If you have a stubborn shake at idle (I did for a long time) you might want to closely check you harmonic balancer. I have had a shake for over 3 years. I have tried everything, from checking compression, changing plugs, swapping injectors, etc. No matter what, I got a #5 cylinder misfire code and a shake at idle that went away with any appreciable throttle angle. Then on Sunday, I started the engine and put the A/C on while I was getting my son's car seat into the truck to take him to see Cars 2 (It was fun, don't listen to the critics) and I heard the most horrid noise. I thought my A/C compressor was failing. I popped the hood, and saw the inertia ring/crank pulley whipping back and forth a good inch or so, and little hot ***** of rubber shooting out of the gap between the inertia ring and the hub. Needless to say, we had to take the Camry I put a new balancer on yesterday, and I drove it all around to be sure that everything was ok. I can not believe how much smoother the engine is, and it did not rough idle/shake at all at idle. The worst part is that I have checked the balancer (I always index them with paint when they are new, so I can see if they are slipping) and this one was on point as close as last month (when I did my last oil change). I know they are not cheap, but I have spent allot of time (if not allot of money) off and on for the past three years trying to find the fault that made my engine shake at idle (and more recently, even at low engine speeds above idle), when all along, the fault appears to have been that spinning mass on the front of the crankshaft. If you have a low speed engine shake that won't go away and you have checked everything else, you might want to try a balancer. Just giving you all something else to think about.

 

Good to know!

I just found that the harmonic balancer in my '84 is slipping. I wondered why the timing mark didn't line up, and why there was a dash of white-out that did. I figured the previous owner put the balancer on wrong, and then made their own mark to make up for the mistake.

However, now the white-out mark doesn't line up anymore! So it's definitely slipping pretty bad. It might explain the shake too.

 

Mines slipped too...No shake yet though...Snap-On timing light set at 180* of timing and I can BARELY see the mark....