car vibrates A LOT

[ranola0312]

hey, i have a 99 galant and when i'm stopped at a light, in traffic, etc; the car vibrates a lot (everyone in the car could feel it) yet if i put it in neutral it doesn't shake at all. does anyone know what's causing this? i also had a big vibration when i would hit the brakes at highway speeds, but i got my rotors cut and that seems to have helped. why does this car vibrate when im stopped in drive?

[spardavr4]

Do you have an intake?

What are your RPM's when you are stopped while in gear?

[tamim13]

Sounds like a motor mount going bad?

[spardavr4]

Yeah that would be the worst case scenario.

My intake was a little loose so it hit against the battery while in stopped so it made a noise.

Your RPM's may be a bit low.

If that's not it, definately the mounts. For both front and rear roll stoppers it costs around $200 to buy them and put them on. The tranny mount is $200 to buy and put on. I'm not sure about the 4th one though.

[ranola0312]

oh jesus i hope it's not the mounts. no i don't have any aftermarket intake, and i never paid attention to the rpms while stopped, i would guess between 1-2k?

[tamim13]

oh jesus i hope it's not the mounts. no i don't have any aftermarket intake, and i never paid attention to the rpms while stopped, i would guess between 1-2k?

Well, with the A/C on, it should be a little higher if the compressor is running, but normally mine is around 800-900 on "D" when stopped as signals and with the AC it might be a little higher. Try increasing your idling when the engine is hot and see if that solves your problem.

[ranola0312]

sorry i'm new to all of this and i don't know much about cars when it comes to under the hood..how do i increase the idle?

[glantv699]

oh jesus i hope it's not the mounts. no i don't have any aftermarket intake, and i never paid attention to the rpms while stopped, i would guess between 1-2k?

idk bout you but my engine is spinng around 8-900 rpms when stopped and in drive, maybe 1200 when idling parked or netural, this sounds like a bad motor mount though

[ranola0312]

i was just guessing, i never looked at rpms while stopped in drive, maybe it is 800-900 rpms. how do i adjust the idle?

[pinoyesv6]

how do i adjust the idle?

you dont.

how have u been with maintaing the car??

when was the last time you changed your plugs and wires
cleaned your throttle body?
checked your air filter.
inspect your motor mounts.

as for the brakes, depending on how thick the rotors are, cutting them down might have been just a temporary solution. cutting them does fix the problem but when u cut them, you also make them thinner thus making them more prone to warping again. having improperly torqued lug nuts can also warp them. using high performance pads can also help to warp rotors that have been cut down.

[ranola0312]

i just got my car a week ago so i didn't do much of anything yet lol. i'll check everything you listed out, thanks.

[platano]

how many miles does your car have? Good chance it could be motor mounts since u said it dosent vibrate when the car is in Neutral.

[ranola0312]

97.5k. i asked my friends neighbor who is a mechanic and he said it could just be a spark plug, a tune up, etc. as opposed to motor mounts because cars dont usually get that unless they race and w.e., and the engine doesn't go up when i drive (he said something like that) any truth to that?

[racesnos]

it's the motor mounts. trust me on that one. i had a serious vibrating problem and when i changed the motor mounts, my world opened up to no more vibrating haha. i dont think a spark plug can do all the vibrating. congrats on the Galant though! where are you located?

[tamim13]

Actually speaking, in my corolla, one day it was vibrating like crazy and then my CEL came on, and it was because one of the spark plugs were bad, one of the cylinders were misfiring and therefore the idling was way too low and causing the whole car to vibrate, so sometimes it might be that too.

[acitydweller]

it's the motor mounts. trust me on that one. i had a serious vibrating problem and when i changed the motor mounts, my world opened up to no more vibrating haha. i dont think a spark plug can do all the vibrating. congrats on the Galant though! where are you located?

Can you clarify which mounts you replaced to fix the problem in your car?

[silversurfer]

the roll stopping mounts front and rear and the transmission mount, ant the torsion mount next to the timing belts .replace all four , it will only cost about 250 in parts

[acitydweller]

Thanks Silver. Parts are ordered :)

Also replacing both inner and outer tie rods, bushings and boots. A full set of Energy suspension bushings and new ball joints already in so the car will be driving like new very soon. I am really starting to fall in love with the galant again after 100k miles

[bmaddock]

Not to intrude on the topic, but how would you inspect your motor mounts? Im pretty noobish in this area of the car haha. Im guessing once i locate them do i simply look for cracks? Or is this more major and have to lift my motor?

[RAZ_76]

Vibration like you described is definitely motor mounts and if you don't want more headaches, I would replace them asap or end up replacing the intake manifold because cracks will develop from excessive vibration. Been there. Also when you replace your motor mounts, my advice is to replace all 4 at once. Kinda like suspension and I will tell you why. If you only replace 2 of the 4, now you have all that vibration go to the weak ones, thus forcing them to fail a lot faster. That's why you want to replace all 4, so the vibration is shared between all 4. Inspection is easy, look for cracks in the rubber, if you find one bad, replace them all before it's too late because an intake manifold could cost up to 600 dollars replaced. All four mounts, under 300 on eBay.

[bmaddock]

Well in my situation it only happens every once in a while so i dunno if ive just been missing the pattern (ex: only when its cold) but ill definitely look at my mounts