[yelped]

Hi, just purchased a 2005 Ford Focus zx4. A few weeks after I got it, when I turned it on I immediately noticed that it was very noisy and the car was vibrating like mad. After a few minutes it slowed down a little, but still pretty bad. I went to a mechanic like a week later for something else. He changed the Flexi-pipe of the muffler as he said there was hole there. The problem sort of went away. I'm not sure when as I went on a 1,000 mile road trip immediately afterwards and it didn't occur then. However a few days later, once I was back in the city, it came back again. I have no idea what is. I'm nervous that something is wrong with the transmission or something and I have to take care of it, if not, it might get worse. Does anyone have any idea what it is?

Thanks!

 

[focusevo1]

Try looking at all of the vacuum lines, I'm guessing it's probably the pcv valve hose (hidden in the intake manifold) that went out.

 

[amc49]

If car vibrating dash badly at idle in gear and gets better as engine gets good and hot check out the passenger side engine mount. They often do that.

 

[yelped]

Thanks for the suggestions. What do I look for to see if the mount is no good? And what should I look for the in the pch valve? Sorry for my newbness

 

[tmittelstaedt]

Read this:

http://www.mittelstaedt.us/focus-mount/project.html

Different year than yours but same principle.

 

[Humphrey]

Check this thread for pvc hose: http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=279213

You'll probably need to pull off passenger side engine mount to get a good view. I replaced mine not to long ago and seen that the rubber mount had split entirely in two.

 

[Gudziel]

ehhh.... I'm going to go out on a limb here and mention something different. A lot of what the OP is describing is currently going on with me.

Here is a thread I started where I posted an issue with the chattering/vibrating engine:
http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=467529

Now keep in mind that I had just replaced ALL of my motor mounts. At first, after I had a lot of work done to my car, the initial chattering/vibrations were gone. But after a day or two, I started to hear the noise come back. Felixthecat mentioned the tumble flaps in the intake manifold. More reading that I did leads me to believe he is spot on. I'm currently looking into getting a whole new intake manifold and pcv valve (since the manifold will be off anyways, why not pay an additional $30 or so for that part too).

Just my $.02 though. I would suggest you have your car run at idle with the hood open. Check to see if the sound is coming from the front of the engine (im). If not, try to listen more closely for where the vibrations could be coming from.

It could also be the motor mounts, for sure. But the fact that you said it was gone after getting work done and then came back reminds me of my exact problem.

Let me know if the video is similar to your issue, please.

gl

 

[yelped]

Thanks everyone for all the help. I'll have a look at the car tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

A funny thing is, that over the last two days it got better and the vibration almost disappeared and this morning it shook again. Another thing is, that when this happens the car jumps when I change gear from Park to Drive or Drive to reverse. Maybe that points to something else being the issue? However today even though it shook pretty bad, the shifter shifted smoothly.

Thanks!

 

[Gudziel]

Yeah. My car doesn't jump like that but still shifts smoothly. Hopefully you find the culprit soon and post whatever you happen to find!

 

[Humphrey]

Tumbler flaps wouldn't cause the car to shake. Noisy yes.

Op is your car automatic or manual?
Doing that when shifting could be trans problem.

 

[yelped]

Automatic. It vibrates the whole time, not only when I shift gears. The first few minutes after I turn on the car it vibrates the most.

 

[Humphrey]

Next time you start the car, have hood already popped and read with a place to hold onto the engine. If you're able to grasp the engine (id do so at the lift points) and hold/pull on t and vibration decreases then ill assume its a mount.

 

[sailor]

OP's from Brooklyn, & I wouldn't want to assume too much familiarity with cars.

Could also be running rough at times, and might idle high when he's seeing the harder shifts.

Talking about how smooth it actually runs vs. the vibes you can get from a proper running one with a bad mount is one item to try & get straight. High idle that can cause hard shifting when cold vs. high idle & the same result when it shouldn't is another.

 

[yelped]

Thanks for the replies.

You are correct. I am not too familiar with cars, due to a) living in Brooklyn and b) studying, so leaves little time to learn about cars.

You might have hit the nail on the head with the last paragraph but I'm not sure what you're saying. You're saying that could be nothing's wrong with the mount, it's just having rough idle. How can I verify that? Why does it happen? How can I solve that?

Thanks so much everyone for all the help!

 

[sailor]

Running rough is one of those things that's hard to convey without a good example to point at.

The good thing is that if it's bad enough a CEL will result with a "code" for misfire.

If it's down on power, doesn't feel/sound smooth when driving, that's running rough. Hood open you could likely hear it at idle, the noises won't be even in nature.

4 cylinders aren't all that smooth when running right, that's why vibration dampeners are such a large part of the engine mounting system.

But when running badly at idle, the engine will shake intermittently rather than vibrate evenly - another clue that's only obvious when you see it. Even buzz is OK, intermittent is not.

How many miles on the car, and has any maint. been done like spark plugs recently.

 

[yelped]

Hmm. The car drives very smoothly. I just bought the car at an auction. It had 133,784 when I got it. Now it's over 1,200 more. I don't know what maintenance he did, but the mechanic checked the fluids and everything was fine and changed the oil. Otherwise no sparks or stuff was changed.

 

[sailor]

Starts to sound like amc's initial guess at engine mount is the most likely.

More vibration cold is a symptom of the passenger side mount on yours starting to go, if so it won't be an issue until it gets bad enough to be annoying all the time.

If the hard shifting only happens after a cold start, it's prob. from the high idle then & isn't a problem either. Wait just a bit before shifting when cold & it'll be smoother. (time for the engine to idle down a bit from the fast idle cold start)

 

[yelped]

Ok. Thanks! I'll have a look at it and see if I could tell if the vibration is coming from that side. And then I guess I'll take it to the mechanic. How much would replacing the passenger side mount usually be, if that's the problem?

 

[amc49]

The trans 'jumping' could be a mount as well, possibly the 'dogbone' rear lower mount. When dead, trans can jerk going into gear from the looseness.

The pass side engine mount commonly makes vibration everywhere, not just there local, it commonly reverbsl through the dash in varying degrees and often worse when the mount is cold. Summer it may hardly show at all but then rears its' ugly head as soon as the cold shows up. As mount warms up the rubber acts more like rubber and better damping when warm.

 

[yelped]

Hi, I wanted to let everyone know the latest. I was by the mechanic today and he looked at the mounts while the engine was running and the other mechanic was pressing the gas, in drive and reverse. He said that the mounts are fine, they were changed already. However, the guy used cheap aftermarket mounts, and probably the rubber is hard which is why it vibrates instead of absorbing the shocks. So I guess I just live with it, if nothing bad happens due to it. According to him, each genuine mount costs about $100..

Thanks everyone for all the help!