Good morning,

I have driven a used Mondeo Zetec 2.0 Duratorq for around 40,000 miles as a cab since February. The first month, everything was dandy and since March, I have been getting heavy vibrations throughout the whole car when flooring it in 3rd to 6th gear. I was told by our firm's mechanic that it was probably a DMF issue and shouldn't need worrying about. I'm not so heavy-footed anyway, but it seems to have worked its way to 75% acceleration now. It's got to a point where the coinage under the armrest jingles. Is this the DMF failing? My SAAB had no such warning; it literally shattered into 3 pieces on the M25 with the clutch pedal staying on the floor without warning.

Also, there is an annoying creak coming from the offside door pillar. I thought it was something to do with the plastic cover on the driver's door with the two screw covers as it's a bit loose, but I can't get the covers off! Even passengers wonder what the creaking noise is!

Thanks for any advice!

It could be an early sign of DMF failure or it could be something else.

Usually, if, at idle, you depress the clutch and the noise changes people reckon it is DMF. If you don't get that, the 'something else' area may be worth thinking about. Any codes, injector leak off test, bad fuel, all of which are probably other possibilities?

I usually use Shell V-Power Nitro+ as I collect Avios Points. It happens rarely, but it sometimes it seems the turbo cuts out and then comes back in, almost like kangaroo-ing. It's definitely not the injectors as they've been checked. I ran the tank to 0 miles once but it's had a service since then. I will ask our mega I if there are any fault codes popping up but all seems to be good.

Depressing the clutch, no noise occurs. I believe it's had the same DMF since new; it's now at 148,000+. The steering column does, however, hum an vibrate when I'm between 1,500-2,500rpm, especially while cornering. I can feel the buzz through the steering wheel.

I've certainly seen something very similar with V-power Diesel, but only when it is mixed with something else; I have a suspicion that V-power, fine fuel that it is on its own, isn't necessarily as compatible with every other thing that you could mix it with as you might hope.

Well that was not as much of a clarification as it should have been. Roughly, I have seen:

• Something like a misfire, causing the front end to wobble, anywhere to a mild wobble that can just be felt through the steering wheel to one that no one can miss and threatens to make it difficult to stay within the limits for your selected lane. Feels like a front wheel out of balance, but given that it is dependant on the gear and the throttle, it isn't that.
• Car that sounds like an old-stylee Taxi when it starts, but that clears up when you give a few revs.
• Car that is likely to stall if you don't give a few extra revs when you move off.
• Possibly a loss of a couple of mpg, or so, although that might be down to having to give the car a few extra revs and doing stuff in a lower gear.

I'd initially thought something like water in the fuel, but now I've seen that for a second time (both times with a fairly full tank), I don't think that's actually the most likely cause.

Anyway, if you have several of the above bullet points, I'd guess 'bad fuel' in some way, is a distinct possibility.