IS250 Auto, vibration in drive, stopped and idling.

[bernieeccles]

Noticed a few days ago that if I'm in drive and stopped at traffic lights for example, I notice a slight vibration through the car which goes away if I snick it into neutral.

Experimented parked on my driveway and noticed that idling in neutral, engine warm, that the revs are quite steady at about 700 but as soon as I put it into drive then the revs drop a couple of hundred or so and the slight vibration starts.

Is this a sign of impending doom in the transmission and something to worry about?

I should add that the car drives quite normally with respect to gear changes etc.

[eleveneleven]

Mine does the same, I've noticed it because it's intermittent.  When it does do it, taking my foot off the brake slightly sometimes helps, sticking it neutral always stops it. My gearbox has also been shifting perfectly fine.  

Think it may just be one of those things we have to live with. A few days ago someone had posted an issue with their car making a weird clunk sound when turning the wheel full lock, mine does the same. Based on the replies sounds like it's pretty much down to how the cars built and nothing to worry about, Hopefully this is a similar thing... 

[Mr Vlad]

Hi Bernie. So you're saying when your car is warm and in Neutral your car idles at 700rpm and when you select drive revs fall to a few hundred? What does your car rev at from a cold start? 

When you drive your car and then come to a stop do you select neutral or stay in drive with foot on the brake pedal?

How many miles on your car and when was the MAF sensor last cleaned and throttle body cleaned? How often is the engine oil changed?

The 700rpm when warm is Normal whether in neutral or drive. Sounds like some sort of driveline snatch. Does your car lurch a bit when you select drive?

[bernieeccles]

32 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Hi Bernie. So you're saying when your car is warm and in Neutral your car idles at 700rpm and when you select drive revs fall to a few hundred? What does your car rev at from a cold start? 

When you drive your car and then come to a stop do you select neutral or stay in drive with foot on the brake pedal?

How many miles on your car and when was the MAF sensor last cleaned and throttle body cleaned? How often is the engine oil changed?

The 700rpm when warm is Normal whether in neutral or drive. Sounds like some sort of driveline snatch. Does your car lurch a bit when you select drive?

The car at initial cold start has high rpm, not sure what but would guess about 1500 then quickly dropping back.

I come to a stop and leave it in drive with foot on brake pedal or if on a slope, no brake just let the car hold itself.

About 74000 miles, not cleaned the MAF sensor and I change the oil at usually about 7 to 8 thousand miles.

No drive line snatch and no lurch when selecting drive.

[AntC]

Mine does the same. I think it's completely normal behavior when taking off. For example, of you were driving a manual, the RPM will drop lower as you release the clutch to take off which os why you need to press the gas at the same time. Same with the automatic transmission.

For reference, I change my oil at 5k miles and cleaned the throttle body and MAF sensor this summer.

[Mr Vlad]

Mmmmm when on a slope you leave it to hold itself? I'd get out of that habit as you're not doing the driveline any favours. Plus you're breaking the law as you are not in full control of your vehicle. Just imagine if some twerp slammed into you from behind, you'd shoot forward much more than If you had your foot on the brake. 

Can't think of why the revs fall on your car in the way they do.

[Guest bigbullhead]

Be careful the drive shaft is not loose 

[bernieeccles]

8 hours ago, bigbullhead said:

Be careful the drive shaft is not loose 

Why would a loose drive shaft cause a vibration at idle and not at any other time?

[Guest bigbullhead]

I never expected mine to spin off but it did and that was a very small vibration that was only just noticeable so just my thoughts 

[AntC]

Out of curiosity, is this what you are referring to when shifting into gear? RPM drops a little when in drive and you can feel a slight vibration in the steering wheel until you take off. When idling in neutral or park, no vibration can be felt.

 

[bernieeccles]

3 hours ago, AntC said:

Out of curiosity, is this what you are referring to when shifting into gear? RPM drops a little when in drive and you can feel a slight vibration in the steering wheel until you take off. When idling in neutral or park, no vibration can be felt.

 

Exactly  this!

A small vibration that goes away when I put it into neutral.

[AntC]

To my understanding, this is completely normal behavior. I also recently drove a 2003 Subaru Impreza and it does the same thing when shifting into drive.

As mentioned before, I believe it's like how the RPM drops when releasing the clutch on a manual transmission. For example, if driving a diesel engine, you can release the clutch slowly and the car will move without any gas at all.

Obviously, the Impreza is not anywhere near the sound proof and comfort level of the IS250, so you can feel the vibrations on neutral as well. My point being that it is normal for the RPM to drop slightly in drive. The vibration is a little annoying, considering you can't even hear or feel the engine working when in neutral/park and operating temperature. I would assume that this is simply caused by the lower RPM, since you can't really feel any vibrations even when running at 3000+ RPM.

[Sahil0508]

Hello everyone, i am just wondering did anyone find the solution. If yes please let me know as recently i bought Lexus is250 2007 making same sound(vibrating) while putting car in drive or reverse and sounds normal when its on Park or Neutral.

[cruisermark]

I had a similar experice on my previous LS430 - vibratio through the gearbox when in drive - this was due to a warn gearbox mount