2000 Toyota Corolla Excessive Vibration At Idle While In Drive. Please - Toyota Corolla, Chevy Prizm (1998-2008)

Please HELP. I'm not anywhere near of being a mechanic. Here's my issue and I hope someone can help. I have a toyota corolla year 2000. Here's a quick story of what happened: Car started acting up at (170,000 miles) it would turn on then it would hesitate and then turned off. Borrowed an OBD11 tester and it came up with a missfire on cylinder 2 and Maf sensor. I didn't have the money to fix it, so the car was left alone for about 2 months. I would turn the car on every 2 weeks or so. Left town for 3 weeks, when I returned my dad told me that a mechanic said that the engine was bad and that had to be replaced. My dad agreed to it. According to the mechanic he put in a newer engine(Not sure what year, but with 60,000 miles) Yeah we got screwed, my dad ended up paying him over 1000dlls.

With that said, the car turns on and idles rough! It's at 1.5 rpms and I don't know how to bring it down. In fact there's a connector missing on the top of the throttle body. There are three sensors the one at the top which it doesn't have a connector( according to the cheap mechanic, it doesn't need it.. I think he cancelled it or something) the TPS which is located to the bottom left side of the throttle body and the third which is to the right. That's one problem the second problem is that it vibrates excessivly while in drive(at a complete stop). I can feel all the vibration on the steering wheel, it's annoying and I'm tired of it.

I went and did some research online. First thing first... the oil, sparkplugs, sparkwires, pvc valve, air filter, oil filter are new, cleaned the maf sensor, checked transmission fluid and reset the computer. Car turned on fine but with a rough idle and it's been like that eversince. Connected the obdII sensor again and got p0171 bank 1 lean.... (Not sure what that is) What really bothers me is the exessive idle and vibration. I dissconnected throttle body from the intake manifold and cleaned it I also disconnected the TPS sensor and cleaned it and noticed that there is a small wheel bearing inside which it was completely corroded. I cleaned it the best that I could. Now, don't know if the bearing which has a small shaft with a magnet attached to it supposed to turn or not. If it does it didn't turn! and if that's the case I think I will have to buy a new TPS Sensor. I reinstalled everything and the car still idles rough (1.5rpms) and the car still vibrates when in drive while stopped on a light, it stops vibrating immediately when I step on the gas.

A friend says that the problem resides on the motor mounts, but I checked them and they seem fine, but again I might be wrong. Any advice would be of great help. Thanks

im having the same problem as his! please someone help!

Need more information here - what engine was swapped in place of the original engine - same year/model? The 1ZZ-FE engine in the first half 8th gen (1998-1999) Corolla is different from the second half 8th gen (2000-2002) Corolla. The 9th gen (2003-2008) Corolla use a slightly redesigned 1ZZ-FE that can be swapped in, but is not considered a direct swap - you have to change, modify some aspects of the wiring/ECM considerations to make it work correctly. Even within the 9th gen - there are several variations, early 2003-2004 used cable actuated TB and the 2005+ switched to DBW TBs and AFR sensors instead of O2 sensors.

A P0171 generally indicates a dirty MAF sensor (can be cleaned, just be careful) or leaky vacuum hose somewhere. A vacuum leak can definitely cause an unstable, shaky idle. Since the engine was swapped in - this makes it more likely to be one of your main culprits. Trying to clean the TPS sensor is not a good move - you could throw off its calibration and make it read incorrectly. The ECM could think that the throttle plate is closed, when it actually is cracked ope na bit - leading to a poor idle. Faulty motor mounts could be also be a source of your vibration but not affect your idle. Take it to a dealershp or an independant shop that specializes with Toyotas, especailly ones that are familar with the ZZ-family of engine. Could be a number of other things going on that could be easily overlooked.

Need more information here - what engine was swapped in place of the original engine - same year/model? The 1ZZ-FE engine in the first half 8th gen (1998-1999) Corolla is different from the second half 8th gen (2000-2002) Corolla. The 9th gen (2003-2008) Corolla use a slightly redesigned 1ZZ-FE that can be swapped in, but is not considered a direct swap - you have to change, modify some aspects of the wiring/ECM considerations to make it work correctly. Even within the 9th gen - there are several variations, early 2003-2004 used cable actuated TB and the 2005+ switched to DBW TBs and AFR sensors instead of O2 sensors.

