First time that I have heard of this on a Sienna and I would have said the motor mounts also (Honda vans are notorious for this) but since they have been thoroughly eliminated then my next area would be the transmission. I suggest you take it to a transmission specialty shop and demonstrate the problem to them. Ask if they think it could be transmission or torque converter related and if they have ever experienced/remedied this type of problem before. I am not suggesting they do any work since it is still under warranty... but just to get their opinion. Right now I am thinking torque converter. My only other ideas would be a bad fuel injector or coil that would cause a slight misfire that could cause the vibration. Usually though there will be a check engine light associated with a misfire.

BTW... Here is the link to some of the Honda vibration problems:

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f1085e1

It may or may not help in your case....

 

thank you for the advice
i know some place specialized in transmissions and i'll address them my problem

 

I have the same problem... did you find a solution?

 

I called Toyota HQ who contacted the dealer and they said they need to check the car for a few days...
I am doing this next week and i'll post what happens..

 

Just an update
I still haven't received a call from Toyota
I've been very busy at work so i didn't have time to keep calling back
From what i've seen from experts technicians i've talked, my problem is most likely "structural" and not engine/transmission related.
It's something in the front of the car that is loose and needs to be adjusted, problem is that at first view everything looks tight and snug. So it will need a try and error adjustment and it won't be easy to spot what is loose.
I'll continue with this quest after holydays...

 

probably not your problem, but just my .02 -

i was chasing down a rattle under the car for several weeks, right after changing the shocks/struts. checked all the bolts, dealer checked them again, checked all the bolts for the heat shields, etc... and they reported hearing no rattle.

of course, when i got the car back, my wife and i both heard the rattle that wasn't there before, so i crawled underneath and shook everything, all was tight.

a couple days ago, the muffler fell off and was dragging on the ground behind us. pulled over, took a look, and the exhaust tubing was all rusted through and the hangars were all rusted off. i suspect the tubing or muffler was vibrating at idle and knocking up against some kind of heat shield or something, making the tinny rattling noise (up until it fell off, that took care of the rattle).

friend's shop fixed me up w/ some new tubing, sleeved the muffler inlet and welded it all back together.

no more rattle.

 

My 2006 Sienna with 26K miles is having a similar issue and the dealer could not figured out either. They said it normal but it just happened few months ago. The rough idle happens only when I turn headlight on or A/C system. When van idle in D without anyload the rpm is around 600 rpm and everything is quiet but when turn on the light it bump up to 750 rpm and the vibration occur. If I slightly press the gas pedal over 750 rpm then the vibration to the steering wheel is gone. I had looked many Sienna van and saw no increase in rpm when turning on headlight and a/c but my van does. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

 

Our 2007 idle speed increases with the A/C on. This is pretty typical.

 

Our 2007 idle speed increases with the A/C on. This is pretty typical.

Thank you, I understood when heavy load like A/C the idle increase but when turn on parking light (one click) it does that too. May I ask if anyone here with their idle increase from 600 to 800 rpm when parking light turn on and it stayed there?

thanks.

 

Wow that seems a bit odd to jump 200, mine does not jump when I turn on the parking lights.

 

I just bought a pre-owned 2009 Sienna LE with 38,000 miles on it. I traded-in my 2004 Sienna CE wih 140,000 miles on it. I had been keeping some audio cassettes in the driver side door compartment (near the handle), so I transferred them to the 2009. When idling in the 2009, the cassettes vibrate and rattle. The noise drives me nuts, but I keep forgetting to remove them. My point is, this never happened in the 2004 CE

The 2004 had a 2.3L engine while the 2009 has a 3.5L, that I've been reading about, in my quest to find out why I get a tapping/rapping in the 3.5L engine at cold starts. At 140,000 miles the 3.2L engine in the CE, it NEVER made this noise, which is very loud and makes the car sound like an old diesel until it warms up.

I'm learning that the 3.5L engine in the LE is different than the 3.2L engine in the CE. The 3.2L was a single cam and the 3.5L is a dual cam. Also, I'm learning that like many new engines these days, the 3.5L has short skirt pistons (designed to increase power, lower emissions and give better fuel economy). The different design in the 3.5 causes a rapping noise (piston slap)when started in cold temperatures. The noise lasts about 10 minutes or more until the engine comes up to normal operating temperature.

I didn't get this info from Toyota. So far ther service people have been almost no help. They just say the noise is normal. Coming from a long line of Auto Mechanics and having taken many classes myself, I wasn't buying it. So I searched the internet. I got this info from multiple blogs, including this site.

Now I'm wondering if the vibration is yet another characteristic of the 3.5L, two cam, short skirt piston Engine???

Anybody have any other thoughts or knowledge about this?

By the way, I loved my 2004 Sienna CE and can live with the vibration and rapping in the 2009 LE as long as the engine lasts as long and gives me no trouble.

 

Our 2007 idle speed increases with the A/C on. This is pretty typical.

Thank you, I understood when heavy load like A/C the idle increase but when turn on parking light (one click) it does that too. May I ask if anyone here with their idle increase from 600 to 800 rpm when parking light turn on and it stayed there?

thanks.

This might not be the cause but maybe the battery is low on juice. I know there are problems, such as warning lights lit, contributed to low battery in Volvo.

 

Our 2007 idle speed increases with the A/C on. This is pretty typical.

Thank you, I understood when heavy load like A/C the idle increase but when turn on parking light (one click) it does that too. May I ask if anyone here with their idle increase from 600 to 800 rpm when parking light turn on and it stayed there?

thanks.

