My 2005 Toyota Camry has a weird vibration/ noise that can be heard while accelerating and between 30-50mph and while the needle in the tachometer is between 1 and 2. I have taken the car to my local mechanic twice. Once in December 2016 where they diagnosed that it was an engine mount issue. The engine mount was replaced and it resolved and went away. About 3 months later the noise/vibration came back. It progressively got worse until I had it looked at in mid-July 2017 by the same mechanic. They found that the replaced engine mount had cracked so they replaced it free of charge since the part was under warranty. However the noise/ vibration went away for less than a week and it has since come back. Since mid-July it has gotten even worse and is especially heard when going up hills/ accelerating hard. The noise/ vibration will also not kick in until several minutes into a car trip meaning it might not be heard until 3-4 minutes in while driving. At this point I am being driven crazy by this stupid vibrating noise while driving. I am also considering taking it to a dealership to have it diagnosed there. I have a 2005 Toyota Camry LE with about 137,000 miles. Any advice from any members?
A defective motor mount could do that but for that car at that mileage it is not usual. Also not normal for another one to go bad. You either have a different problem causing the mount to go bad or a completely different issue causing the vibration along with a motor mount that just looks old.
I will make sure it is not a tire issue by balancing them and moving them around, make sure you don’t have a misfire/etc. Essentially you have to get another opinion.
My guess is there’s a problem with one or more of the other mounts that support the engine and transaxle ass’y. If the engine or transmission has ever been removed or even if the mounts were removed/loosened to lift the engine slightly (say to replace a part like the water pump), even more likely. On my Corolla I think there’s only four mounts total, a front mount for the engine, a back mount for the transaxle, and two underneath support mounts. If yours is configured similar, mabe just replace all the mounts and the shop at that time can make sure the engine and transaxle are correctly positioned in the cradle that supports them. And they can check all the cradle brackets are intact, no broken welds. There’s other things that can cause vibrations but since fixing the mount fixed the vibration, hard to argue with that – albeit temporary – success.
Make sure you use OEM mount on your Toyota.The aftermarket mounts are too stiff (polyurethane bushing).and may show early signs of damage.