ff54976

2014 es350 91k miles

I have a vibration at idle like a motor mount. It vibrates in drive at a stop light but if you shift to neutral its smooth as butter. With 91k miles I dont feel that this is a motor mount. Is there anything that could be causing this issue? Is bad motor mounts at 90k-100k a thing on this lexus model? Let me know anything that could help figure this out, Thanks!

wbmx1981

You can pop the hood with the car running and shift the car into reverse, park and drive while visually inspecting the movement of the engine as it shifts. If the engine moves or jumps it’s time for new motor mounts. There are 4 total, the one on top by the belts and one at each corner of the wheels and near the radiator.

Coulter

About half the people complain about his, mine has this issue as well. Mine had it at low miles. Lots of different theories, I'm just deciding to live with it. I don't believe it's the motor mounts, I had a Lexus technician do some motor mount tests and inspections and they said it was all within specifications.

I think Lexus just screwed up, hopefully the next one doesn't have it. It's just more like the idle on a Camry 4 banger than a Lexus V6.

ptthere

I have noticed the same issue on my 2013, still has under 40k miles. Motor mounts are good. After some digging and a bit of dumb luck, I figured out that the assist for the brakes causes it while the transmission is in gear. Since there's no issues with anything besides the vibration, I just live with it. Or just put a sub in the trunk and it will all blend in

ff54976

please elaborate on the brake assist causing this

ptthere

So keeping in mind that I'm speaking only for my car, I noticed this issue shortly after buying the car. I chalked it up to "well it's probably just idling that way while it's in gear," so besides changing trans fluid I didn't look farther into it... until I started it up one morning, and I just happened to have the radio turned off, the HVAC turned off, and the environment outside was very quiet.

After putting it in drive with my foot still on the brake pedal, I noticed that I could hear this random "clicking" from the other side of the firewall. It was hard to hear it, but it was certainly there. It was about 1 to 1.5 clicks per second. I released the brake, it went away instantly and so did the vibration. I pushed harder than needed on the brake and the clicking increased to 2+ times per second, vibration returned. Then while still in drive, I pressed in the parking brake with my left foot and let off the brake pedal with my right foot... no clicking, vibration almost completely went away.

I should also note what some others might assume, which is that brakes or no brakes, my car does not have the mild vibration unless it's in gear.

The clicking corresponding with the brake pedal, what i was hearing was the solenoid that controls the amount of engine vacuum present at the brake booster to regulate brake force with pedal pressure. The solenoid itself seems to be commanded properly to what the ECU is seeing (hence the clicking increase/decrease in respect to how much pedal pressure there is,) and I suspected maybe a crack or leak in the check valve for it causing a small vacuum leak. But I wasn't able to find a definite leak (and my brake pedal was not fluctuating).

However, I've been told that replacing it is an option that could solve the issue. I suspect there is a small leak either in the check valve itself, gasket/seal etc. I know it's not anything beyond that, as I've recently replaced rotors/pads and purged all the lines with new fluid, and verified no leaks in the hydraulic system itself. Doing all that did improve braking response and pedal feel, but the clicking and vibration is still unchanged.

I haven't shotgunned parts at it yet. Beyond a solenoid or check valve, replacing the assembly is way beyond a 5-minute fix/process to do things right, and im not 100.0% sure if it would "fix" the problem... The reason I say that is because the fuel map/timing/etc instantly changes anyway the moment the vehicle is put in drive to compensate with the load of the torque converter resisting more when the transmission is held in gear, so I think there is certainly an aggregate effect of transmission + brakes together = more vibration.

I might revisit the brake booster in a couple weeks when i have time, but it's also one of those "it's not that big of a deal" issues. The rest of the time the car drives/performs great, still gets almost 32 mpg on the highway, shifts good etc. If there were other compounded problems besides the vibration I would have more urgency with it, but so far it hasn't gotten me overly motivated beyond what I have dug into so far.

703

I have mentioned this in the other thread, it’s the active mount system that might not be working properly. You need to check that its giving sufficient pressure. Lexus engineered this car to have little to no vibration at idle.

“The already near-silent Lexus ES 350 features an innovative new active engine mount.

The active engine mounts have been designed to reduce the transmission of noise, vibration and harshness from the engine bay to the body of the vehicle at low engine revolutions.

Paired with three fluid-filled engine mounts at the front, the active engine mount features a moveable membrane, or diaphragm, that is vacuum-controlled.

It is altered depending on external vibrations and noise to significantly reduce the amount of vibration and noise transferred to the vehicle body when compared with traditional engine mounts.

The diaphragm produce pulses that are equal but opposite to those of the engine, cancelling out vibration with every power stroke.

The system has its own control unit and an acceleration sensor to monitor engine shake.

The control unit then determines the necessary force required inside the active engine mount to generate a counter shake that reduces the intensity of the engine vibration.

Active engine mounts operate when engine speed is below 900rpm.”

Vish89

I have a 2016 ES 350 with about 53k and feel the same vibration in Drive. But, in neutral, reverse and park it's pretty quiet but still not as refined as my 2005 ES 330. I just thought it was me being a stickler lol! I wonder if it's a 2GR thing or just an ES 350 thing? I'm also curious if anyone with another platform (Avalons, Camry's or RX 350) w/ the 2GR could chime in, that might be helpful in narrowing our issue.

ptthere

FWIW, I did another trans fluid drain/fill on my ES and the vibration noticeably smoothed out. It's still there a little in D and R, but in Park or Nuetral it's smooth as glass. Also my previous post on what I found, those symptoms stopped on their own and besides different temperatures outside I havent really been able to chalk it up to anything else besides "the car doesnt like winter."

Vish89

Nice! I'm at 53,000 Kilometres and coming up on 6 years so I think I'm due for a trans drain and fill. I haven't noticed anything too alarming in R or P but it's worth a shot!

rmak

Here is a post I just made regarding my vibration at idle.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...ts-at-90k.html