Vibration and loud exhaust

TOYOALLTRAC

MEMBER
TOYOTA CAMRY

I have a 91' toyota camry DX Alltrac 4WD. It has 97000 wiles on it. No I'm not missing the "1" in front of the "97". It had been sitting in my grandmas garage for a while so it has low mileage. I was in a fender bender a while back and when I was on the side of the road with my car and the other person, my car made a noise and then I heard "clink-Clink" then a bolt fell from under the hood. I have no idea where it came from, however my car still ran fine (at least it seemed to). I had an oil change later that month and then not sure if these symptoms started before or after, but I have a loud exhaust and my steering wheel vibrates violently when I stay steady mph at 50 - 70. It does not vibrate when I eccelerate or take my foot of the gas. Just when I'm driving at a steady pace between 50 and 70. I have added fuel injector cleaner, some piston ring sealer, and a gas treatment to get any water out of there. I dont know what else to do. I dont know if the two problems are related though. Does anyone have an idea? Help!

1 Reply

JOUGH626

MECHANIC
55 POSTS

Cars that sit tend to have tires that have suffered some sort of dry rot. The metal bands in the tires could be damaged from sitting, then driving again. This damaged could cause vibration, esp noticable at low speed. With proper tire checks, tires can be ruled out. After tires check your suspension, ball joints, end links and sway bar mounts.

From the story you told, one thing it could have been is a motor mount. If it sat, and the rubber in the motor mount rotted, the bolt could have rotted off too, or fell out during the accident. If the mount broke it could cause vibration through the transmission and out drive train parts. The louder exhaust could have been caused if the exhaust was rotton and the motor shifted slighty during the accident. The shift could have cracked a weak spot, in turn causing a hole closer to the engine. The closer it is, the louder it will be, so even a small hole would make good amounts of noise. Hope this helps.