels in other words. Cheap gasoline burns just fine and people smile about the money they are saving as they cruise around. Happiness can go on for years but eventually the lack to detergents in the fuel eventually cause injectors to clog and throttle bodies to accumulate gunk at which point the car begins to run poorly. People with cars that never get over 3,000 RPM's and run inferior gasoline tend to gunk them up. As kids we would do what we called a "690 Tune Up" where we went on 690 and dropped the hammer. You can actually see a brownish cloud from the exhaust if the engine is mega-gunked.

A (cheap) suggestions which has worked for me in the past. Buy 2 bottles of a top quality Complete Fuel System Cleaner at an auto parts store. Don't opt for the cheaper stuff, the stuff you want runs about $10 a bottle. Add both to your fuel tank upon next fill up and then use the accelerator rather heavily (when there are no cops around of course) and over a few days you will notice an improvement. Had a friend with a Cadillac who had similar issues to the point the Cadillac replaced the computer which of course did not correct the problem. I did a 2 bottle add on his Caddy and a few days later it was smooth. Not saying this is your problem since I am here and you are there but it is a cheap way to maybe help. Either way, it will clean your system and not cost you over 20 bucks.

Denny

Gotcha, I do have 2 bottles Techron fuel injector cleanser at home, I'll go fill it in my gas tank next time, again, thanks for your helpful tips, thumb up for ya~ ^_^

[LjeksesES]

Techron is the best injector cleaner around. It is even better than Seafoam.

[protess]

Techron is the best injector cleaner around. It is even better than Seafoam.

Both of them are great injector cleanser, I got my techron pack from costco, it was on sale~~but I'll put it in my gas tank next time and see if it helps reduce the vibration a bit.`~~

[VBdenny]

Costco sells 6 packs of Techron. I use that on a regular basis along with an alcohol killer.

[protess]

Costco sells 6 packs of Techron. I use that on a regular basis along with an alcohol killer.

U know what, I just got back from Costco with that 6-pack Techron deal, it's only $12 in here...:)

[sadclown]

Have your torque converter checked too.

[protess]

Have your torque converter checked too.

haven't checked yet, but I don't feel any vibrations while driving, so I believe it should be the issue with torque converter...just saying

[LjeksesES]

Any news?

[HighwayAccordion]

I'm also curious what the solution was. I'm having the exact same issue on a 2010 ES350 about 105K miles. I also noticed the vibration is gone or undetectable initially when you coast to a stop, but then when stopped for a second or so the vibration flares up - all the while the rpm's are very steady around 800. Neutral and park it's almost undetectable - particularly neutral.