petetomo

I just aquired a 1993 Camry XLE with the V6 engine and automatic transmission. The car has 244,000 miles but is running well for the most part with a few exceptions. For one, when I slow down to a stop, the car and steering wheel will vibrate pretty badly for about 5 seconds then stop. It only does it when I slow to a stop.

The second problem (which I think might be connected to the first) is that the car has a slight vibration while accelerating. Nothing really shakes, it is more like a hum. I think both of these problems might be due to bad motor mounts. As far as I can tell from the records, these are the original mounts! Does anyone know how much it costs to have these replaced either at a Toyota dealership or a chain place like Midas?

Lastly (and this one is a weird one), for the last 200 miles, I get an occasional bang sound, like someone threw a rock at the car. The first two times I thought it was a rock except that it has happened 6 or 7 times over the last 200 miles. I can't detect a pattern in its occurance. It has happened at highway speeds and back road speeds. Does anyone know what this could be?

Toysrme

Start by replacing, or rebuilding the dogbone mount.

If you don't want to buy one, you can knock out the rubber, and rebuild it using 3M Window Polyuerathane. Unmount the dogbone on friday evening, knock all the rubber out. Set it on some wax paper with the metal sleeve in the middle and squirt your poly in it.

You can't re-mount it until Sunday evening. It will take that long for the poly to cure enough to work on the car.

You can drive around without it, but be very eay on it. The engine will rock around , and you don't want to destroy the front engine mount -> which now has to deal with the majority of the stress.





You CAN'T use normal polyuerathane, it can't take the stress.

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burchard

Check the dogbone mount , if it's cracked replaced it. I soggest you buy one , there are not expensive. Now if the dogbone is cracked probably at 200 k your front mount is gone too. That cost abot $100 and 0.5 hour to install. For your weird vibration an sound, check the front lower control arm bushings.

petetomo

How involved would it be to change the front engine mount? I try to do as much work on my own as I can but my experience is limited to brakes and body work at the moment. I have a neighbor who has every possible tool to repair cars but he doesn't have time to work with me.

burchard

It's an easy job if you have the tools.

Support the engine underneath the oil pan with a jack. (Use a wooden block).

Release the front part of the dog bone mount

loose the motor mount bolts. The front ones that attach the mount to the chassis ,you have to unscrew the from underneath. The rear one from top.
then you push up the engiine up with the jack (no more than 1 inch) enough to get the mount out. Then do the reverse.
It should take no more than 30 min.

petetomo

I figured out the problem with the slowing down. It is the IAC (idle air control) valve which needs replacing. Hopefully, that will cure the problem with the humming noise the car is making although that's not likely considering that the humming noise is in acceleration, not idle.

burchard

Have you ever cleanned the AIC before?, if not I would suggest that you try that before spending big bucks. Search this site for AIC cleanning. Its a very simple procedre

petetomo

I'll try that first. Can't hurt.

artbuc

Can you rebuild the rear motor mount with 3M Window Weld Polyurethane? Seems like it gets much more stress than the dogbone.

rimfire,22

That sounds like a good plan for me also. My entire car vibrates kinda bad sometimes when it's in drive. I've have about 230K on my 89' now and I've gone through two sets of motor mounts in it's lifetime. So far the issue was never cured. What a bummer. I'mm check with the Toyota parts department for the so called "dog bone" mount. Perhaps it's my cure too.

rimfire,22

Soilent Green

Usually when your car vibrates at a stop and you know for a fact that all your intake/IAC/EGR/EVAP stuff is clean as a whistle and you don't have a CEL light in your dash, it's your motor mounts.

If it vibrates at a red light and the vibration kinda stops when you put the car in neutral, it could also be a tranny mount as I heard.

rimfire,22

Soilent Green,

Thanks for the info. When I get a chance to ask the dealership I'll inquire about those too. Never had the tranny mounts looked at yet. At this point it might be anything.

rimfire,22

septicdeath

I just did the dogbone (that was 5 minutes) and then the front mount. That took the most time figuring out how to get my hands where they needed to be. I also broke my engine oil pressure sensor because I was too lazy to drain my oil so I could remove the Oil filter. Its right in the way to be honest.


NOW, for the rear unit and the tranny, well, that looked tight enough for me to just stop and start to think about where I might take it to have them done. The tranny might be easy, I didnt look at that one yet as well.

Both my Dogbone and my front mount were toast. On the dogbone, I could move the metal inside sleave to the outside metal on both sides.

Then there's the front mount, that once unbolted, the interior shaft just wobbles around in like a pencil in a cup. I gotta assume if these two were this way, that the other ones need it as well.

It took me like 3 hours to get the front mount out and new one in, but that was due to my hands not fitting anywhere and having to remove more than just the first splash guard.

SD

Soilent Green

Nice work, but how's the car going now?