Engine Shaking/vibrations

[LiamZetec]

Hi All,

Ever since I have owned my Focus, there has always been annoying vibrations that I can hear/feel from the inside of the car and it is only noticable when the engine is idle and it gets worse when having air con, lights or anything extra turned on etc. It only does this as well when the engine is warm and idling at the normal 800ish rpm and it never does this after a cold start when the engine is cold and idles just over 1000rpm until thne engine is warm. Now when looking under the bonnet when the engine is warm & with the air con on or the electric etc, the whole engine block is shaking and causes some of the wires to shake too! If I can, tomorrow I will record a video of it and post it up.

I have had a garage check it out and they told me that it was the driver's side engine mount as it also shakes at the same pace as the rest of the engine does and the 2 other mounts are rock solid and do not give out any shaking/vibrations at all. Now today I had the driver's side engine mount replaced by the same garage but sadly it doesn't look like it has fixed the problem as when pulling up outside my house with the air con on, the vibrations are still present! :(

I am now out of ideas, I am very annoyed as well that I went ahead with changing the engine mount and that it has made absolutely no improvement! Maybe you guys could shed some light on this as to what else the problem could be down to? I have also read up that it could be down to a dodgy spark plug or HT lead (though the engine light is not on at all), crankshaft pulley etc.

Thanks a lot all! - Liam

[artscot79]

Hi All,

Ever since I have owned my Focus, there has always been annoying vibrations that I can hear/feel from the inside of the car and it is only noticable when the engine is idle and it gets worse when having air con, lights or anything extra turned on etc. It only does this as well when the engine is warm and idling at the normal 800ish rpm and it never does this after a cold start when the engine is cold and idles just over 1000rpm until thne engine is warm. Now when looking under the bonnet when the engine is warm & with the air con on or the electric etc, the whole engine block is shaking and causes some of the wires to shake too! If I can, tomorrow I will record a video of it and post it up.

I have had a garage check it out and they told me that it was the driver's side engine mount as it also shakes at the same pace as the rest of the engine does and the 2 other mounts are rock solid and do not give out any shaking/vibrations at all. Now today I had the driver's side engine mount replaced by the same garage but sadly it doesn't look like it has fixed the problem as when pulling up outside my house with the air con on, the vibrations are still present! :(

I am now out of ideas, I am very annoyed as well that I went ahead with changing the engine mount and that it has made absolutely no improvement! Maybe you guys could shed some light on this as to what else the problem could be down to? I have also read up that it could be down to a dodgy spark plug or HT lead (though the engine light is not on at all), crankshaft pulley etc.

Thanks a lot all! - Liam

all zetecs do shake a little and vibrate its been covered before but its down to the car hunting for the lowest emissions and it doesnt idle 800 ish its actually 670-730 rpm max thats why it will shake no it cant be changed either the ecu deci des this basically you have to live with it the idle never stays the same the dash says it does but it doesnt to find the lowest emissions the idele rapidly fluctuates between 670-730rpm

[LiamZetec]

all zetecs do shake a little and vibrate its been covered before but its down to the car hunting for the lowest emissions and it doesnt idle 800 ish its actually 670-730 rpm max thats why it will shake no it cant be changed either the ecu deci des this basically you have to live with it the idle never stays the same the dash says it does but it doesnt to find the lowest emissions the idele rapidly fluctuates between 670-730rpm

Thanks for your reply,

However, when driving my mate's X reg 1.6 Focus and I turned on all the lights, air con, the rear screen etc. anything that used more power and it barely gave any sort of vibration at all. The only slight vibration I could feel was through the steering wheel and that was it and you could not see the slight vibrations on the front seats either as mine does this! The engine bay in that Focus does not shake no where near what mine does too!

Do you think that it may be worth giving the ICV on my engine a clean as it does tend to rev by itself a little bit by 50-100rpm on some hot days when at idle. I have made a video on my phone which I will upload to photobucket and then post it on here shortly.

Thanks again - Liam

[artscot79]

Thanks for your reply,

However, when driving my mate's X reg 1.6 Focus and I turned on all the lights, air con, the rear screen etc. anything that used more power and it barely gave any sort of vibration at all. The only slight vibration I could feel was through the steering wheel and that was it and you could not see the slight vibrations on the front seats either as mine does this! The engine bay in that Focus does not shake no where near what mine does too!

Do you think that it may be worth giving the ICV on my engine a clean as it does tend to rev by itself a little bit by 50-100rpm on some hot days when at idle. I have made a video on my phone which I will upload to photobucket and then post it on here shortly.

Thanks again - Liam

may be worth cleaning though for the cost usually easier just to replace the icv then plugs and leads just make sure the plugs are correctly gapped as these can cause slight misses which will give vibration plug gap 1.0mm better withy genuine ford plugs and leads sometimes using aftermarket and pattern leads make it worse use the dash trick and see what the revs are with the lights and front screen on it should still be within the 670-730rpm any lower then the icv needs replaced also at the rear of engine under the throttle body if you have a 1.8 for 1.6 its at the front theres a pipe that comes off the throttle body with engine running make sure its not collapsing

[LiamZetec]

may be worth cleaning though for the cost usually easier just to replace the icv then plugs and leads just make sure the plugs are correctly gapped as these can cause slight misses which will give vibration plug gap 1.0mm better withy genuine ford plugs and leads sometimes using aftermarket and pattern leads make it worse use the dash trick and see what the revs are with the lights and front screen on it should still be within the 670-730rpm any lower then the icv needs replaced also at the rear of engine under the throttle body if you have a 1.8 for 1.6 its at the front theres a pipe that comes off the throttle body with engine running make sure its not collapsing

Thanks again, I have already got a set of brand new genuine Ford spark plugs waiting to be fitted into the car. Would these already be pre-gapped do you know? I will try and get some carb cleaner to clean the ICV too. I have looked at that pipe and it looks fine to me. I will give the dash trick a go too cheers!

I have just been out to the ca and did the dash check, with the engine at normal warm temp, air con & headlights turned on the engine idles anywhere between 700-730rpm. It doesn't hold at a particular rpm it just goes anywhere between that constantly. with the air con & lights turned off it then idles at 790-810rpm.

Edit - here is the video I have just made now of the engine shaking:

Liam

[HeadShoT2009]

Artscroft for the gap for the plugs was 1.3mm

[LiamZetec]

Artscroft for the gap for the plugs was 1.3mm

The actual gap is still 1.0mm. It used to be 1.3.mm up to 1998 when Ford made an adjustment to lower emissions on all Zetec engines.

I spoke to a guy on another forum earlier who had the same problem as me at the start on 2009 and he tried everything but he heard about a ECU updates that Ford carry out and he took his car down for the update and it totally fixed the problem for him so I may give my local Ford specialist a ring.

Liam

[HeadShoT2009]

Mines a 2001 1.6 black edition and the book still says 1.3mm

[artscot79]

Mines a 2001 1.6 black edition and the book still says 1.3mm

MINE WERE SET TO 1.3 FORD CHANGED IT TO 1.0