This might not be the cause but maybe the battery is low on juice. I know there are problems, such as warning lights lit, contributed to low battery in Volvo.

I replaced battery and cleaned the throttle body and fuel injection already and still having problem with it.

 

I just bought a pre-owned 2009 Sienna LE with 38,000 miles on it. I traded-in my 2004 Sienna CE wih 140,000 miles on it. I had been keeping some audio cassettes in the driver side door compartment (near the handle), so I transferred them to the 2009. When idling in the 2009, the cassettes vibrate and rattle. The noise drives me nuts, but I keep forgetting to remove them. My point is, this never happened in the 2004 CE

I'm learning that the 3.5L engine in the LE is different than the 3.2L engine in the CE. The 3.2L was a single cam and the 3.5L is a dual cam. Also, I'm learning that like many new engines these days, the 3.5L has short skirt pistons (designed to increase power, lower emissions and give better fuel economy). The different design in the 3.5 causes a rapping noise (piston slap)when started in cold temperatures. The noise lasts about 10 minutes or more until the engine comes up to normal operating temperature.

I didn't get this info from Toyota. So far ther service people have been almost no help. They just say the noise is normal. Coming from a long line of Auto Mechanics and having taken many classes myself, I wasn't buying it. So I searched the internet. I got this info from multiple blogs, including this site.

Now I'm wondering if the vibration is yet another characteristic of the 3.5L, two cam, short skirt piston Engine???

Anybody have any other thoughts or knowledge about this?

By the way, I loved my 2004 Sienna CE and can live with the vibration and rapping in the 2009 LE as long as the engine lasts as long and gives me no trouble.

I have piston slap too but i don't care about that, the vibration felt INSIDE the car is my problem.
I've driven 4 other Siennas so far ( two 2008 2007 and 2009) and none of them make the vibration, the "normal" is just an excuse for doing nothing. I'll continue the procedure with Toyota HQ and go as far as court. There are 2 experts i talked to and pretty much know whats going on, my issue is most likely structural and not engine/trans related.
Problem is Toyota "supposes" that parts are new (2009) and don't uninstall them to inspect them further...

 

I have a similar problem with interior vibration between 1100 and 1300 rpm. It is noticeable while I am warming up the car and the rpms gradually drop from 1500 to 600 and while in stop and go traffic. Do you have any updates from Toyota HQ?

 

They called back and they just said, they've talked to their "experts" and if toyota techs can't fid what's wrong there's nothing mmore they can do...
So last hope is going to court...
it will take time to do build a case but there's no other choice...

 

I purchased a used 09 Sienna and have on rare occasions felt a vibe in the steering wheel when in park, but it doesnt migrate and goes away in a couple of seconds. Just a diy mechanic here, but could it be the computer is lowering the idle too much. Can the minimum idle be adjusted manually. Did they check the timing?

 

I purchased a used 09 Sienna and have on rare occasions felt a vibe in the steering wheel when in park, but it doesnt migrate and goes away in a couple of seconds. Just a diy mechanic here, but could it be the computer is lowering the idle too much. Can the minimum idle be adjusted manually. Did they check the timing?

The lowest the idle goes is around 610-620 rpm and that's when the worst vibration is felt (on steering wheel at that rpm), the idle can't be adjusted manually, it's all by computer...

 

Is that from the tach on the dash or a real tach? My dash tach never seems to go below 750-770, and as I said, I do not get the vibes you do. (Well maybe once or twice during the winter) Is there a software update? Timing ok?

 

2010 Toyota Sienna that vibrates at low throttle. Dealer replaced transmission, replaced exhaust manifold, regional field technician said it was a "characteristic of the vehicle" for 2010 - 2011 Sienna and Highlander drive trains. Had an arbitration hearing and they took no action. Watch this video

http://youtu.be/TM_oRsqMCYw

 

I'm the second owner, so don't know if these are original or added. When crawling under my '08 (2GR engine), I noticed a pair of dumbell weights welded to the exhaust system back near the spare tire. They look to me to be dampers to tune the resonant frequency of a shaking system. By changing the mass, you can suppress vibration at a given RPM by pushing it to a higher or lower RPM that you don't often operate at (and thus won't be bothered by). It could be a simple matter of 'retuning' by adding or subtracting mass.

Do you have weights? Are they the same as seen on other identical vans? Can you test this theory by attaching more mass with a C-Clamp and see if it changes anything?

 

Fibber My 08 has the same on the exhaust 2 counter weights

 

Good – so item #1 confirmed – the weights are OEM. Now, are they the same on all units produced? Do they need to be in different positions, or of different mass?

Doing a search, I found **581-50090 – Damper, Exhaust Pipe, exploded diagram figure number 17581A on one of the parts sites.

http://www.toyotapartszone.com/Page...ry=(9=USA)&sectionID=1&isBigPicture=False&componentsID=17-02&componentsIndex=18

http://www.utoyot8.com/Picture.aspx...spx?ccId=300653596&ppId=479788499&ppInfo=(0612-++++)2GRFE..GSL25&ccode=&ppName=

The diagram shows one. IIRC, my van has 2, one vertical, one horizontal (??). I’ll have to crawl back under and check. It would make sense that you might have to rotate these to cancel out a harmonic in a given direction.

 

to the op perhaps something happened to the exhaust maybe got bent and is rubbing or out of the rubber hangers that dampens the whole exhaust system ,also sounds like the heat shield(s) making noise .

 

OK - crawled under for a look tonight. Sorry for some misinformation - they both point towards the spare tire, but are at maybe a 10-15' angle to each other (not 90'). They are, however, different in size and shape.