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Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI Flapping sound under acceleration


bigshorty
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Right, so changing engine mounts doesn't seem to be a way forward to eliminating the flapping sound, I think mine are ok, definitely no leaking of any description. I'll be taking car out for a run soon, so I'll see if changing the alternator belt has helped.

I did some work on the car a little while ago, which meant removing the air intake pipe (the one from air filter to turbo) which meant I could have a look at the turbo. I spun the vanes around and they seemed nice and free, no visible signs of damage, a minimum amount of play in the spindle but nothing worrying and there was a trace of oil in the turbo, but presuming this is normal considering the turbo is fed oil. What I did notice was some traces of oil around the inside of air intake pipe, enough for there to be traces on the MAF sensor. Air filter and housing had no signs of oil. For as long as I have owned the car I've always known there to be traces of oil in the air intake pipe, but its never caused any problems with the running of the car, it never uses oil either, so always thought it was normal. I only mention it now as I've heard oil present in this area can be a sign of turbo failure / problems. Is it normal for oil to be found in the air intake pipe?

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You can't see the VNT vanes from removing the intake or exhaust pipes, the turbo itself would have to be removed and separated to see them unfortunately.  It's the impellor that you can see removing the intake, and the turbine from removing the DPF.

oil in the turbo pipes is normal from the crankcase breather.  A small amount of up and down play in the impellor is normal - the bearings run on oil when the engine is running so there is a slight gap with the engine off and oil drained.  There shouldn't be any in and out play though, that's the main one to look for.

As I say, I've had this noise for 2 years and haven't found what it is, but it can't be anything too bad to have lasted this long without getting any worse! :laugh: 

 

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Cool, cheers for all the info Tom.

I guess its one of those cases of waiting to see if anything happens then, but from what you've said, it could be a long wait! :whistling1:

By the way, the changing of the alternator belt didn't help with the flapping sound. Sort of expected it to be not that easy a fix!!

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  • 3 months later...
On 28/08/2016 at 10:05 AM, TomsFocus said:

I must admit, I hadn't read the exact moment that yours happens when skim reading, mine only ever does it under acceleration as well but it can be any gear and revs.  Very weird!

Hey Tom

Sorry to bring up an old post, but I thought I'd let you know that I've noticed this flapping sound under acceleration is happening in pretty much all gears on my Focus now, and I think it gets louder the colder the weather is. Its hard to check it in first gear cause it accelerates to 2000rpm quite quickly, but definitely there in all other gears, but still between 1200 and 2000rpm. I'm now driving it at generally higher revs so that when I accelerate, it doesn't make the flapping sound. I have to say, that the sound seems to have become slightly more of a metallic rattle than a flapping sound, but not all the time.

Just wondering if your Focus is still making this sound? Have you managed to find out what it is or had any other thoughts? You don't think it could have anything to do with torque do you? I'm no scientist, or mechanic, but the way I see it more torque would be needed at lower revs to accelerate the car, making the engine work harder, as opposed to accelerating at higher revs. I didn't know if the action of accelerating at lower revs was maybe making the engine move around and wobble more, causing some other part to make the flapping sound. I know that when starting my Focus, the engine does wobble about quite a bit until it has fired up. This could be a totally incorrect theory, in which case I do apologise, I'm just trying to look at all possibilities. I even wondered whether it could be the alternator belt tensioner, but this can't be the case as the sound only happens when driving along and not when revving the car stationery.

Just interested to know if you, or indeed anyone else reading this has any other thoughts they can share.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think I may have solved this issue of the flapping sound when accelerating at low revs.

I've been having an issue recently of a rattling sound coming from the engine bay on a cold start up. I thought it could be any number of things, all of them bad, so I let my mechanic mate listen to it and he said straight away that the auxiliary drive belt tensioner sounded like it was on its way out. I got a new tensioner a couple of days ago, fitted it straight away, and not only has it cured the rattling sound, but I'm pretty sure I'm not getting the flapping sound when accelerating at low revs. I need to do a bit more mileage to be 100% sure, but first impressions are looking good. I have to say that when putting the new tensioner on, the pulley definitely pushed down on the drive belt further than the old one did, and this made me wonder if the drive belt wasn't as securely fitted to all the pulleys as it should have been due to lack of tension and causing slipping, and therefore making the flapping sound.

Obviously I'll keep an eye on it for the next week or so, and post back on this discussion if the flapping sound comes back, but if you don't hear from me again, then this issue has definitely been fixed. Fingers crossed!

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  • 1 year later...

My son just bought a Fiesta with the same flapping problem. It happens mainly on gentle acceleration in 4th or 5th gear. It sounds like the undertray is vibrating (but it wasn't). Friendly Ford Dealer (Rufus Carr, Clitheroe) came out for a drive with me and identified it as a gearbox bearing which they replaced under warranty as we had just bought it. No more vibration. They said it is not a common fault but they do 1 or 2 each year. 

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