Slightly shaking engine and rattling noise on acceleration

120K on spark plugs causing engine shaking.....yes, change them.

Here's a guess.....shaking and rattle upon acceleration...check your engine and transmission mounts.

 

how many miles on her?

 

There's a EGR valve and cooler upstream of the pipe; they're reportedly prone to clog as miles accumulate. The cooler is hooked up to coolant hoses, and access is awkward. One guy here attempted to clean, then threw in the towel and replaced it with a lower milage one, bought on eBay I think.

Another possibility: valve clearance? They're hydraulically adjusted, supposed to be optimum all the time but maybe that can go off? Never heard of it though.

Definitely change the plugs first. You're in for a real treat if you DIY, see @NutzAboutBolts video on the subject, it's stickied in 3rd gen maintenance section. Only caveat: I'd torque to 15ft/lb with dry threads (per repair manual), or 13 if using anti seize. Use it sparingly.

 

someone changed the plugs at 50k?

 

That's not too bad. There tends to be more build up right at the flange. I'm not sure of an easy way to assess the EGR cooler condition, short of disconnecting coolant lines and pulling it out. I believe if it's near totally clog there'll be a warning light and code.

Start with the plugs, lol. Again, you'll want to watch that video if you haven't done it before.

 

First time poster but someone who has pulled the egr valve and cooler. Easiest way to see cooler condition would be to disconnect the egr valve from the cooler. You can then pull and inspect the upstream end (before the valve). Mine had a fair bit of carbon deposits. If there is build-up there, you know what will be on the fins of the egr cooler. Did this at 125k when I was getting slight hesitation and rough transition between engines. Been running for 10k

 

And better engine response. Also pulled intake manifold and cleaned the passages. Quite involved but noticeable improvement.

 

welcome, and thank you!

 

Listened to the video. Sounds like rough transition. Some questions:
1) this was recorded while coming from a stop out of a corner. Do you notice this on a straight stretch from a stop sign? Same sound when you are cornering at a higher speed, say on an exit ramp?
2) since you have 174k on her, what maintenance have you done on the intake side? MAF sensor cleaning? Throttle body cleaning? Air filters in good condition?
3)couldn't tell from the egr pipe how much deposit was present, but did you look into the intake manifold while you had the pipe off to assess condition? Some have found this to be somewhat gummy, but it can also be dry and caked with deposits.

While you wait for the plugs, I would clean the MAF and throttle body if not already done. There are videos pinned That show how to do that and both are easy to do.

 

i'm hearing two sounds there, are they both pertinent?

 

From your description of the EGR pipe I'd anticipate the EGR cooler would be similarly clogged or worse. No warning lights though.

Forgot about your stuck oil filter, great fun eh?

The Mass Air Flow sensor is readily accessible, kinda fragile. I'm low mileage, never touched ours. There's a specific fluid for cleaning, don't use carb cleaner.

MAF is right in the middle here:

 

I suspect that the carbon deposits are choking air flow leading to rough ice performance. You might not see it when the ice is cool, but probably due to it idling. The egr cooler is a royal pain to remove (one of Toyota's best designs ) but doable as a 2 person job. How long have you noticed the rattle / noise? The intake manifold removal is by far easier and a 1 person job. Both require some prep (gaskets, pcv valve as it is a lot easier to access from above), but the intake manifold removal / cleaning can be done in about 2 hours ( I am a weekend wrencher and do a lot of inspections when performing surgery So I work slow and methodical). The ports on the intake are poorly designed and their inlet is on the lower side of the port inlets. They redesigned the manifold in 2012(?) but I have the 2010 and when I pulled it off and ran compressed air through it, there was noticeable resistance of flow through the egr openings. A brush through these will help with air flow if you are going to do the thorough intake manifold work. Start with the MAF cleaning and spark plugs, but I would suspect more work on the intake side will be needed.

 

If you go to o'reillys or Napa, it is labeled as MAF cleaner. You can ask at the counter and they will point you in the right direction. Sorry to hear about the oil filter. Change it yourself or do you allow a local dealer to change it?