[macnow20]

I have my 16 sienna XLE 1250 rpm vibration fix , take the car to the dealer ask to removed the exhaust bracket.No More vibration on 1250 rpm..But now have little vibration on 900 rpm from stop idle up ... Acceptable better than before .. Hopefully toyota fix the exhaust problems.
anyone know any exhaust bracket can fix the problem ??

Hi, is it still ok for you one year after you removed the bracket? Nothing changed?

 

[macnow20]

I just bought a certified used 2014 Sienna that vibrates at 1200 rpm. The tech from Premier Toyota in Amherst told me this was normal! I am glad to hear others have the same complaint. I think the tech didn't know how to fix the problem (or just didn't want to) but they blew me off. I may take it to a different dealer before the 12,000 mile warranty expires, but after looking at the fine print the exhaust system repair probably won't be covered anyway and I will get stuck paying a diagnostic fee plus the actual cost of the repair. Gee, I guess they missed this defect on the 160 point check!

Hi! I’m from Poland, one of those who has bought iaai auction car after road accident.

After long repair process, once I eventually started driving my xle fwd 2015 Sienna I was getting more and more annoyed with this 1250rpm vibrations. It was causing shaking all equipment inside of the car and decreasing enjoyment of driving a lot.

My first thought was, well, my car has been repaired maybe not entirely professionally or just because it has suffered an accident. Than I started searching web and luckily found this post.
So, I removed the famous bracket and the crazy noise is gone in 90%. That satisfies me, but! Is that bracket really not needed? Can the car operate long term without this part? Any of you has been using your Sienna without it for a longer period?
Appreciate any infos, thanks!

 

[Sienna110818]

I bought a used 2015 Sienna XLE, with 69K last November.
I had the same vibration at 1200 RPM that was very annoying.
This past Friday I had e mechanic remove that exhaust bracket.
What a difference! Now a pleasure to drive!
Thank you for the info.

 

[MikeDB52]

Exactly what I did. However, I still experience significant droning and vibration at about 800-900 rpm when the engine is cold.

Any ideas how to fix that?

Have the dealer check the engine mounts. Mine was doing the same thing and the exhaust repair did not solve it completely The dealer found two bad engine mounts which caused the engine to flex the exhaust and cause the catalytic converter to hit the heat shield.

 

[MikeDB52]

There is a vibration on 2015 Sienna when engine speed at around 1250 RPM. Some vehicles are very minor, and others could be very severe. The vibration on my 2015 Sienna sometimes was very severe and along with the lower frequency drone noise. This had made me feeling very headache and ears pain. Had brought it to the dealer several times for a inspection. Nothing found! Had test another brand new 2015 Sienna SE, did the same thing, just a little better than mine. The last time I went to the dealer, they did something on the CAT converter. Before, there were four lock washer on the 4 bolts (with spring on it) those connects the CAT converter to the front and rear manifold pipe. The service tech removed those lock washers and tightened the four bolts. Because they believed that the vibration was caused by the looseness of those joins. But after I picked up my Sienna , I found the vibration was worse than before. Then I was thinking if I made it a little looser, would it be a little better?? So what I did is put 2 flat washer and 1 lock washer on each bolt. After I tightened those bolts, the spring on it will only be compressed 1 to 2 turns. I test drove my Sienna after doing this. The vibration almost went away. There is only minor vibration when cold start the car. Those drone noise also is not noticeable. If you are experiencing the vibration on your Sienna. You may try this on your car(you can put more or less washers on your bolts, just remember do not make the spring too tight, so the washer amount may vary on different vehicle). Please see the following pic for the washer size and position of CAT converter.

CHECK the ENGINE MOUNTS!!

When I drove my Sienna week ago, with only 55,000 miles on the odometer, I heard a buzzing vibration on low speed coasting/1st gear acceleration when the vehicle was cold. It quieted down a little when the vehicle warmed up but was still there. At times it sounded like a transmission problem....other times, like a rattling exhaust.

