Okay, some of you may recall my long time search for the whining noise I was having in my LS430. Thank God it was finally solved! Little rubber gasket was shredded where the rod going from my gear selector to the transmission link. Years of searching and finally solved! Quiet as a mouse just like I expected.
Anyways, let me catch you all up to speed. In this process of diagnosing my whirring, my former mechanic and still friend said he thought it was my carrier bearing on the driveshaft. I did a little searching online and that seemed to be a possibility. I went to my Lexus PM, who has always treated me great, and purchased the center carrier bearing. I had read online to make sure you mark a driveshaft before removing as they are balanced and need to go back on the same way. My former mechanic told me you didn't have to mark driveshafts and got it installed but the whining was still there. But at that time I was now getting a pretty bad vibration. Talked with my Lexus friends and they said to replace transmission mount as that was most likely causing the problem (note, the Lexus mechanic had not seen the car and was merely noting the transmission mount was a fairly common problem). What the heck? I went and got a Lexus transmission mount and had my former mechanic install it. No change.
So at this point in time I still have a whirring car with some kind of sporadic vibration that was getting worse. It would come in bad around 60 mph. My former mechanic kept it for about a month and finally gave up. He's a good guy and wouldn't take any money but I made him take some.
I noticed the car would be smooth as glass and then all of a sudden the vibration would get so bad it scared me. The rear view mirror was a blur. Interstates where 80 mph was the norm speed was scary with the vibration being so bad.
Talked with my Lexus mechanic and he accepted the challenge. He said he would fix all the problems. He found the little rubber boot/gasket in 2 days. Checked windshield and grommets all around the front firewall and underneath finally and found the gasket. That problem solved.
Now moving on to the vibration. Tires rebalanced, wheel bearings checked, diff fluid changed. He then pinpointed that I did not get this vibration until AFTER the carrier bearing the transmission mount were replaced. Only started at 60 mph and when I would slow down on the off ramps it would go away. So definitely speed related. He messed around with different size shims at the carrier bearing and found different thicknesses of shims would move the vibration from 60 mph to 70 mph. This seems like important information.
I called my former mechanic to update him with what was going on as he had asked me to. I told him about the whirring noise being fixed but said we were still struggling with the vibration. He now assured me he had marked the driveshaft but that we should check
the carrier bearing as he had one heckofa time getting it pressed on the driveshaft. Matter of fact he had to take it to another shop and get a "bigger" press to get the carrier bearing on and he said he may have damaged it.
Hmmm...if you wait long enough the truth will come out.
So we take off the driveshaft, get a new carrier bearing and take it to a driveshaft shop. They cannot balance it as the nearest city that can balance Toyota driveshafts is in Charlotte, NC. But he said he could solve most driveshaft issues by sight. He would check
the "phase" and put on the new center bearing for $25. Wow! As I laid the driveshaft down he saw it was out of phase and found the faded marks from the factory. He had to destroy the center bearing to get it off the shaft. So now I have a phased driveshaft with
a new center carrier bearing. Lexus mechanic told me when he removed the bolts holding the carrier bearing that there were no shims and that it is possible that there were no shims to begin with but it there were no shims it would be the first Lexus he had ever
seen without shims.
Lexus mechanic told me he was not satisfied with where we are now as I have a slight vibration and low rumble at 60 mph that is magnified under load. Will ease up a little when I take foot off accelerator. I told him I wanted to drive it home and see what I thought.
He suggested I come down one evening and we would experiment with changing out the sims. He doesn't think it will work but we could try it as he wouldn't charge me any more.
Do any of you have suggestions? Did my former mechanic damage my driveshaft when he had to get a larger press to get the carrier bearing on?
One last piece of info that may only make sense to you Toyota/Lexus people is what the driveshaft guy said. He said the only ringer in this is if the first mechanic removed the driveshaft from the rubber "gasket-boot" things. He said if the did that, the driveshaft would
have to be rebalanced.
My former mechanic has not returned any of my calls and it appears he did mark the driveshaft but the driveshaft shop said it APPEARED whoever marked the driveshaft was trying to cover their butts because of where they marked it.
