What Is Their Purpose?

[fastbob72]

I got into tge car the other day and from the moment it i fired her up she sounded and felt wrong. Harsher,raspier, increased resonance and vibration too.

My initial reaction being the exhaust blowing, at the manifold was my guess so I got out the car to hear it from outside yet out of the car the engine sounded sweet and a couple of dabs of throttle didn't produce and rattle, shaking or rasp at all. Got back in the car and it was obviously blowing. Mm curious.

Couldn't do anything at 6am when I need to be leaving for work so I set off. Car felt normal, no signs of any problems with the steering, brakes, suspension just the increased sound, vibration and resonance still. Och well, must be cos the manifold exits between the engine and bulkhead, that would explain it being noisier inside than out, perhaps part of the system was touching the frame or something. All my other FWDs had the exhaust at the front and the intake at the back, the opposite of the 1ZZ so that's what I put it down to. Just hope it's not one of the cats that's blown :(

I got home and wasted no time in inspecting the manifold and exhaust for any signs of the source of the noise but it was pretty clear there wasn't anything wrong there at all. Shining my LED head torch right down the back I saw a curious thing and quite clearly what was causing the whole issue.

In the first pic is what I found wedged between the subframe and the bellhousing on my gearbox. Effectively it connected solidly the engine and transmission to the Shell and being solid metal conducted all sound and vibrations straight through into the body. Removing it cured the problem instantly :)

Ok, so how did it get there and where from??

It's off the rear subframe/gearbox mounting which is very similar to the front one i've pictured also. It comes from the outside of the mounting as I've arrowed in another photo but as to what it's for and why i have to admit to being somewhat baffled. It's solid metal and surprisingly heavy and the only thing I can imagine it's for would be as some kind of counter balance though why it would need one isn't clear to me.

The photo of the front mount shows it too has a similar thing attatched on the outside of the mounting except it has a metal outside but is mostly rubber. The detached one is almost entirely metal with a bit of rubber???

What I do know is there has been no ill effect to how well my drivetrain is mounted in the car, the engine and gearbox rock or move very little under braking, take off or gear changes, there's no change at all so it's not noticeably compromised the mounting by loosing this bit.

Anyway, does anyone know exactly what the hell it's meant to be for, are they prone to snapping off. I do remember on my 1.8GS it was obvious something had sheared off the side of the front subframe mounting.The bit that is still attatched on mine in the photo I now know was what was missing from the GS. Again, there seemed to be no ill effects for it being missing.

Hope someone has a suggestion or knowledge of it lol

cheers

Bob :)

[Devon Aygo]

It is a harmonic dampner and can be found fitted in various places such as Suspension cross members, subframes and exhausts and have been fitted to reduce/remove vibrations that cause noise and vibration in the cabin/chassis

[fastbob72]

Right of couse, that makes sense.I was kind of on the right line asuming it to be a counterbalance,just another form of damper really.

Anyway thanks. I'll have to look into renewing or refittinh now :)

[Milky Bar Kid 1001]

Would this problem happen on the diesels as well? Got a resonance at 1200 - 1500rpm.

[Heidfirst]

have you checked the seals on the air intake hose as these are foam & perish allowing a vibration (usually exactly where you say 1200-1500rpm)?

[Milky Bar Kid 1001]

I'll check that out thx. It's more of a vibration to be honest but I'll have a look at them out.

[fastbob72]

I finally got hold of anew dampener.Tried eBay,halfords,eurocar parts,1st choice spares, as any number of sites online attempting to get one though i did discover a new rear mounting is bloody expensive lol.

This came from the parts dept of mu local Toyota dealers......took 4 days to get and cost £29 inc vat......that's a result if you ask me lol.

Be fitting it 2moro [emoji3] [emoji3] [emoji12]

[Konrad C]

Bob

I must have had an off day in not responding to your query or the fact it was answered. Anyway I went out quickly to see if the dampers of my car were intact. They were and here are the photos.

front,

gearbox under airfilter,

offside engine has two and the slightly blurred oblong damper is not on the vvti, only the early engines,

the rear from two different angles.

I also got part numbers for my car:

http://www.japan-parts.eu/toyota/eu/1998/avensis/at221r-almekw/3_273540_026_/tool-engine-fuel/1107_mounting

Your car has one less:

http://www.japan-parts.eu/toyota/eu/2001/avensis/zzt221r-almekw/3_273540_107_/tool-engine-fuel/1107_mounting

At £29 for a damper, I would rather go to the breakers or try and glue the old back!

Konrad

[fastbob72]

Have finished fitting it but won't know until tomorrow (later today,in fact lol) if it makes any difference but there has been a noticeable increase in vibration through the body from the moment it came off......and wedged itself between the subframe and the gearbox bellhousing so here's hoping ;)

[fastbob72]

Have finished fitting it but won't know until tomorrow (later today,in fact lol) if it makes any difference but there has been a noticeable increase in vibration through the body from the moment it came off......and wedged itself between the subframe and the gearbox bellhousing so here's hoping ;)

My new dampener in place and it's made absolutely sod all difference lol.

I have to assume the old one snapping off was a symptom rather than the root cause of the annoying resonance and vibration yet it began at the same time the dampener sheared off........connected ??? I assumed so and still do but will have to cast my attempted diagnosis wider possibly the mount itself maybe ???

Might try replacing the gearbox oil,could be an out of balance driveshaft.

If it wasn't so directly felt through the body of the car itself as opposed to the steering I'd suspect an out of balance wheel or deformed tyre but the steering isn't adversely affected not is it felt through the steering wheel much at all.

Curiouser and curiouser [emoji16] [emoji16] [emoji16]