Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Engine vibrations transferring to body.

I had the upper motor mount loose on my 95 contour 2.0L. After I was done the car made horrible grinding vibration when in slow corners. Come to find out it would vibrate when the wheel was turned while parked. Took it to a shop and they adjusted the upper motor mounts and fixed the problem. It appears that some engine vibration was getting transfered to the "frame". 20,000 later and the noise is back. Does anybody know what causes this? Is it as common as the rest of the quirks? The car has suffered front end damage many moons ago, but the shop did really good work and I have seen no ill effects. I guess I will loosen the upper mount and adjust it a little hoping it will "unbind" the mount?

One or more of the four mounts may be worn out. It's a fairly common problem on these cars. The rubber in the mount deteriorates and the vibrations are then readily transmitted from the engine to the body.

Yep, my '95 GL is getting a bit long in the tooth, but it started the vibration stuff back at about 60K.
I installed about everything associated or touching the timing belt as well as new plugs, plug wires, a coil pack and everything else a tuneup would require and it runs great, BUT....
IT STILL VIBRATES LIKE MAD!

It passed the Texas Emmissions Test with flying colors right after I did all this work, so it isn't a engine performance matter really.

It has to be the motor mounts.

I did take the mount off on the timing belt side (in fact I did it just this morning) and it didn't seem to change anything.

I'm just too lazy to replace all four mounts I guess!

I basically keep the car to drive to the airport and park over the weekend each week.

DB

Now I can only comment on the V6 cars, but I'm quite certain the the alignment procedure is the same for both. I had my transaxle out last year for a rebuild c/w LSD install. Due to the very explicit directions in the Ford Service Manual, I borrowed the drivetrain alignment tool from my local Ford Service Manager (thanks!) so that the drivetrain could be aligned properly. I fooled around with it, set it up, and returned the tool. Now there was an increase in vibration plus I didn't like the way the transaxle bolted up to the rear lower mount.

In the meantime I ran into an ex Ford mechanic buddy. I asked him about aligning the drivetrain-was it necessary? His reply-If not done properly for a FWD car, there will be excess vibrations. This confirmed what I thought. I went back to the dealer, reborrowed the tool and did it right this time. Result-vibrations gone.

If you remove or loosen ANY of the 2 uppers or the rear lower mount, the drivetrain MUST be realigned. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The Ford manual is very specific-all text is highlighted in upper case. If you don't use the correct procedure & tool it's hit and miss, and you'll most likely miss!