Upon inspection, the dealer found 2 bad engine mounts. These were causing the engine to flex (that was the transmission noise) which in turn would bend the exhaust to allow the catalytic converter to contact the heat shield. That was the buzzing noise. The dealer showed me a video of what happened, did a complete inspection of the vehicle and contacted Toyota for authorization. He installed two new engine mounts and fixed a common problem with the exhaust whereby packing “donuts“ and spring loaded screws often fail and flex. The dealer replaced these. Toyota paid for the entire repair. If I did not have the extended warranty, my cost would have been approximately $2,200.00.

 

[circus]

He installed two new engine mounts and exhaust donuts and spring loaded screws... my cost would have been approximately $2,200.00.

You can bet Toyota only paid, like $300, labor included. Guess it's inflation. Dealerships use to just rip you off a couple hundred dollars.

 

[wesbos]

Has anyone run this fix for while? Has it been fine?

I've taken mine to two shops - the first one couldn't hear it. So I recorded a video and took it to the second shop. They said they can't take the bracket off because it will cause stress on pipes and cause a leak.

The bolts are absolutely rusted on so they didn't even want to humour me by taking it off temporarily.

It's driving me crazy, and as much as they must hate people coming in with internet forum advice, I'm 99% sure this is my issue. I read the whole Highlander thread and it's my exact issue.

 

[garberfc]

My 2011 FWD van is another victim of the "rattle". I think my first step is to get the motor mounts checked. Once that's done I'll proceed with the packing "donuts".

Does anyone have a link or part number for the "donuts"?

 

[Georgi]

My brand new 16 XLE has vibrations too. I am sure it's not normal . The XLE has about 4200 miles.

I can feel a vibration when it accelerates from a stop. once it passes 1250 RPM or below 1250 RPM , the vibration is gone.The vibration happens for about 1 to 2 seconds only touch 1250RPM
I tried to put it in neutral and rev it slowly and I can also feel a little vibration at 1250 RPM , Even the car not moving i go easy on the gas paddle to 1250 RPM i can feel litte vibration .
I have my Sienna inspected by the Toyota Dealer No issues found they say is normal .But why have the vibrations only on 1250 RPM ??
Anyone have same issue and know how to fix .... ? thanks

I have perfectly the same issue with m 2019 sienna LE. I also noticed that if i press the gas at neutral and it goes well above 3000rpm, on the way down it stops at 1200rpm for a second.

 

[garberfc]

My 2011 FWD van is another victim of the "rattle". I think my first step is to get the motor mounts checked. Once that's done I'll proceed with the packing "donuts".

Does anyone have a link or part number for the "donuts"?

I'm surprised no one has the part number. Does anyone know where there's an exploded parts diagram? I'll dig down and find and report it.

 

[garberfc]

I found a site that will allow drilling down by year / model / component to get part numbers: 2011 Sienna Exhaust parts. From this link, it's very easy to switch models / years....

 

[Therbi]

I read through this whole thread but not sure what you mean by packing the donuts. Can you clarify?

 

[Georgi]

My brand new 16 XLE has vibrations too. I am sure it's not normal . The XLE has about 4200 miles. I can feel a vibration when it accelerates from a stop. once it passes 1250 RPM or below 1250 RPM , the vibration is gone.The vibration happens for about 1 to 2 seconds only touch 1250RPM I tried to put it in neutral and rev it slowly and I can also feel a little vibration at 1250 RPM , Even the car not moving i go easy on the gas paddle to 1250 RPM i can feel litte vibration . I have my Sienna inspected by the Toyota Dealer No issues found they say is normal .But why have the vibrations only on 1250 RPM ?? Anyone have same issue and know how to fix .... ? thanks

I have the exact same issue with my. Sienna 2019. Did you figure it out?

 

[Therbi]

I have the exact same issue with my. Sienna 2019. Did you figure it out?

Are you asking him about the drone at 1200 or 900?
If you click on a persons name you can see when they were last on this site. In this case that guy hasn't been back for about 5 years so I dont think he's going to reply.

 

[Georgi]

Are you asking him about the drone at 1200 or 900?
If you click on a persons name you can see when they were last on this site. In this case that guy hasn't been back for about 5 years so I dont think he's going to reply.

Thaks. It is about the vibration at 1250.

