Hey everyone. I have 2012 ford focus 1.6 diesel manual. My car shakes while accelerating starting with 4th gear and more noticeable with higher gears. Maybe problem exists on lower gears but I cant feel it. Not sure if related but a month ago I got an fuel injection failure error while accelerating and car was shaking again but worse. I went to a mechanic and error code was something similar to "injector is at max of learning offset" or something else but was similar to this. He checked the engine and listened the injectors and I was told that injectors are fine and cleared the codes. I didnt get any injection failures after that. But shakes still there. It did not started with injector failure but failure happened while car was accelerating/shaking. Could these be related? Or maybe something else? Thanks. 

 

Edit: Car serviced 2 weeks ago. They changed the oil, oil filter and air filter. Mechanic recommended me to use an engine cleaner additive and we will change fuel filter as well. 

Edit2: Car is idling fine. Doesn't have engine light turned on now. Performance is also fine to me as car doesn't have problems climbing hills (not many hills around here) and I saw 140km/h on motorway on 5th gear. 

Your Edit 2 implies all is well?
I'd ask, now that the FILTER has been changed, when was it changed before (my personal process is max 2 years as by 3 with normal mileage they always looked completely black and we had one that failed within a year - bad batch we were told)?
It looks like, at the moment, your problem is solved?

What is the speed limit in the Irish Republic?😉

1 hour ago, Shearers said:

Your Edit 2 implies all is well?
I'd ask, now that the FILTER has been changed, when was it changed before (my personal process is max 2 years as by 3 with normal mileage they always looked completely black and we had one that failed within a year - bad batch we were told)?
It looks like, at the moment, your problem is solved?

What is the speed limit in the Irish Republic?😉

I mean car is fine now except the shaking but whenever it shakes it makes me afraid to push the car as I feel like Ill get another failure code since previous error code occurred during shaking.

Fuel filter has not changed yet if you are talking about that. Ill change it very soon. Other filters? Im not quite sure. I recently bought this car at 173k km. And previous service was at 150k.  

 

Yeah speed limit is definitely below that 😅

On low rpm?

On 5th gear?

If it is still shaking it means problem.

Try better fuel. Maybe from another fuel station.

The car is stock? Not remapped/tuned?

17 hours ago, uzaysan said:

Hey everyone. I have 2012 ford focus 1.6 diesel manual. My car shakes while accelerating starting with 4th gear and more noticeable with higher gears. Maybe problem exists on lower gears but I cant feel it. Not sure if related but a month ago I got an fuel injection failure error while accelerating and car was shaking again but worse. I went to a mechanic and error code was something similar to "injector is at max of learning offset" or something else but was similar to this. He checked the engine and listened the injectors and I was told that injectors are fine and cleared the codes. I didnt get any injection failures after that. But shakes still there. It did not started with injector failure but failure happened while car was accelerating/shaking. Could these be related? Or maybe something else? Thanks. 

 

Edit: Car serviced 2 weeks ago. They changed the oil, oil filter and air filter. Mechanic recommended me to use an engine cleaner additive and we will change fuel filter as well. 

Edit2: Car is idling fine. Doesn't have engine light turned on now. Performance is also fine to me as car doesn't have problems climbing hills (not many hills around here) and I saw 140km/h on motorway on 5th gear. 

Sounds like you've got a similar issue to me. I made a post a few months back when I first got mine. 

I had a list of suspected causes. Fuel Filter & Engine Mounts were suspected as being the cheaper causes. I'm servicing the car on Sunday, been waiting on some tools to be delivered to prime the fuel filter once it's changed.

I've not had any injectors issues flag up on mine at all. Will update on Sunday once service has been completed. Getting the car on the ramp will allow me to have a look at the dog bone engine mount which appeared to be the one that most people afforded the issue too.

Could it be wheel balancing or tracking

Could it be not good map/tune, injection problem, fuel pump problem, fuel problem, wheel balancing or tracking.

It shoulded be check for error codes.

On 1/20/2025 at 9:57 AM, Bol said:

On low rpm?

On 5th gear?

If it is still shaking it means problem.

