Vibrating steering wheel, armrest, and driver-side seat.
 

Hi,

I recently purchased a 2014 Lexus Es350 from Carmax with 78,000 miles and overall the car has been running smooth. It was inspected by a mechanic prior to purchase who said the car was in good shape and well maintained. The only issue I have is that when I shift into drive the steering wheel will vibrate more and I feel some vibrations on my seat and armrest. Is this normal for a car with this mileage and the 2GR-Fe V6 engine? I already had the passenger side motor mount replaced as the Carmax service department said this was the only mount with visible damage. Could it be the driver side motor mount or something different? Thank you!



EDIT: I have already changed the air filter and cleaned the MAF sensor. Likewise, the vibrations die down in Neutral or Park. I have visually inspected the driver side motor mount and it doesn’t look damaged.

I bought a certified 2018 Lexus ES 350 with 36.5K miles two weeks ago, and I also feel steering wheel vibration--

My 2007 ES had this issue within the first year. It was a motor mount. Covered under the warranty of course.

Same Issue
 

I have the same issue. 2014 LEXUS ES350 86K. Little shaky for my taste for a luxury vehicle. Nothing crazy but I know what y’all are getting at. I do have the pirelli cinturatos on mine brand new and aligned. Still does it. I am wondering if it is motor mounts cause it does annoy me at times. (I’m crazy tho with my car, want everything perfect). That is a negative sometimes for me. But anyway, I’m gonna take it to mechanic and see what they think. Not under warranty so we’ll see what the damage would be. Fingers crossed it’s not too high.

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All motor mounts should be replaced at the same time. Also replace the transmission mounts.

Update
 

Just had the motor and transmission mounts changed. The vibration is a bit better but hasn’t disappeared completely. I have noticed that it’s usually worse in reverse than in drive. Overall, the transmission shifts perfectly. I asked the Car Care Nut on YouTube about the issue, and he said some vibration is normal with the 2GR-FE.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...34efe2673.jpeg

Doesn’t sound right. There should be no noticeable vibration.

It's a widespread issue, probably my biggest problem with the car.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...n-at-idle.html


When I was still under warranty and took it to the Lexus dealer, I spoke with the service advisor and lead tech. They said it was normal. I asked if I could check out a nearly new one (I think it had like 5000 miles) that was a loaner, had the same vibration at idle.

I've had cheap economy cars with less vibration at idle, I think the issue is the idle speed, if it was just a little higher rpm, it completely disappears. Probably something silly that saves 10 cents a year on gas and Lexus had to have a really low idle to hit a MPG number. Too bad unlike older cars, you can't adjust the idle speed.

Yeah. I wouldn’t accept vibrations like that in a Lexus.

I wonder if it would be possible to modify the ECU to raise the idle RPM?

I'm sure there's a way to remap at some place that can tune ECUs, but it's beyond what I'm willing to mess with. I just know when I bump the idle up every so slightly, it seems to go smooth. Some earlier gen fuel injected cars had idle adjustments like a screw on the throttle body , but I would think you'd have to have some programmer to change the idle speed on a car this new.

It's a strange issue that some people say they don't have at all. But when I went to the dealer and saw even new ones had it, I have to think it's just the way it is. Also, when I test drove a different one, I noticed it also and just assumed it was par for the course. Not sure if people just have a different threshold about what constitutes a "smooth" idle or maybe some years of this generation they resolved it with some sort of ECU remap?

Several cars ago, I actually had an ES300 with high miles and had a much smoother idle than this one, so it's disappointing. Of course it also rode smoother than this one.

I'm just living with it, I probably will be selling in the car in a year or so. Would have sold it a while ago had the car market not turned completely crazy, just waiting things out.

You can reset the Idle Learning Value.

How is that done? Would disconnecting the battery do it?

No. Disconnecting battery has no impact on the Learning Value and Idle Learning. These values are stored in the Engine ECU.

Many engine components after servicing requires the above procedure to be done when certain conditions are met. Even cleaning the throttle body requires the above to be done for the ECU to mix the right amount of fuel and air and set timings.

You need Techstream to do it. It’s straightforward to do.

I’m not even sure why the first thing people think about are engine mounts or that Lexus built cars that vibrate at idle instead of ensuring the ECU is controlling everything correctly during idle first.