1999 Corolla Drive/flex Plate Issue - Toyota Corolla, Chevy Prizm (1998-2008)

Guest conrad2025

My car (1999 Toyota Corolla, Automatic, 134000 miles) recently had a spark plug wire failure which resulted in the engine vibrating excessively. Once I replaced the spark plug wire, the engine runs fine, but I believe the engine vibration caused by the failed wire has loosened the drive plate/flex plate on my car.

At idle when in any gear besides park and when accelerating from a stop, there is rattling noise that comes from the rear of the engine, towards the driver's side on the left. The noise disappears once the car is up to any speed over 20 mph and runs fine.

Is my suspicion correct? Would a loose drive/flex plate be to blame?

Is there any way for me to check and tighten the flex plate myself without removing the transmission?

Thank you very much!

Flexplate is pretty hard to vibrate loose - unless there was recent transaxle work - I wouldn't suspect a flexplate issue. Only way to tell for sure is to replace the transaxle - no easy way around it.

Could you describe the vibration in more detail? What does it sound like, where do you feel it (vibrates pedals, wheels, whole cabin, etc.)? How long did you have the spark plug wire failure? Was any other work done to the car?