I have a 1994 Toyota Celica with a manual transmission. It has 253,000 miles on it. Almost every morning I start driving my car (or any time it has been sitting for an extended time - probably 8 - 12 hours) it shakes when I start driving from a complete stop. The shake only lasts for 1 - 2 seconds and disappears once the car reaches about 5 miles per hour. This problem generally goes away within the first 2 - 5 minutes of driving. It does not matter if the weather is warm or cold. This has been happening for about 3 years. Any ideas of what could be causing this? Thanks!
Check to see if a rim is missing a balancing weight or an abnormality in a tire.
There may be a separation within a tire itself (which you won’t see) that could cause the shake, but after 3 years it would progressively get worse.
Another culprit could be an unbalanced driveshaft (IF rear wheel drive).
It would be helpful to have a bit more info about the history of the car. E.g. what has been done to it lately? Have plugs and wires been changed? Fuel filter? etc.
But just to guess on minimal info, if it is only a from a stop problem that goes away, I would be looking at 2 things. First, an ignition problem - check spark plugs, wires, and ignition coil (or the distributor, but I doubt this make/year used one).
The second is a worn/warped clutch pressure plate. At 253K you must have had the clutch done by now (or someone did in the car’s past). How long ago was it? Do you know if the pressure plate was turned? Does the car ever shudder/vibrate a bit when you shift?
I put in new plugs and wires at 227,000 miles and changed the fuel filter at 204,000 miles. I bought the car with 196,000 miles on it and putting in new plugs and wires and a new fuel filter has been the only maintenance I’ve needed to do to it. However, it did the shake before I changed both. The car was salvaged and restored before I bought it (I believe it was a rear-end collision). I don’t know if the pressure plate was turned and the car doesn’t ever shudder or vibrate when I shift. I hope this information helps. Thanks for the ideas!
I put 4 new tires on the car about 10 months ago and it did the shake before and after doing that. This car is front-wheel drive. Thanks for the input though!
just lettin you know, pressure plates do not get machined, only flywheels.not bein mean just a little heads up.
Nope - not mean - Flywheel is exactly what I meant and may have gotten it right before the 4th beer (it was Friday night).