A P0171 generally indicates a dirty MAF sensor (can be cleaned, just be careful) or leaky vacuum hose somewhere. A vacuum leak can definitely cause an unstable, shaky idle. Since the engine was swapped in - this makes it more likely to be one of your main culprits. Trying to clean the TPS sensor is not a good move - you could throw off its calibration and make it read incorrectly. The ECM could think that the throttle plate is closed, when it actually is cracked ope na bit - leading to a poor idle. Faulty motor mounts could be also be a source of your vibration but not affect your idle. Take it to a dealershp or an independant shop that specializes with Toyotas, especailly ones that are familar with the ZZ-family of engine. Could be a number of other things going on that could be easily overlooked.

sorry for hijacking your thread i just wanted to make a quick reply. my engine is the 1st gen 1zz 98 rolla. the vibration is done when i put the car in drive 1 2 reverse. on neutral and parking everything goes smooth. no cel is on or anything

sorry for hijacking your thread i just wanted to make a quick reply. my engine is the 1st gen 1zz 98 rolla. the vibration is done when i put the car in drive 1 2 reverse. on neutral and parking everything goes smooth. no cel is on or anything

Could be anything from excessive sparkplug fouling or worn plugs / plug wires, to tired ignition components, to fouled injectors, to a dirty throttle body, vacuum leak, or bad mounts. What is the maintenance history of the car? Any major/minor modifications on the engine? Anything else seems out of the ordinary?

I'd start with the easy stuff first - a simple cleaning. A good bottle of fuel injector cleaner in the tank (Redline SI-1 is my first choice), clean the throttle body, check the IAC valve (bottom of throttle body), visually inspect all vacuum hoses, and pull the plugs and read them. If the plugs look suspect or if you can't remember the last time you replaced them - toss some new ones in there. The OEM plug is a copper double ground prong electrode plug from NGK or Denso - you can get those or go with the iridiums used in the 2000+ Corollas - they will work just fine. Also seems to help to reset the ECM to relearn fuel trims after you did the cleaning - to get the most out of what you've done.

If that doesn't help - then expand your search from there. Check voltages on the coil packs, verify that you have good spark, good fuel, etc.

sorry for hijacking your thread i just wanted to make a quick reply. my engine is the 1st gen 1zz 98 rolla. the vibration is done when i put the car in drive 1 2 reverse. on neutral and parking everything goes smooth. no cel is on or anything
Could be anything from excessive sparkplug fouling or worn plugs / plug wires, to tired ignition components, to fouled injectors, to a dirty throttle body, vacuum leak, or bad mounts. What is the maintenance history of the car? Any major/minor modifications on the engine? Anything else seems out of the ordinary?
I'd start with the easy stuff first - a simple cleaning. A good bottle of fuel injector cleaner in the tank (Redline SI-1 is my first choice), clean the throttle body, check the IAC valve (bottom of throttle body), visually inspect all vacuum hoses, and pull the plugs and read them. If the plugs look suspect or if you can't remember the last time you replaced them - toss some new ones in there. The OEM plug is a copper double ground prong electrode plug from NGK or Denso - you can get those or go with the iridiums used in the 2000+ Corollas - they will work just fine. Also seems to help to reset the ECM to relearn fuel trims after you did the cleaning - to get the most out of what you've done.
If that doesn't help - then expand your search from there. Check voltages on the coil packs, verify that you have good spark, good fuel, etc.

thanks a lot!! ill start checking everything said!

I have a 98 1zz-fe and i HAD the very same problem.

Horrible rough idle when in gear (D,R,1,2) and fully stopped..after changing filters, oil, plugs and wires. I came to find out it was the injectors. So my friend at autozone told me to do the "seafoam treatment" so i did and problem fixed.

No more rough idle!! In fact injectores are so clean now it dropped my rpm to 500 in gear AND fully stopped. Lol it almost feels like the car is not even running..

But i had to change my oil AND oil filter for second time because the seafoam made my oil so dark and dirty. But my buddy said this was suppossed to happen. Just when u get ready for ur next oil change do this treatment and change ur oil asap. Ull be surprised of the results.

Keep us posted if u need more info.