Car Shaking Problems

There is a vacuum hose between the firewall and the back of the motor, it is formed with the 2 ends different diameters. The hose collapses when it is running which causes the engine to stall. I believe this is a dealer only item. Just replaced mine and the car runs fine now.

Take it to auto zone and have the codes read for free.

its just a vacuum hose probably. mine did it before too.

Autozone will not provide enough help.

Pull the codes from the computer, match the code to the troubleshooting procedure, follow the procedure to find the source. Repair the source, light will go out if that was the only problem. There are "monitors" or self tests the computer runs the car through a drive cycle, if a problem occurs, it may not run all of the self tests until that problem is taken care. Therefore, another problem may exist. It is emission related. OR hook up a scanner that is capable of clearing codes, and hope that none are still active.

Check that the Oxygen sensors are correctly installed and working. Also check with your ford dealership to see if your car is one of many that needs a new FUEL pump. Ford has a TSB on this and will replace it for free... I have a 2003 Focus SVT with all the same problems.

could be a PCV Valve. My 01' Ford Escort with similar engine needed that recently. Appox 5 dollars easy fix.

My 2000 Focus wagon had the exact same problem and I could hear vacuum sucking in the engine compartment. In the end it was two failures at once: 1) the PCV hose failure like everyone else, and 2) a broken white plastic vacuum cap on the intake manifold.

Some folks have luck simply replacing the odd-sized PCV hose with the Ford replacement, but I was not so lucky. In my case both ends of the PCV line (under the intake manifold and connected to the PCV valve) were bust. So, to replace the entire assembly I did the following:

I bought a "PCV elbow" (by Help! auto parts), hose clamps, 3 feet of 7/16" fuel line, and a replacement PCV valve all from Pep Boys. I bought a 1/2" brass hose connector from Lowe's. I connected the elbow to the fuel line with the brass connector and secured the PCV valve in the other end of the fuel line with a hose clamp. I removed the old hoses and PCV valve and replaced them with the new rig. I had to route the new hose around the engine block, but there was plenty of room.

I still had vacuum leaking and a really rough idle after replacing the PCV line. I found the source of the leak by using a length of hose as a stethoscope. It was a rotten, white plastic cap on the intake manifold. I bought a set of rubber vacuum plugs (by Help! auto parts) from Pep Boys and one was a perfect fit.

After both of these fixes the idle was back to where it was a couple of years ago. Good luck!

the vaccume hose is broken and is over heating you need to replace it for only $500

Nobody ever mentions an egr valve replacement..this is common in gmc vehicles...Rough idle,stalling, ignition starting trouble all relate to the egr valve sticking...

Your problem is a misfire. You need to do a misfire diagnosis and then correct the cause of the misfire. If you have allowed the misfire to continue for too long, engine damage may have occurred, but otherwise correcting the cause of the misfire should set everything right.

I found later that there was a mis-alignment(TWO PIPES WERE NOT CONNECTED) in my exhaust pipes and the flow of exhaust was interrupted. Which was the cause of the shaking.

So check you exhaust for a funny noise that could be an interruption in the exhaust system. In my case some of the exhaust was leaving toward the engine with a powerful force and shook the car where the engine roughly is, which lead me to think it was the engine.

Answer

could be coil pack, head gasket, fuel pump, or bad injector

RockAuto gave the most extensive answer, sorry, but you have to start with the basic's. A good way to check your EGR : start the enging, stick your finger under the EGR; you should be able to feel the diaphragm. Tap the throttle a few times. If the diaphragm moves, it's probably good. Secondly, nobody mentioned vaccum. Fill a spray bottle with water and spray all around the intake. If the engine idle changes, the problem is an intake gasket. Your idle will be rough, then smooth out. Check all your vaccum lines too! These are all things you can check without doing anything to the motor.

You may consider buying a scanner and pulling your codes. This will tell you the circuit your problems are in.

If you pull the o2 sensor, sometimes they are clogged and you can clean it and put it back in. But for the trouble of raising the hood, replace it while you are there!

I have a '99 Hond a Civic LX and my car was also idling rough and 'sputtering'. The mechanic used some 'Seafoam' on it and that helped a tiny bit. Then he said it might be the a/c compressor clutch. But compressors usually last a long time. I also noticed it only sputtered when my A/C was on. So the problem was with the A/C. I tried adding a little freon thinking it was low since it had never been recharged in 115k miles. This did little to nothing. I added some PAG oil and this helped more. The A/C would get cold for a few minutes and then heat up and go back to sputtering. So I had a free A/C check done on it and it was the condenser fan assembly. Apparently the motors go bad after awhile. It was getting stuck and not kicking on and that was what the sputtering was from. So they hit it with a hammer and it kicked right on and now it is super cold. So whenever the motor on the condenser fan is completely shot I will buy a new one but for now it is fine and working. By the way, you should never try to add freon or PAG oil yourself because then the levels are off and might put too much pressure on the A/C system. My next step is to have it evacuated and recharged and I'm good to go!