2003 Ford Escort

ECCEBEN

MEMBER
2003 FORD ESCORT

Shakes or Wobbles problem
2003 Ford Escort Automatic 95000 miles

Hey,

If anyone is familiar with Ford Escort ZX2s and a very, very, VERY rough idle, I'd really apprecaite your advice.

The car's always had a rough idle - either when at a stoplight and the car's in drive but stopped or sitting still. When I shift into neutral the idle gets smoother but there's still a slight vibration throughout the whole car.

It's now gotten so bad that even shifting to neutral doesn't help. Literally the steering column vibrates about an inch up and down and the entire seat shakes.

I thought it was the motor mounts so I ahd those replaced about 6 months ago but it didn't do much. The only thing that I can think of is before my alternator was replaced, the check engine light was on and the code was for a bad O2 sensor.

Could a bad O2 sensor make the car idle this roughly? Since they unhooked the battery, the light is off now and I can't get the code to see which sensor it is. Would it be helpful to replace the sensors to correct an extremely rough idle?

Oh, I notice that when the AC is off, the vibration is't as bad either.

Thanks for your help.

1 Reply

DSPLC

MECHANIC
220 POSTS

I have a 97 Escort LX 4 door. Not the ZX2 but this might solve your problem. I have exactly, really exactly the same problem as yours before. Check for vacuum leaks. My vacuum leak was all the vacuum hoses connected to the vapor canister going to the intake manifold.

All of them are cracked, vacuum leaking esp. The one connected to the vapor canister.

When I changed the vacuum hoses, the rough idle disappeared esp. When the aircon is ON plus acceleration pick-up improved a lot.