Strange front end high/low wobble/humming sound

[jimmyt]

Originally Posted by ruthrj

I'm pretty sure its the wheel bearings too, but my service dealer won't listen to me at all. They'll do what Ford tells them to do but that's about it.

I'm not impressed at all with them, so I'm a bit worried hearing that they may possibly mess with the transmission. It clearly sounds like a wheel bearing problem, so I'm 100% hoping that Ford has them replace those before they pull apart my fancy transmission....

Got my car back and guess what no noise!! I had a nice quiet rid back home. They verified the noise by a ride and used chassis ears to isolate it to the front wheel bearings SSM22913

They then replaced bearings and reset toe

Part Numbers: 2 each CV6Z1251-A Bearing ASY - wheel; 2 each 1CV6Z-1104-A Wheel 511

Let me know how you service turns out.

[ruthrj]

Congratulations, that's awesome!!! So glad you got the issue fixed, I hope I'll be seeing that light at the end of the tunnel come next Monday . Thanks for dropping a line with the part numbers that were used. I do believe I will have to use that info next week. Perhaps a call is in order to customer tomorrow. I don't want a transmission replaced over what is likely a simple bearing issue. I saw that drama too (Beepster, I believe). New axles, transmission, etc etc before they finally replaced the wheel bearings.

Thanks for the help, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't come back to this thread. Put this headache behind you and enjoy your quiet ride!

[ruthrj]

Update: The service dealer has determined that it is not the wheel bearings. They used the chassis ears on all four wheels and that was not the source of the hum. They still have not been able to identify the source. Ford's suggestion now is to replace some intermediate bearing. Since the shop normally doesn't have a part like that in stock, we play the waiting game.

[FordCustomerService]

Originally Posted by ruthrj

I dropped my car off at the dealership last night for my appointment today. The car still hasn't been looked at because their service manager has been in a dealer meeting all day, so it's going to be held over night and looked at tomorrow.
That's the bad news. The good news was that Ford customer service called me to tell me that personally .........

Originally Posted by ruthrj

Update: The service dealer has determined that it is not the wheel bearings...... They still have not been able to identify the source. Ford's suggestion now is to replace some intermediate bearing. Since the shop normally doesn't have a part like that in stock, we play the waiting game.

Hi ruthrj,

Thank you for your patience while the dealership continues to diagnose the Focus properly and repair the concern. Continue to work with them and keep me in the loop.

Originally Posted by jimmyt

Got my car back and guess what no noise!! I had a nice quiet rid back home. They verified the noise by a ride and used chassis ears to isolate it to the front wheel bearings........

Afternoon jimmyt,

That's awesome to learn!

I recognize it's been a long ordeal and appreciate your patience while the dealership used all channels to diagnose the concern properly. If you ever need assistance in the future, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Enjoy your Focus!

Take care everyone; it's Friday, time to relax!

Noemi

[ruthrj]

Ford Customer Service called again today to give me an update. They are still no closer to determining the source of the car's hum. She briefly explained how they use chassis ears to diagnose the source of a hum and that they are continuing to look for the source. She'll get back to me on Wednesday.

The service manager from the service dealer also gave me a call today. That was fairly disheartening. He told me that they have used the chassis ears on every part they can think of to find the hum and can't find where it's coming from. The first thing they tried was the wheel bearings, then the intermediate assembly, intermediate bearings, top bottom and sides of the transmission, motor and transmission mounts, and even the car's floorboards (because you can feel the hum through the floorboards as well as hear it). He said that they continue to call the Ford hotline for help, and that he has so far described my issue to no less than 4 different technicians. As we can all imagine, it's very hard to describe a humming noise over a telephone.

He said that the next course of action will involve a Ford Field Service Tech stopping by to drive the car and hear the hum for himself. This is why he drove my car and compared it to another car on the lot that does not hum. This is what the Field Service Tech will have to do to see that there is actually a strange issue with my car. He may or may not get the Field Service guy to stop by tomorrow depending on the Field guy's schedule, and he'll call me back tomorrow about it (Tuesday). He estimates that they would need the car in the shop a minimum of 3 days should that tech be able to stop by and help diagnose the problem....

This sucks. The question I can't help but ask is, what happens if they can't find the source? I love my car to death but I can't live with a car that sings a crappy tune to me when I drive between 45 and 60 mph Still have my fingers crossed, I just want it fixed!

[jimmyt]

Originally Posted by ruthrj

Ford Customer Service called again today to give me an update. They are still no closer to determining the source of the car's hum. She briefly explained how they use chassis ears to diagnose the source of a hum and that they are continuing to look for the source. She'll get back to me on Wednesday.

The service manager from the service dealer also gave me a call today. That was fairly disheartening. He told me that they have used the chassis ears on every part they can think of to find the hum and can't find where it's coming from. The first thing they tried was the wheel bearings, then the intermediate assembly, intermediate bearings, top bottom and sides of the transmission, motor and transmission mounts, and even the car's floorboards (because you can feel the hum through the floorboards as well as hear it). He said that they continue to call the Ford hotline for help, and that he has so far described my issue to no less than 4 different technicians. As we can all imagine, it's very hard to describe a humming noise over a telephone.

