Judder acceleration 20 to 30 mph 2003 Alphard

[andyc]

My 2003 3lt has a judder when travelling up hill 20 to 30 mph .it has brand new tyres and tracking is good. 

My thoughts are change transmission oil. Or CV driveshaft. Or engine mounts. Anyone else had this problem?

[dezufo]

If the transmission fluid is brownish in colour and smells burnt, then it needs changing. How steep is the hill?  Have you tried changing down to 3 or 2 to raise the revs and see if that stops the judder?

[andyc]

Yes changing down does reduce it. I've booked it in to a Toyota garage next week for a transmission oil change (£300 quote).

I'll update you if it cures the judder 

[MonsterS]

sounds like the cv joint.  Does it happen at any other speeds?

[andyc]

I thought CV/driveshaft. But wouldn't it judder at all speeds? Transmission change next week. I'll post with result.

I've noticed a lot of people with mk 1 Alphards are experiencing this problem 

[andyc]

Had the transmission oil changed at Toyota. It's made no difference at all. What next, drive shafts???

 

[Catweazle]

Any error codes on OBD?

Possibly a Sensor issue.....mis-firing etc?

[andyc]

I was going to order new driveshafts from J&R trading until I read the reviews. Anyone recommend where they get good quality driveshafts from?

[andyc]

Just got a quote for new driveshafts from Toyota...... £1000 each ! 

J&R trading has them for one tenth of that! But their reviews are terrible. I think they must be cheap copies. Loads of reviews said they failed after a couple of months. Has anyone used J&R for driveshafts?

[BigNev]

Hi Andrew!

You did say changing down makes it better, so with a bit of experimentation, can you establish if the judder is related to revs, speed or load? 

Change down a couple of gears and load it up to accelerate.

If it's revs, it could be a slight misfire under load, plugs, or injectors, or related to the torque converter in the transmission.

But plugs misfire should give a pending fault code if you have a code reader. Pending will not set a fault light.

If it's speed, then driveline related, possibly as you suggested engine or transmission mounts.

Do you have any knocking noises at full steering lock either direction? For drive shaft CV joint failure.

If it is driveshafts, can a local autofactors send them off for a rebuild?

 

Now a daft one - is it the same hill, and not others? There is a stretch of motorway near me that has a very odd effect on all my vehicles, a kind of stuttering/bouncing.

[Alphard Club]

Hi Andy, see you are local to me.

 

I cannot see why driveshafts or CV's would make the judder

 

I have owned a 10 series and used to get juddering from the transmission and particular times which was weird, never did work it out but never affected the vehicle as such, and yes that had all new transmission fluid and filter.

I always used to wonder if the speedo conversion affected the way the transmission worked but never got to the bottom of it. I also think it is a common thing with 10 series as have seen complaints similar, but never many failures.

 

 

 

[Alphard Club]

@andyc Do you roughly know what gear the car is in at the time it judders? ie. count the gear changes? i am wondering if the car is in it's overdrive gear and it changed down to it's driving gear, these can be clunky.

 

Also, you have tried this in to gear 2 as well?

 

i used to get it when the car was rolling doing 30, come off the gas and then get a jolt while it changed in to an overdrive gear. this was some time ago so trying to remember the sensation, but never felt good. 

 

 

[andyc]

I think it still does it when I drop down a gear but it's less noticeable.

I don't think it's the gears