 

[Therbi]

Post 15 he wrote that. 2 days later, post 16, he said he removed the bracket that clamps to the exhaust and it went away. He posted 2 pictures.
Does that answer your question?
Mine does the same thing. The colder it gets the worse it is. Fortunately its been an very mild winter here in southern Ontario so it isnt as irritating as it was last year.
I am seriously considering yanking it off myself though if we get a cold snap and it starts to piss me off again.

 

[Georgi]

Post 15 he wrote that. 2 days later, post 16, he said he removed the bracket that clamps to the exhaust and it went away. He posted 2 pictures.
Does that answer your question?
Mine does the same thing. The colder it gets the worse it is. Fortunately its been an very mild winter here in southern Ontario so it isnt as irritating as it was last year.
I am seriously considering yanking it off myself though if we get a cold snap and it starts to piss me off again.

I understand, but this way you are removing the symptom, not the reason. The engine should not vibrate at 1250 on many cars. there is something that is making it to vibrate. I guess it is incorrect mixture of gasoline and air. It could be the throttle valve sensor, or th emaf sensor. When I press the pedal and rpm go to 7-8000 and start coming back down after I depress, the needle stops at 1250 for a second and comes down. There is something funky happening with the engine at this rpm.

 

[Therbi]

I dont think its a defect or a problem with the engine, its call drone or harmonic resonance. If there was a problem with the engine then removing one clamp shouldnt make the sound stop.
All cars exhibit this type of sound, some are just more pronounced than others. Because that section of exhaust pipe is rigidly held in place it acts like a megaphone to transmit it more. Previous gens had a braided flex pipe in that area and because those ones could flex with the engine it wasnt as pronounced.

I used to have a stock Tundra years back. I did some exhaust and intake mods and the drone was so bad it would rattle your teeth. This is the exact same idea, its droning.

A proper fix?
Go to a local exhaust shop and ask them to mod a rubber hanger in place similar to the mid and back sections of the exhaust. This way you still have support but its not firm.

Remove the bracket and call it done.

One last option, have a local exhaust shop make something called a helmholtz resonator.

 

[Georgi]

I dont think its a defect or a problem with the engine, its call drone or harmonic resonance. If there was a problem with the engine then removing one clamp shouldnt make the sound stop.
All cars exhibit this type of sound, some are just more pronounced than others. Because that section of exhaust pipe is rigidly held in place it acts like a megaphone to transmit it more. Previous gens had a braided flex pipe in that area and because those ones could flex with the engine it wasnt as pronounced.

I used to have a stock Tundra years back. I did some exhaust and intake mods and the drone was so bad it would rattle your teeth. This is the exact same idea, its droning.

A proper fix?
Go to a local exhaust shop and ask them to mod a rubber hanger in place similar to the mid and back sections of the exhaust. This way you still have support but its not firm.

Remove the bracket and call it done.

One last option, have a local exhaust shop make something called a helmholtz resonator.

my car didn't have it. It starte after some time.the fact that when I rev the engine, the dial stops exactly on 1250 rpms on its way bck to the idling rpms is undisputable proof that there is something wrong. I don't have time to debug it right now, but I will and will let you know.

 

[Therbi]

Funny thing just happened to me. Tonight I had to run some errands and when I pulled out of my driveway the noise was really bad. I found that if I hold my foot on the brake, while in drive, and hold the revs at 1250 it was brutal. Way worse than it normally is and not just my usual cold start, same RPM drone. I crawled under to have a look. Theres a huge chunk of ice built up between the gas tank and the exhaust center pipe. Obviously there's no ice on the pipe itself but its resting up against the pipe support. I suspect this ice is causing my nasty rattle right now. I didnt have time to pull it in the garage, jack it up, and knock all the ice off. Around here its supposed to be 3C tomorrow and I'm hoping most of that ice will melt off. If the noise goes away I know thats what caused it. If its still there I'll pull into the garage after work tomorrow and see what else I can see that might be obvious. I too will post back what I find.
That being said I still have the 1250 cold drone.

When did you start having your problem?
Have you tried holding your foot on the gas same as I did and see if you can duplicate it? Dont just rev it up, but hold it at that rev range.
Not sure where you're located but any chance you also might have some sort of ice build up as well?