Hi there.

My eldest son has recently purchased a 1.6 Zetec S on an '05 plate and is already regretting it. The cars main problem, is that when driving off in 1st gear, he gets varying degrees of engine judder coming through. The parts on the car that has been replaced by him or the previous owner are as follows:

• Gearbox mounts.
  
• Off side engine mount.
  
• Clutch replaced 10,000 miles ago.
  
• Fuel filter replaced as part of a service 20,000 miles ago.
  

I will post a video tomorrow off the engine juddering, as if he leaves the bonnet open and drives the car forward, the engine rocks back and forth quickly as if it is losing power and quickly regaining it again. Once the car is moving etc, the juddering is gone till he stops again, however it is more pronounced if starting going up an incline.

I've checked the ECU for fault codes and none have been logged, so whatever is causing this problem, isn't being identified by the ECU. Any help, tips or advice on the next thing to try would be gratefully received.

Cheers

That fuel filters had a busy life. Change that first.

The previous owner has not looked after it either! How many miles has it done?

Contaminated fuel maybe?

The car has done 100,000 miles and been refueled several times since he's bought it.

Tried changing the oil filter and putting some high performance oil in to clear the pipes? Like some castrol GTX?