CarTalk.com Best of Deals Car Reviews Repair Shops Cars A-Z Radio Show

1500rpm Mysterious Vibration Hestitation

Maintenance/Repairs
#1

Hi All!!

Im new to this forum. I hope youre all doing well during these crazy times. What a year. Anyways…

So I just bought a 2011 Toyota Camry LE 2.5L L4

A little over 158,000 miles. The car drivers great with the exception of this one little problem.

Between 1500-2000 rpms the car will vibrate/hesitate intermittently. This only happens when the car is at operating temperature and accelerating. It does not happen while coasting. This problem does NOT happen on a cold start and drive. Only when the engine reaches operating temperature.

The problem also does NOT happen above 50mph/2000rpm. Above that speed… the car runs super smooth.

So far I have only put in new spark plugs, premium 93 gas and fuel injection cleaner in the tank.

No check engine light, no other dash warning lights. Had a friend do a live read of the car while driving. His scanner was all green on every sensor and measurement. The vibration caused a P0301 code only once!! Cleared it. Couldnt get the code to happen again. Tried a different coil on the 1st spark plug, same problem.

Cant figure out why the car is hesitating. If any of you have seen this mystery before or have any clue as to what it might be, your input will be greatly apreciated. Otherwise I will have to surrender it to a shop and lose hundreds of dollars.

#2

Have someone try cleaning the electronic throttle body.

image

Tester

1 Like
#3

Oh yes. I forgot to mention that. The electronic throttle body was cleaned and I just sprayed down the MAF sensor today with MAF Sensor spray. But still no luck. Problem continues. A no codes mystery.

#4

Sounds to me like you have an infrequent miss on cylinder 1 occurring under load, but not frequent enough to set the code. You may have a dirty injector not delivering enough fuel to #1. This can be checked with a fuel injector tester and a fuel pressure gage. A compression test would be in order also.

2 Likes
#5

Ok. Thank you. I will look into that! My friend probably has those tools. I will ask him.

#6

I doubt 93 octane will benefit your car. Just use 87 or what is available in your area that contains 10% or less ethanol.

#7

+1
I have heard people recommending high-octane gas for cars that don’t actually require it since I was a kid, and that’s… a very long time. That advice was invalid then, and it remains just as invalid today.

At one time, high-octane gas might have had a higher level of detergents than regular-grade gas, but nowadays simply using regular-grade Top Tier gas will provide the highest level of detergents available. If the OP doesn’t know which gasoline brands meet the Top Tier standard, here is a link:
TOP TIER™ Gasoline Brands

:+1:

6 Likes
#8

I waited till the gas light came on. I used BP Ultimate 93 Gas. Only like 4.6 gallons. And put the fuel injector cleaner in with it. Drove it around on the highways to burn it in.

#9

Today this mystery has finally been solved. It was old bad transmission fluid. Causing a torque converter shudder. No more mystery.

6 Likes
#10

Thank you for getting back to us.