Vibration when accelerating from 65 to 70mph

I have a vibration/shutter in the steering wheel when accelerating from 65 to 75mph. Usually when I first start driving at highway speeds. I also feel a little vibration when accelerating at any speed and turning the steering wheel to the right. It's a 2014 off road short bed. Doesn't feel like a driveline and I looked at all the tsb bulletins. Nothing that they describe. Tires were road forced balanced, alignment is good. Thought it could be flat spots on tires because the truck is only driven 2 a week but I don't think that's the case. Tires are bf goodrich rugged trails. What do you think? By the time I get to the dealer it's relatively smooth again or they say the tires are giving me the feedback.. steering seems a bit loose but so is every tacoma I have driven. Thanks for reading I look forward to your comments.

 

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Hi OP; how many miles are on you truck? It sounds like a wheel balance issue, or a very slightly worn/loose/damaged suspension or steering component. Maybe even a cv joint or cupped tires. There are a lot of possibilities!!
My truck is a 2015 with the incredible driveability, better than a sports car up to about 150 which as fast as I've ever driven it. No shakes, no vibrations, smooth as glass. The steering is tight and direct as r&p steering should be.

 

18000 miles. Tires aren't cupped. I've been looking at different suspension and steering parts. Hard to tell when it doesn't happen all the time. It doesn't appear to be getting any worse. Which is what everyone is waiting for.. for it to get worse. But the deliverability on the highway is horrible.

 

Driveability

 

Lifted or leveled?

 

Nope truck is stock...might as well add this too the vibration threads that never get fixed.

 

Sounds like wheel balance issue. I had the same thing after installing after market wheels. I even had it road force balance. I finaly got fed up and went back to stock. But I did go with Michaline tires. Do you have stock wheels and if so are they 16s or 17s ?

 

It might even be a wheel bearing with the right hand turn symptom that you mentioned in the original post. Intermittent problems, and solutions by trial and error are so annoying and can be expensive to trace! As the costs rack up, and the problem persists you feel like selling the truck.

 

truck has 16s on it. yeah i keep banging my head trying to find the vibe... dont want to sell the truck just want to fix it.

 

Are you sure it's in the drive train? Based on the situation you're describing (vibration while accelerating) it sounds like you may be experiencing the pre-detonation/spark knock that many have complained about. Toyota actually issued a service bulletin addressing it with an ECU flash. Apparently it was an electronic timing issue. I was able to make it better by running higher octane fuel but just had the TSB done a couple months ago and now I appear to be good.

I found one of the threads. Many use the term knock or ping but most describe the sound/sensation as a stutter/shutter/vibration, always on acceleration. Check it out (note all the crazy things guys were trying before they discovered it was a computer/timing issue): https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2012-v6-at-dcsb-engine-knocking-1500-rpm.230991/page-26

 

Not sure if this will be helpful, but

Back in December, I had my tires rebalanced. Prior to the rebalancing, I've never had any issues.

All through January, February, and beginning of March I would occasionally get random steering wheel shakes at various highway speeds. Didn't happen all the time, but happened a few times.

Now, this is the dumb part that I should have checked. I always check the lug nut torque specs after leaving Discount Tires or dealers. But, I never check air pressure, because I assumed they would put the same amount of air in all tires. I was wrong. 3 out of the 4 tires had about 34lbs of pressure. 1 of the 4 (front drivers tire) had 48lbs of pressure. I wish I knew why the large difference, but I aired it down to 34 and haven't had any issues since.

Honestly, I'm not smart when it comes to air pressures and stuff like that, so who knows if I solved my problem. But, as of now, it has been solved for my truck.

 

thanks for the info. I am going to start plugging away at some "fixes" within the next week. Im going to take it in for a roadforce balance and the dealer look at it again. I dont believe it is the ecu flash but that is interesting and I will see what happens tomorrow when I drive it.