I know I can buy a driveshaft on eBay and give it a try. What's another hundred or so? Based on this scatter brained ADHD induced 12 gauge with 8 1/2 shot of info, what would be your next step?
Anyways, let me catch you all up to speed. In this process of diagnosing my whirring, my former mechanic and still friend said he thought it was my carrier bearing on the driveshaft. I did a little searching online and that seemed to be a possibility. I went to my Lexus PM, who has always treated me great, and purchased the center carrier bearing. I had read online to make sure you mark a driveshaft before removing as they are balanced and need to go back on the same way. My former mechanic told me you didn't have to mark driveshafts and got it installed but the whining was still there. But at that time I was now getting a pretty bad vibration. Talked with my Lexus friends and they said to replace transmission mount as that was most likely causing the problem (note, the Lexus mechanic had not seen the car and was merely noting the transmission mount was a fairly common problem). What the heck? I went and got a Lexus transmission mount and had my former mechanic install it. No change.
So at this point in time I still have a whirring car with some kind of sporadic vibration that was getting worse. It would come in bad around 60 mph. My former mechanic kept it for about a month and finally gave up. He's a good guy and wouldn't take any money but I made him take some.
I noticed the car would be smooth as glass and then all of a sudden the vibration would get so bad it scared me. The rear view mirror was a blur. Interstates where 80 mph was the norm speed was scary with the vibration being so bad.
Talked with my Lexus mechanic and he accepted the challenge. He said he would fix all the problems. He found the little rubber boot/gasket in 2 days. Checked windshield and grommets all around the front firewall and underneath finally and found the gasket. That problem solved.
Now moving on to the vibration. Tires rebalanced, wheel bearings checked, diff fluid changed. He then pinpointed that I did not get this vibration until AFTER the carrier bearing the transmission mount were replaced. Only started at 60 mph and when I would slow down on the off ramps it would go away. So definitely speed related. He messed around with different size shims at the carrier bearing and found different thicknesses of shims would move the vibration from 60 mph to 70 mph. This seems like important information.
I called my former mechanic to update him with what was going on as he had asked me to. I told him about the whirring noise being fixed but said we were still struggling with the vibration. He now assured me he had marked the driveshaft but that we should check
the carrier bearing as he had one heckofa time getting it pressed on the driveshaft. Matter of fact he had to take it to another shop and get a "bigger" press to get the carrier bearing on and he said he may have damaged it.
Hmmm...if you wait long enough the truth will come out.
So we take off the driveshaft, get a new carrier bearing and take it to a driveshaft shop. They cannot balance it as the nearest city that can balance Toyota driveshafts is in Charlotte, NC. But he said he could solve most driveshaft issues by sight. He would check
the "phase" and put on the new center bearing for $25. Wow! As I laid the driveshaft down he saw it was out of phase and found the faded marks from the factory. He had to destroy the center bearing to get it off the shaft. So now I have a phased driveshaft with
a new center carrier bearing. Lexus mechanic told me when he removed the bolts holding the carrier bearing that there were no shims and that it is possible that there were no shims to begin with but it there were no shims it would be the first Lexus he had ever
seen without shims.
Lexus mechanic told me he was not satisfied with where we are now as I have a slight vibration and low rumble at 60 mph that is magnified under load. Will ease up a little when I take foot off accelerator. I told him I wanted to drive it home and see what I thought.
He suggested I come down one evening and we would experiment with changing out the sims. He doesn't think it will work but we could try it as he wouldn't charge me any more.
Do any of you have suggestions? Did my former mechanic damage my driveshaft when he had to get a larger press to get the carrier bearing on?
One last piece of info that may only make sense to you Toyota/Lexus people is what the driveshaft guy said. He said the only ringer in this is if the first mechanic removed the driveshaft from the rubber "gasket-boot" things. He said if the did that, the driveshaft would
have to be rebalanced.
My former mechanic has not returned any of my calls and it appears he did mark the driveshaft but the driveshaft shop said it APPEARED whoever marked the driveshaft was trying to cover their butts because of where they marked it.
I know I can buy a driveshaft on eBay and give it a try. What's another hundred or so? Based on this scatter brained ADHD induced 12 gauge with 8 1/2 shot of info, what would be your next step?