Vibration. Ford Focus.

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Sun 23 Jan 2005 00:38
Vibration. Ford Focus. - tonyb
After telling my chum about all the good advice on this site he has asked me to pose the following.....!

He also has a Focus Ghia 1.8. He's notice a lot of vibration coming from the front end, possibly from the engine. whilst driving it vibrates the whole car, however, when he takes his foot off of the gas and just 'coasts' along, theres no vibration at all. Press foot back down and the car starts shaking again! It happens at all speeds and even when revving the car whilst stationary. He also says that it is MAJOR vibration, not just the odd shake!! Can be felt through the floor, steering wheel an pedals...Any thoughts or educated guesses!!! Oh, and when he puts the key in before starting theres a little yellow light with a picture of an engine in it that is illuminated. It goes out once the engine has been started (whats this light for!!)
Your pal,
Tone
-x-
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Sun 23 Jan 2005 08:38
Vibration. Ford Focus. - googolplex
Sounds like a major wheel tracking/alignment issue to me. As for the light, there are loads of lights that do that, all going out when the various engine management checks have happened...
Splodgeface
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Sun 23 Jan 2005 10:20
Vibration. Ford Focus. - Adam {P}
Wouldn't be able to help you with the vibration issue but as splodgeface says, the light is the engine managment light and it meant to come on at ignition. It's when it stays on or comes on when you're driving you have to worry!
--
Adam
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Sun 23 Jan 2005 11:46
Vibration. Ford Focus. - mjm
I have no experience of Focus particularly, but from your evidence I would say that there is a strong possibility that an engine/gearbox mount has failed. If it were wheel balance/suspension it would not do it stationary. The vibration stopping on the overrun(coast, as you put it) tends to indicate that the engine/gearbox is being pushed back onto the damaged mount by the torque reversal(car is driving engine).
With the bonnet up, get someone to rev the engine while you look for excessive movement of the engine. Obviously go carefull to keep clear of belts etc.
If the vibration is as bad as he says, this needs urgent attention. If it is a failed mount, the engine/gearbox may move dramatically out of place and damage fuel/brake pipes! Non nice.
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Sun 23 Jan 2005 11:57
Vibration. Ford Focus. - mfarrow
From experience of a Rover, I should imagine there'd be three mountings: one on the left of the engine bay attached to the engine, one on the right of the engine bay attached to the gearbox, and a third, probably under the gearbox/engine, mounted longitudinally to the chassis. The third dampens natural vibrations of the engine and clutch, so I'd suspect this as the main problem. Could be a different setup on Foci of course ...
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Sun 23 Jan 2005 12:17
Vibration. Ford Focus. - mjm
Yes, my Xantia has a similar arrangement. The third one, under the chassis controls how much the engine "rotates" under load/overrun. This one gets most loaded and failure would lead to excessive movement. It also tends to be the one that collects most oil/road salt etc.
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Sun 23 Jan 2005 12:25
Vibration. Ford Focus. - Cabsusa
I agree with mjm. Must be something like that, or possibly an exhaust downpipe making illicit contact; or, both!

Should not be too serious to fix, given inteeligent machanic.

AS
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