Vibration In 6th Gear

[flappypenguin]

Hello all, i just piked up my IS200 (02 plate, 70k miles) at the weekend there, and so far im loving it, great car to drive! i just have a couple of things that i'd like to run past you all as i dont know if its me being paranoid or just inexperienced with the car...

1st issue: In 6th gear, im getting a vibration/shudder through the gear box, its very similar to the feeling you get with bad wheel balance but without the steering wheel shake, its only seems to happen at about 2500/3100 revs (or 60-70mph), its not THAT bad, but its enough to make me think "what the hell is that?", is there a known issue with this at all? i had a search and found some people had a similar problem but they didnt go on to say what it was they just said "dealer is fixing it", and i dont have that luxury as its 2nd hand... i do have a 3 month warenty from the garage but there are a whole host of things it doesnt cover so if anyone knows whats what then that would be great!

2nd issue: I've noticed a couple of times when accelerating quite hard in 2nd gear, there was a pile of blue/white smoke billowing out the exhaust which i noticed just checking my RV mirror, it was quite allot - to the point where the guy in the car behind me must having been thinking "what an arse" lol. I've only noticed this happening twice and am just wondering if anyone has any thoughts?

I really am hoping these arent big problems as i've really stretched my budget to buy this car and in all honesty, if i have to fund a major repair right now, im gunna struggle :s

ANY help/advice is really appreciated!

Cheers.

[flappypenguin]

Update:

I gave my mechanics a call, they used to deal with my MR2 and have allot of experience with Toyota's so they are a good start for free... they dont think that it is a gear problem, based on the fact that i can drive past the vibration, in thier eyes if it was a gear problem, the vibration would get worse as i got faster past the point where the vibration starts. They think i should get my rear wheels balanced which is a cheap place to start aswell i guess... the car DOES have aftermarket Wolfrace wheels on it, so it could be a possibility.

I'll cross my fingers on that one.

On the blue/white smoke issue, a friend of mine who used to be a a Lexus auto electrician thinks its just a build up of carbon or something in the CAT, the car has obviously sat around for a while in the garage too and it may not have been driven hard for a while, he has suggested i give it a good blast and keep and eye on it. I have been driving it quite calm as well really and i know that carbon does build up but my previous car ddint have a CAT so this is new to me, i just gave it a quick blast a couple of times (once to see what it could do, and once to overtake an old woman lol)

I'll update further if i get any results, please get back to me if you have any other theory's/experience.

Ta.

[redz_UK]

i also have the vibration in 6th gear, same as yours.. its worse with the short shifter. havent got round to asking the question yet on here so will watch with interest to see if there are any soloutions..

[aaronabbott]

mine did the same with my old wheels on and the balancing was out slightly :winky:

[sol12]

balancing

[fjcfarrar]

Update:

I gave my mechanics a call, they used to deal with my MR2 and have allot of experience with Toyota's so they are a good start for free... they dont think that it is a gear problem, based on the fact that i can drive past the vibration, in thier eyes if it was a gear problem, the vibration would get worse as i got faster past the point where the vibration starts. They think i should get my rear wheels balanced which is a cheap place to start aswell i guess... the car DOES have aftermarket Wolfrace wheels on it, so it could be a possibility.

My IS 200 LE did that from brand new. Once the balance was eliminated from the issue and possible prop-shaft problems, it was clear that the vibration was not at wheel speed. Like yours, it was over a narrow speed range at light loading and in my case, once spotted in 6th gear you could detect something similar in gears 3, 4, & 5 at different speeds but slighter and not related to engine revs. The complete cure - after trying everything, Lexus replaced the gearbox. Hopefully yours will be will be a balance problem, a slight misfire or soggy engine mounts etc - because if it was a faulty gearbox, it would have been sorted out long ago. Good luck and hope you get it all sorted out.

[sol12]

Update:

I gave my mechanics a call, they used to deal with my MR2 and have allot of experience with Toyota's so they are a good start for free... they dont think that it is a gear problem, based on the fact that i can drive past the vibration, in thier eyes if it was a gear problem, the vibration would get worse as i got faster past the point where the vibration starts. They think i should get my rear wheels balanced which is a cheap place to start aswell i guess... the car DOES have aftermarket Wolfrace wheels on it, so it could be a possibility.

My IS 200 LE did that from brand new. Once the balance was eliminated from the issue and possible prop-shaft problems, it was clear that the vibration was not at wheel speed. Like yours, it was over a narrow speed range at light loading and in my case, once spotted in 6th gear you could detect something similar in gears 3, 4, & 5 at different speeds but slighter and not related to engine revs. The complete cure - after trying everything, Lexus replaced the gearbox. Hopefully yours will be will be a balance problem, a slight misfire or soggy engine mounts etc - because if it was a faulty gearbox, it would have been sorted out long ago. Good luck and hope you get it all sorted out.

better to haev an automatic in the is200 cant go wrong

[flappypenguin]

Resolved:

Hello everyone, just letting you all know that the vibration issue was rear balancing and has been sorted. The bad point for me is that its because one of my rear wheels is severy under balanced, it required 125g of weight added to it whcih they wernt keen on doing but did anyway, they said that typically wheels get 20g-40g and tey would consider 40 to be high. Warping/buckling is not visible on the wheel so the best bet is something wrong with the compound of the metal or something like that, either way i have a short term fix to a long term problem, cant afford new wheels for quite a while.

