2009 Yaris - Cabin Vibrates/Shakes When Stopped in Drive (D) at Signal Light!?

[HarrisAfridi925]

Hi all,

2009 with 115k miles. My ONLY gripe with it is that it shakes and vibrates when in Drive (D) stopped with brake depressed at a signal light. Though not excessive, the vibrations & shaking are noticeable enough to be felt through the seat, steering wheel, and headrest.

Vibrations & shaking go away when I shift to N or P. I also activated handbrake while in Drive (D) and let go of brake, - didn’t make it worse/better. Activated AC - didn’t make it worse or better. Not sure what could be causing this? Replaced all the motor mounts and cleaned TB.

Car idles perfect in Park & Neutral. No issues when the car is at speed and in motion. Just when that brake is depressed and stopped in Drive (D). My only logical guess is something going on with the torque converter? But even that seems so very unlikely.

Any thoughts? Love this car and want to make it as good as it can be. I was told this is a “common thing” for Toyota and especially the Yaris. But that just doesn’t seem plausible to me.

[ex-x-fire]

At that point I'd have it put in the air on a hoist while it's vibrating. Check out post 5 here. https://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44660

[HarrisAfridi925]

Yep, I saw post 5 in that thread also!!!

I checked the brake booster with the procedure that the service manual recommends and it does seem fine. I know there’s still a chance that it could be a vacuum leak only when the brake pedal is pressed fully.

However, my Yaris still does vibrate and shake when I shift to Drive, let go of brake, and activate E Brake. Which leads me to assume it’s not the Brake Booster?

I’m honestly stumbled. What could be causing this??

[HarrisAfridi925]

I also had front of the car elevated on 6 ton jackstands, shifted into Drive (D), and activated brake pedal with Club steering wheel lock to hold it down. Couldnt see anything down there that seemed out of the ordinary.

Theres a Toyota mechanic up here in Nor Cal that said he has seen the airbox and snorkel excessively vibrating and those vibrations then translating over to the rest of the car. His remedy was to reinforce it with zipties. Did that, no luck. I do know that the passenger side motor mount is aftermarket and not genuine Toyota. That might be the last plausible cause that I can think of.

[Billiam]

Our old 1NZ got the shakes recently and I cleaned the throttle body (with actually TB cleaner) and cleaned the MAF with MAF cleaner. I then left the battery unhooked for a few minutes to reset the ECU defaults. She's quite smooth now.

There are videos on YouTube that can show you how to clean the TB without removing it....which involves holding butterfly open using accelerator pedal.

[ex-x-fire]

With it vibrating have a helper roll a floor jack under the oil pan with a block of wood, jack it up till there's light pressure on the engine. Is the noise gone?

[HarrisAfridi925]

Yes - Cleaned the throttle body with the buttefly flap method you mentioned. MAF looks spotless. The big reason why I think neither of these are related, is because the car idles flawless when in Park or Neutral. The vibrations I feel thru steering wheel, seat, and headrest are when I’m stopped in (D) with brake pressed.

My logic is that if the TB and MAF were really tbe issue here, the vibrations would be consistent regardless of whether I was in P, N, D, or R.

I’m really stumped here….

[HarrisAfridi925]

Tried that tonight, after seeing your message -

Used my HF tranny jack to lift the engine oil pan and then shifted car into D with brake pressed down —> Same issue - Vibrations felt thru steering wheel, headrest, and seat. To give you context on how “bad” the vibrations are, if I rest my head against the headrest, I can see and feel the vibrations thru my vision.

This atleast must rule out motor mounts??? Even the aftermarket one that I recently put on the passenger side? Not sure what else it could be thats causing this??? What a mystery.

[HarrisAfridi925]

Any thoughts??