He said that the next course of action will involve a Ford Field Service Tech stopping by to drive the car and hear the hum for himself. This is why he drove my car and compared it to another car on the lot that does not hum. This is what the Field Service Tech will have to do to see that there is actually a strange issue with my car. He may or may not get the Field Service guy to stop by tomorrow depending on the Field guy's schedule, and he'll call me back tomorrow about it (Tuesday). He estimates that they would need the car in the shop a minimum of 3 days should that tech be able to stop by and help diagnose the problem....

This sucks. The question I can't help but ask is, what happens if they can't find the source? I love my car to death but I can't live with a car that sings a crappy tune to me when I drive between 45 and 60 mph Still have my fingers crossed, I just want it fixed!

I don't know what to say other than I was treated in almost the same way. They said they could not find the cause of the noise using the chassis ears during my first complaint last August, but the dealer could hear and feel the vibrations within almost the same MPH as you. I told them I had to drive under a dangerous 50 or speed over 70 on the interstate for the noise to go away. Anyway, Ford has fixed the problem with my car making the repairs as I have posted. I bet that is what will take care the problem with your car as it has with several others posting here. Keep after the dealer and FORD CS, every day if you have to. The dealer even offered to trade me out of the car but I would not go along with any loss to me for FORD's poor workmanship or lack of quality control of their vendors product, so that did not work out. After all a 28K list car should be better than that.

Best suggestion, document everything. I truly wish you good luck with getting the problem fixed.

[ruthrj]

Thanks jimmyt, that's why I'm posted everything here. In addition to all of the paperwork that the dealer is going to be giving me, I've documented every phone call to date right after it happened

[ruthrj]

Likely my last post for a little while, I'll explain why.

Currently at the Service Dealer right now using their public WiFi. The service manager spent 40 minutes on the phone today with the Ford hotline discussing my car. Ford had wanted to settle on using the classic "these new DCT transmissions make different noises than normal transmissions" excuse, and nothing can be done to fix that. I would have gone up in a ball of flame and died had I heard that was the official solution.... The service manager said that's not going to work for this customer and the supervisor on the Ford hotline escalated the issue.

So, they are going to have a Ford field service engineer drive it next week and figure out where to go from here. He can't make it this week to find a solution. I'm picking up my car right now, just waiting for the service manager to finish up the paperwork. I'll be back when I find out when the FSE will be by service dealer!

[jimmyt]

Originally Posted by ruthrj

Likely my last post for a little while, I'll explain why.

Currently at the Service Dealer right now using their public WiFi. The service manager spent 40 minutes on the phone today with the Ford hotline discussing my car. Ford had wanted to settle on using the classic "these new DCT transmissions make different noises than normal transmissions" excuse, and nothing can be done to fix that. I would have gone up in a ball of flame and died had I heard that was the official solution.... The service manager said that's not going to work for this customer and the supervisor on the Ford hotline escalated the issue.

So, they are going to have a Ford field service engineer drive it next week and figure out where to go from here. He can't make it this week to find a solution. I'm picking up my car right now, just waiting for the service manager to finish up the paperwork. I'll be back when I find out when the FSE will be by service dealer!

Enough transmissions have been replaced and did not fix the problem. I would not let them do that to me unless when it did not work FORD gives me a brand new car with all the same options colors etc. with no additional obligation. Of course, they would not make that promise. My transmission is so quiet it is weird. Escalating the issue was the right thing to do. Keep on Ford and the problem will be admitted and fixed. I repeat, keep on Ford and the problem will be admitted and fixed. Sounds like you SM is on your side, however he cannot take any actions that Ford will not pay the dealer to have done.

[ruthrj]

The SM does not want to touch the transmission thankfully. Ford was just using that excuse to blow me off, saying that the noise is likely the transmission operating normally, lol. If that were the case, every car on the f'in lot would hum (which is what the SM told Ford). That's what got the issue escalated.

Cool that you brought up your tranny though, my transmission shifts beautifully just like yours. It never really shuddered during the break in period and it is super quiet. As much as I love the car I wouldn't take it back if it got a new transmission.

I did ask the service dealer a good question today though. He was saying that the chassis ears have been inconclusive to date on trying to find or isolate the noise, especially on the wheel bearings. I asked him, well, since the vibration and hum is such occurring at such a low frequency, are the chassis ears even designed to detect a noise/vibration of that frequency? The frequency of the hum is so low it would likely take a subwoofer to replicate it. He responded that he honestly didn't know and wanted to ask the Field Service Engineer the same question.

I'll likely call them back a week from now if I haven't heard back from the SM by then. Till then, I'm excited to be able to drive my car again even if it does hum/vibrate