Unresolved:

Im still getting the blue/white smoke billowing out my exhaust when accelrrating hard (over 5000rpm), again it doesnt do it every time, just seems to be if ive covered allot of miles then do it for a quick blast, but the amount is just not right in my opinion... it covers the whole road behind me and i can see it lingering for hundreds of yards behind me too. My oil light came on today so i will check the oil when i get home, but im not convinced they are related as if it was an oil issue, the smoke would be black surely?

[flappypenguin]

hi sol12, thanks for the feedback.. as stated aboved my Oil light came on today, is this becuase its just low on oil or something else?

[NathanM]

hi sol12, thanks for the feedback.. as stated aboved my Oil light came on today, is this becuase its just low on oil or something else?

sound like your oil and water might be mixing or more likely the seal's are gone sorry mate

[flappypenguin]

Cheers NathanM, i checked the oild last night and sure enough it was low so ive toped it up and will keep an eye on it. Is it potentially a big problem?

[sol12]

hi sol12, thanks for the feedback.. as stated aboved my Oil light came on today, is this becuase its just low on oil or something else?

your oil is low and needs topping also open your pil cap and chech inside and clean out it may also be condesed up

[sol12]

hi sol12, thanks for the feedback.. as stated aboved my Oil light came on today, is this becuase its just low on oil or something else?

i had the same issue last year

[flappypenguin]

sorry, whats a pil cap and where is it located?

[kam05]

sorry, whats a pil cap and where is it located?

He means oil cap.

[oedipus]

Resolved:

Hello everyone, just letting you all know that the vibration issue was rear balancing and has been sorted. The bad point for me is that its because one of my rear wheels is severy under balanced, it required 125g of weight added to it whcih they wernt keen on doing but did anyway, they said that typically wheels get 20g-40g and tey would consider 40 to be high. Warping/buckling is not visible on the wheel so the best bet is something wrong with the compound of the metal or something like that, either way i have a short term fix to a long term problem, cant afford new wheels for quite a while.

Unresolved:

Im still getting the blue/white smoke billowing out my exhaust when accelrrating hard (over 5000rpm), again it doesnt do it every time, just seems to be if ive covered allot of miles then do it for a quick blast, but the amount is just not right in my opinion... it covers the whole road behind me and i can see it lingering for hundreds of yards behind me too. My oil light came on today so i will check the oil when i get home, but im not convinced they are related as if it was an oil issue, the smoke would be black surely?

Hi, why don't you swap your wheel with the spare? That will cost you just twice the mounting/unmounting and balancing for a long term fix! Your spare doesn't need to be in super condition , does it? I needed my spare once in 10 years in my previous car and it was avoidable!

Now, when reading your initial post, I thought: "Hey, I have that too!" In 6th gear, my car makes somewhat of a resonance sound. Talked about it to Lexus and they told me it's normal, nothing to worry about, lots of manual IS cars have it and it doesn't need repairing. I also have judder in 1st when it's cold and I accelerate gently from standstill. Same answer there: they could change the clutch, but advised me to live with it and minimize it by avoiding to slip the clutch too much. A last thing I have is something that resembles a vibration and can be felt between 30 and 45kph with the left foot (mine is LHD) that sits on the footrest. I thought about wheel balance or a damaged rim, but after fitting brand new rims it was still there. Somebody told me it could be a ball bearing that is end of life, which could very well be so, 'cause I have the famous crack when gently braking and turning at the same time at lower speeds. Lots of documentation and mentions here and on the EU forum.

About the smoke, I don't like it. Never seen that on my car. I would get it checked before your gasket blows or something else happens. Did you check for oil in the water/coolant? You should be able to see if it is white or blue smoke. Blue is oil, white is water in the combustion chamber. Water comes from your cooling circuit (e.g. gasket damaged?) while a tiny bit of blue could be less dangerous (e.g. damaged cilinder segment?). Lots of blue smoke however surely needs a pro advice.

[flappypenguin]

Hi, why don't you swap your wheel with the spare? That will cost you just twice the mounting/unmounting and balancing for a long term fix! Your spare doesn't need to be in super condition , does it? I needed my spare once in 10 years in my previous car and it was avoidable!

About the smoke, I don't like it. Never seen that on my car. I would get it checked before your gasket blows or something else happens. Did you check for oil in the water/coolant? You should be able to see if it is white or blue smoke. Blue is oil, white is water in the combustion chamber. Water comes from your cooling circuit (e.g. gasket damaged?) while a tiny bit of blue could be less dangerous (e.g. damaged cilinder segment?). Lots of blue smoke however surely needs a pro advice.

Hi mate, i cant swap the wheels cos my spare doesnt match the rest... i have aftermarket wheels that are a different size to the original wheels.

Not sure if you read this or not, but i got my rear wheels balanced and it fixed the vibration problem^^ maybe it would fix yours too?

[oedipus]

Hi mate, i cant swap the wheels cos my spare doesnt match the rest... i have aftermarket wheels that are a different size to the original wheels.

Not sure if you read this or not, but i got my rear wheels balanced and it fixed the vibration problem^^ maybe it would fix yours too?

I tried different things. It wasn't the balance (redid it by a specialist and same effect). ALso had the wheels checked and one was "unround" if you know what i mean. That's repaired now and I still get the same effect. Note that I'm using the same tyres as on another set of rims that didn't show this effect (yet). So it isn't related to the tyres either. Since those old rims are gone, I bought some brand new ones and bingo, I still the same. So not the balance, not the tyres, not the wheels.

Since it is so limited and doesn't disturb me anymore, I'll get it fixed next time I'm at my dealer's.