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Rough Idle In Drive

L

livelyjay

CEG'er
Joined
Jun 21, 2007
Messages
35
Location
Fairport, NY
So here's the scenario: 10 months ago I took the car in for timing belt, water pump, accessory belt change. Last weekend the water pump pulley bolts backed out, the pulley wobbled, and the belt fell off. I drove the car for a few minutes because I forgot the belt runs the water pump. So the temp got just below H and I pulled over and shut off the car. Got the car towed and the shop fixed it for free. I'll be keeping my eye on those bolts from now on as well as coolant in case of a blown head gasket.

We get the car back and there's a new problem. When the car is idling in drive a vibration starts and progressively gets worse as the car sits. If I shift it into neutral, the vibration goes away. My first thought is it's finally the end of the road for the transmission, but my friend said it might be the motor mounts? Any thoughts? I'll need to fix this, or get it fixed, soon because my wife says it is getting worse as the days go by.

EDIT: 2000 Ford Contour SE, 4 cylinder, 115000 miles, automatic
 
very possible on the powertrain mounts, if you do not have an engine miss then it is unlikely there is any damage to the engine that would cause a rough idle, especially only in gear. but they more than likely had the left mount off both times and it may either be worn out or mis-adjusted, your left mount is different than the 95-97 zetec mounts where the rest of the mounts are the same/similar. regardless the left mount seems to wear out first and usually is the culprit to vibration dilemas.
 
*bump*

Does anyone have a picture of a good condition passenger side motor mount? I have no idea if mine is still good or not.
 
Isn't that one of the hydraulic type mounts? Doesn't it leak fluid when failed?
 
I looked under the hood last night and the only mount I could see sits right under the coolant tank. It's a big post with rubber around it, then a ring on the engine itself that sits around the post. Is this the mount you were talking about mikeswartz?
 
amc49 said:
Isn't that one of the hydraulic type mounts? Doesn't it leak fluid when failed?
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Not sure about your car, but our Contour has four mounts. There's an engine mount on the passenger side, a transmission mount on the drivers side, and a roll restrictor in the front and rear of the engine. On the AutoZone website it says the passenger side mount is hydraulic, but I don't see how that can be since it looks like a big ball of rubber with a ring around it. Either way I bought a new mount from AutoPartsWarehouse for $55 shipped, so we'll see what happens.

On a side note, which is really weird, my wife said she filled up her gas tank this morning and the vibration was significantly less than it was yesterday when the tank was nearly empty. Does this mean anything? I did replace the fuel pump, but it has been running fine for months.
 
I can't imagine that mount failing...I mean, it's POSSIBLE, but seems unlikely as I've never heard mention of it before :shrug:. If you have a rough idle, it is possible your timing could be off, seeing as you just had it replaced.
 
zorrex said:
I can't imagine that mount failing...I mean, it's POSSIBLE, but seems unlikely as I've never heard mention of it before :shrug:. If you have a rough idle, it is possible your timing could be off, seeing as you just had it replaced.
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It is not a timing issue, because the timing belt was replaced almost a year ago. This latest issue was the water pump pulley almost falling off and throwing the belt. That has nothing to do with timing.
 
livelyjay said:
It is not a timing issue, because the timing belt was replaced almost a year ago. This latest issue was the water pump pulley almost falling off and throwing the belt. That has nothing to do with timing.
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That's why I'm telling you that it COULD be timing. Often times mechanics get the timing on this stupid engine wrong. The issue then becomes more pronounced when you have a worn mount. I'd be willing to wager that if you have a mount problem, it is much more likely to be a roll restrictor.
 
Check the shake at idle in both drive and reverse. If better in reverse, look at the rear trans mount (roll restrictor). The test for bad mounts is visual, if you look at them you will see the damage, a pic may be useless, they break in 50 different ways.
 
Are you sure someone didn't get motor hot enough when water pump pulley thing occurred to damage motor? That could certainly explain shaking.
 
My car does the exact same thing, rough idle in drive or reverse, smooth in park or neutral, it gets worse as the tank gets lower. I had one of the motor mounts replaced a couple months ago and it was better for a little while, maybe another one went out. :shrug: I've also changed plugs/wires, cleaned MAF and TB, and inspected the intake system and tightened loose bolts/clamps. All those have helped with the idle and low end power, especially cleaning the MAF and TB last night.....wow!

Mine also dies if I have the compressor for the heat/ac on while idling in drive. I either need to hold the brake and increase the RPM just a little, or put it in neutral. This is probably a whole other problem, but whatever.
 
More weight (either passengers or fuel) generally deadens some of the vibration. Going through this problem with my Focus zetec which only has 3 mounts, there is no front roll restrictor. Car vibrates in drive but not reverse. Definitely traced to passenger side main mount. It was broken up underneath ring where could not be seen, almost completely around. When removed and I was working it to see how badly broken, fluid chamber ruptured and that stuff went everywhere. The check for it that convinced me it was bad was this. Reach down and grab the mount firmly around aluminum ring AND the rubber underneath that goes down to the attachment stud. Don't get caught in the running belt there close. Work mount around forward and backward while holding other hand on anything under hood that's vibrating. I could actually make the vibration get much worse or disappear entirely by how I loaded the mount just with my hand. Surprised me as I would have figured engine weight pulling down would not allow that.
 
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