When I'm standing at a red light I feel a small but noticeable vibration in my steering wheel. When I accelerate, the vibration seems to fo away. My car has 105k and I change the oil every 2000-3000 miles. Does anyone have any ideas as to what it might be? I know this is vague so any direction you can point me towards will help.

 

if your rpm's are normal then i would say engine mounts.Over 100k miles they seem to need replacement.

 

I have a slight vibration as well, but mine is there driving but goes away once the car is warmed up. Sometimes there is just weird gremlins that cannot be explained with cars.

 

This can usually be solved by replacing the transmission (aka "rear" engine) mount. If you have any mechanical experience at all it's slightly more difficult then an oil change. If not a trained tech with a lift can knock it out in about 15 min.

Next time you are at a red light and feel the vibration put the trans in neutral. If the vibration goes away it's probably the trans mount.
Lexus part #12371-50170

 

Food for thought here ^^^
Swapping my mount was very easy and it eliminated a pesky vibration I felt as well.

 

My RPM is a bit lower in drive than in neutral. Will replacing these mounts fix that as well?

 

when you are in drive the rpm's will be lower.No a mount will not change your rpm's
The soul purpose of a mount is to absorb vibrations .Its a piece of rubber between two pieces of metal

 

What could be the reason behind low RPM? I'm talking like 500rpm. Unless that's normal in the LS430. All my other cars were at around 800 at idle in drive

 

500 RPM lower, or it idles at 500 RPM when in gear?

 

it idles at around 500 rpm when in drive when I'm standing still. I looked around the forum and cleaning the throttle body and MAF sensor can possibly fix this. i just want to make sure this isn't some sort of life threatening thing to the engine

 

If it was life threatening your dash would light up like a x-mas tree so no worries.

 

Me too.😱😱😱😱