2000 Ford Focus Vibration Mystery

[negusm]

My brother is looking at possibly buying a car down here but it has an engine vibration.

So....I did some searching and found a few things but the boards are littered with people who don't know their ass from a crescent wrench.

OK, this car is from a friend who's husband passed from cancer. 2000 Ford Focus with the Zetec 2.0L I4 DOHC 16V FI Engine. Automatic tranny.

He had to some paperwork with the car that said he brought it in because of a coolant leak. The engine was checked, flushed, and the water pump replaced at a AAA garage for like $1200. The work order says the timing belt was NOT changed. (why?, I dunno).

So the car runs well enough, drive's fine, except it has a terrible vibration in the engine when sitting in park or nuetral. My dad put it up on ramps and put a jack under the engine to see if it was a motor mount. He says he could probably lift the entire car that way...so he doesn't think it's a motor mount.

I have read everything from a Timing Belt, pully imbalance, vacuum leak, ignition problem, etc etc.

Any ideas on what to troubleshoot next? Where to look?

-Mike

[83Fox]

what is your idle rpm at?

[negusm]

Good question. It seemed "normal" at the time. It wasn't fast or barely running. I know when a car is barely running and it will even buck at very very low RPMs until it stalls or whatever. This just seems to run normally, at normal speed/sound except for the vibration.

Revving it out seems to lesson it but it doesn't go away.

Could transmission fluid be low or something stupid like that? Another cause of vibration for the manual cars is a bad throwout bearing or clutch.

-Mike

[83ASC]

Mike,

Sounds like it might be the hydraulic motor mount (top pass side of the engine compartment). I just replaced one on a '01 ZX3, if it subsides a little when the car warms up or you rev it that could be the likely culprit. Common thing on Focus' it seems. Pretty easy fix with a floor jack...

[negusm]

Mike,

Sounds like it might be the hydraulic motor mount (top pass side of the engine compartment). I just replaced one on a '01 ZX3, if it subsides a little when the car warms up or you rev it that could be the likely culprit. Common thing on Focus' it seems. Pretty easy fix with a floor jack...

Any way to verify?

Looks like my dad is going to pull the mount and see but he says it looked ok from he could tell so far.

-Mike

[83ASC]

The main difference I could tell was if you looked under that plastic cap the area that houses the gel (or whatever it is) was raised --almost like a air bubble- soft. The new one was firm. I don't know whether this leaks out or the hydraulic fluid just wears out... The vibration I had was very similar to what you described (this is a 5 spd though) and this completely got rid of it.

Ck this... It should lead you in the right direction

http://forums.focaljet.com/problems-...vibration.html

Hope this helps...

[negusm]

Yeah, that thread makes it clear you can't trust your eyes.

Oh, for the days of solid rubber motor mounts you could see were bad...

This is the second car with the POS fluid filled mounts that I have had to deal with.

-Mike

[LTDmasta GT]

much like tires, engine mounts dry rot as well. even fluid type dampeners, there are still rubber isolators between metals, and when they dry rot, they get stiff.. when they get stiff, they don't dampen engine vibrations.

i own a ZX2 coupe with the 2.0 zetec engine and it has that same problem.


HOWEVER if you have a check engine light with a code p0171 (system too lean bank 1) than your mystery vibration is actually a vacuum elbow thats collapsed on the back of the intake. it rots on the inside because of the oil from the PCV. its a $2 part from Ford.

[negusm]

No engine codes. We replaced the one motor mount and the vibration is much much less.

However, it does still seem too much vibration.

Maybe the other mounts all need replacing?

-Mike

[83ASC]

No engine codes. We replaced the one motor mount and the vibration is much much less.

However, it does still seem too much vibration.

Maybe the other mounts all need replacing?

-Mike

I don't think you ever mentioned how many miles are on it. If it's over 100 - 125K, then you might be needing to do all 3. The ZX3 I did this on only had about 80K, so I might have been able to get by with 1 (for now)...

[Zephyr5.0]

All ports I can find seem clear but do have the bank 1 lean code. Vibration I had was motormount after taking weight off of engine went away.

[ChrisPerry]

we fought these things forever with vibrations at the dealer. between these and escorts. i never really had one totally subside.

your not going to change the timing belt when you do a water pump. ALOT more work.

[4eyex2]

I did the timing belt on my zx2 (same engine, except for the VVT) , without the water pump , as the previous owner had done. I wa able to change the idler and tensioner pullies just by unbolting the middle timing cover, and letting it slide out of the way.