Try better fuel. Maybe from another fuel station.

The car is stock? Not remapped/tuned?

Starting from 4th gear and more noticeable with 5th gear. Possibly on low RPM since it only happens when Im accelerating. I dont really know if different gas stations has different fuel. There is no known brand in dublin like shell. Im getting my fuel from maxol. Car is stock. There is no remap or tune. 

 

On 1/20/2025 at 3:06 PM, Bol said:

It should be check for error codes.

There is no error code now. 

Im having this same issue. Im told its a fuel/diesel filter problem. I have one injector that sounds different from the rest. Changing the filter, oil and its filter after running flush additive, pcv flap thing, and also flushing my intercooler as it had signs of oil ingress on the pipes.

Same problems. Vibration at idle that turns into a buzz that gets strongest when accelerating between 60 and 70 in 4th or 5th.

On 1/20/2025 at 1:47 PM, Jam228 said:

Sounds like you've got a similar issue to me. I made a post a few months back when I first got mine. 

I had a list of suspected causes. Fuel Filter & Engine Mounts were suspected as being the cheaper causes. I'm servicing the car on Sunday, been waiting on some tools to be delivered to prime the fuel filter once it's changed.

I've not had any injectors issues flag up on mine at all. Will update on Sunday once service has been completed. Getting the car on the ramp will allow me to have a look at the dog bone engine mount which appeared to be the one that most people afforded the issue too.

Just a little update for anyone who has been experiencing this.

 

Finally got the fuel filter replaced last night (Service kit I ordered for Sunday had the wrong filter in it) & it has made a significant difference but to a degree the juddering/shaking is still there under heavy acceleration.

Wasn't sure if it was going to make much of a difference because the diesel I poured out the old filter was as clean as you could get but it has definitely reduced it, as I can now sit in 6th gear around the 50-55 mph which was a no go before hand.

On the topic I created it was kind of surmised that the car is a bit juddery by nature so I think mines is possibly now just operating normally.

Only other things I am going to try (for cheap) to further reduce it is give my MAF / throttle body a clean.

Beyond that I think I'll look into the EGR as that is a known cause of juddering too but (mainly at start)

Ive cleaned my MAF and the whole intake, flushed my intercooler and checked the EGR and mine are all fine.

Going to do an injector leak off test to see if any are sticking, but trying the direct Liqui Molly diesel purge before hand to see if its an injector thing.

Ive also read it could be oil pressure, but no warning light and no read out makes that hard to diagnose, so just going to give it a flush and change the oil.

Its a ***** when ford decide you dont need to know your oil pressure or temperature, and theres no injector return or compensation measurement. Would make live data a lot more useful.

I have some updates here. Since my mechanic recommended me to use an engine cleaner, Ive put 1L of JLM diesel extreme cleaner to my tank and filled with fuel. I drove to waterford from dublin and came back with high rev like im doing a dfp regen. During the journey, two times, my car sounded like it got a bullet and performance was reduced. But there was no engine light and when I turn off and on the car, performance was back. But right after that, even in third gear It was shaking somehow. Shaking in third gear went away after a while.

 

Went to mechanic since I wanted to change fuel filter, explained the situation and he told me that engine cleaner is working. Changed the fuel filter. Also there was another mechanic who has the machine for allow balancing. Did that too. That mechanic told me alloys were in bad shape and recommended me to get a new set. But he also said my problem for now is fixed. At least the wheel balancing. 

 

My mechanic also used a product where you spray into air intake and rev up and down. Also checked the error codes again and injector at max learning offset errors were again there. 

 

Anyway, shaking is still there. Its happening especially between 90-120km/h. Higher and lower speeds are not an issue. 

 

I called my friend who is an automative engineer. We will drive the car together this week and try to pinpoint the issue. My friend doesn't think injectors are the issue. Maybe 20% chance. But we will see. Car is 13 years old now. Maybe Im expecting too much. Ill keep this place updated. 

 

Edit: If you wanna listen the engine

Cold start - https://streamable.com/cth68j

Warmed up - https://streamable.com/gix4j5

Could you try cleaner again.