Vibration at idle and whilst driving

[Dogma1978]

Hi all. Please bear with me on this one. I hoping someone can help with an issue that's I've had for some time. The car is a 2008 2.0 duratec he titanium. Since I've had the car a fair amount of money has been spent hence why I reluctant to get rid of it. Ok so it has an intermittent vibration/ tremor at idle. When driving and especially at high speeds the engine feels like it's shaking. New genuine Ford mounts have been fitted but didn't cure this. I've cleaned everythibgvyou can imagine. Fitted genuine plugs, news COPs, fuel pressure tested and was fine. It's recently had the timing done, new clutch, DMF, slave and master replaced. Yet still it continues. At speed you feel like your being shaken to bits. Also to add the wheels and tyres are new so all good there regarding the actual movement of the car. Any ideas please folks as getting desperate
Many thanks in advance
Jim

[Mignon]

Nothing in the engine can make the whole car feel like "you're being shaken to bits" at speed. Even if a cylinder or two wasn't working at all this couldn't happen. If it's as serious as you suggest then it should be easy for someone competent to find the cause. Driveshafts, wheel balance, impact damage. Could be various things.

[Dogma1978]

Thank you for your reply. I'm starting to wonder if it's the driver side drive shaft. That's ok for the actual driving. The wheels I changed to steels as it had aftermarkets when I got it and one was buckled slightly. I've contemplated the intank fuel pump for the trembling but then surely the fuel pressure would be low

[stevieturbo]

So is it road speed related ? engine speed ?

Is the road bumpy ? lol

Your description almost suggests the idle and driving problems are not the same ? Is the idle vibration bad...worse than any other similar vehicle ?

Did it change at all after any of the works done ?

Diesels are hardly the most refined in the first place. Has it ever been smooth on your car ?

[GreenV8S]

Dogma1978 said:

Ok so it has an intermittent vibration/ tremor at idle. When driving and especially at high speeds the engine feels like it's shaking.

If the problem is at all obvious it should be easy enough to figure out the general nature of the problem which will tell you where to look for it.

If the vibration when driving varies with revs, it may be some sort of engine balance problem. If it varies with road speed, it may be a wheel roundness or wheel/transmission balance problem. If it varies with throttle, it may be an engine fault or tuning problem.

I hope that this long list of work done wasn't all an attempt to fix this problem.

Have you ever compared you own car to a similar one to see whether it's actually behaving normally?

[Dogma1978]

Thank you for the replies. Sorry I should have said before it's a dual issue. Both with the idle and o the road. I'll start with the idling. The car always starts and idles around 11000 until warm where it sits at around 750 rpm. Sometimes you can't feel a thing and it's as if the cars not even running. If the cars had a fast run then sits idling you car sort of judders intermittently like someone is nudging it. This can be felt through everything. The running at speed issue is like the whole cars slightly lurching and shaking at the same time. I thought fuel air ration at first. Maps been cleaned. The throttle body flaps were loose so a second one was put on. Fuel pressure is fine. It's difficult to work out wherever it's the engine doing this or something else mechanical. At around 70mph the vibrations through the pedal are that it's as if it's kicking back. All the parts were replaced as on inspection they were either very worn of totally shot. Someone mentioned suspension mounts for the vibrations at speed. Would this cause what I'm having if they were that bad

[GreenV8S]

Dogma1978 said:

It's difficult to work out wherever it's the engine doing this or something else mechanical.

It should be easy. Dip the clutch, put it in neutral and let the engine drop down to idle while the car coasts. Does it make any difference to the vibration?

[Dogma1978]

Hi, sorry for the delay. I tried putting it in neutral but made no difference. What I have noticed is when driving on our wonderful roads, the faster the speed the worse the vibration. Today at around 70 I hit a nice new stretch of tarmac and the vibrations seriously improved. Soon as I hit the in maintainance road again it came back. I know it's not the wheels as I now have steels on with new tyres. So I'm thinking suspension or sometlike a cv boot joint . What do you guys think

[Dogma1978]

Just to add when reversing off my drive I have to do a full lock to the left. Soon as the car moves I can feel a faint vibration through steering wheel

[finlo]

Cv joint or driveshaft support bearing.

[james_gt3rs]

Timing chain?

[GreenV8S]

Dogma1978 said:

Today at around 70 I hit a nice new stretch of tarmac and the vibrations seriously improved. Soon as I hit the in maintainance road again it came back.

If you have a knackered damper or damaged suspension bush then it might be amplifying minor disturbances from the road into harsh knocks. Can you feel anything unusual happening if you bounce each corner of the car? This won't show up all suspension problems, but will show up some of them.

[Dogma1978]

Hi, timing chain done less than 500 miles ago so sure it's not that one. I'm thinking the same as every here now that its suspension or drive shaft. It had a passenger one replaced around a year and half ago, looking at the receipt a Qdrive was fitted from whatbim told and read these are as useless as a chocolate tea pot. I've only just replaced the two hydro mount bushes on the wish bones so if they've gone I'm guessing the shocks or mounts could be done too

[Dogma1978]

Just an update. I've done the usual tests for the cv joint and there's nothing there. All other issues point to the suspension. Hasty but I've ordered new shocks and top mounts to see if that cures the problem . I'll report back soon

[Dogma1978]

Ok so I think I've found the problem. It's a mixture of causes. Front struts were gone. Replaced these and although it helped it didn't cure it. New drop links and the car feels much better but again not 100%. Then found grease suddenly coming from passenger inner cv. Nice cheap q drive was fitted so I've ordered a genuine Ford. Hopefully that will sort it out

[VaporTrail666]

Dogma1978 said:

Ok so I think I've found the problem. It's a mixture of causes. Front struts were gone. Replaced these and although it helped it didn't cure it. New drop links and the car feels much better but again not 100%. Then found grease suddenly coming from passenger inner cv. Nice cheap q drive was fitted so I've ordered a genuine Ford. Hopefully that will sort it out

What was the problem please? I seem to have same issue Focus Mk3 2014 1566cc 74,000.

I had grinding and shunt/knock moving off then left driveshaft separated at tripod hub, because a cable tie had let CV grease out. Replaced driveshaft but still has slight vibration at idle and shunt/knock moving forward in 1st gear. I can't find the problem.

[JONATHAN_11_80]

Hi,

I've got 2010 ford focus 1.8 which is basically the same engine but smaller. The drivers side engine mount is known to fail and cause vibration. I've replaced my drivers side mount with a ford one which drastically improved the car as the vibration issues I was experiencing were annoying. Ideally the mounts need to be genuine ford otherwise you will get vibration issues as the quality of some aftermarket ones is questionable.

[JONATHAN_11_80]

Also try resetting the PCM on your car (lots of you tube videos on this) Disconnect the battery overnight. Start the car and let it idle for 20 mins then take it for a drive. This resets fuelling and ignition values and the engine management relearns its new parameters. This might help!