How many Focus ST owners on here

I was wondering if anybody on here might be able to shed some light on a problem or point me in the direction of somebody who might,

Over the past few weeks my 06 ST3 has recently developed some vibration, basically whenever the car is accelerating on boost (slower acceleration does not cause this) in any gear above 2nd (i.e. 3rd,4th,5th,6th) the whole car vibrates fairly violently, this vibration is faster as RPM increases, and normally taking your foot off the accelerator stops this vibration dead until the accelerator is planted again.

There is no loss of power when this happens which makes me think that it is more of a 'mechanical' issue rather than an engine issue.
The vibrations can be felt through the entire front end of the car.

Took the car into our local indie, who is a pretty honest chap, he had a quick look at lunchtime and checked the commonly known issues, his first thought was driveshafts or engine mounts.

Both driveshafts have been replaced at some point in the last few years by the previous owner, and on initial inspection engine mounts looked good.

The more I think about it the more I think there is a gearbox mount on the way out? when find some spare time I'll go for a test drive with the mechanic to see if that might shed some more light on it but the more information I can go back armed with the better.

Unless anybody might know of any ST experts around the Milton Keynes area that might be worth a quick call?
 
Driveshafts, cheap ones tend to fail quite quickly. Check for rotational play on them.
Wishbone bushes - If you're on the original ones it's extremely likely they need replacing. Ford only sell the whole arms. Powerflex do just the bushes or you could buy the Hardrace hard rubber ones instead.

JamSport are just up the road from you, or Tim Williams in Coalville who does a load of work on the Volvo engine. You'll have to get on FSTOC to ask someone for his number as it's not posted publicly.
 
I'll post the question on Focusstoc.com when I get home, can't get on that site from work for some reason.

The driveshafts have been replaced with genuine ford parts at 40k and 50k (car is now on 60k miles), I would like to hope a driveshaft can last more than 20k miles.

I'll have to check out the wishbone bushes.

I hadn't realised JamSport were so close, I'll probably try approaching them next, and potentially for a remap once this vibration is sorted...
 
Wishbone bushes wouldn't give the vibrations you're suffering from - they'd be more likely if you had wayward steering or the handling felt funny.

With the gearbox mount some people have had the one linking to the subframe get sloppy but this tends to show up as clunky or notchy gear changes.

I'd wonder if you've got a plug failing or misfiring but you'd maybe notice a drop of power too, or could be a flywheel problem perhaps?

Generally the driveshafts seem to be pretty robust unless you're running lots & lots of power, or the car has had some enthusiastic standing starts. Usual one I know of is the CV joint gaiters can fail, if this isn't picked up you'd lose all the grease eventually and the bearings don't like that.

Hope it's nothing serious and all sorted soon
 
Following a requirement for needing something bigger for all of our biking paraphernalia we (my wife and I) have ordered a new Focus ST-2 to replace our Fiesta ST-2. The main requirement was something that felt like we are still driving the Fiesta (which we love) whilst being that bit bigger, the focus fits that bill.

Should get the car in the next couple of weeks but the basic spec is:

- Focus ST-2 MY2014.75
- Race Red
- Style Pack
- Privacy glass (I thought this was part of the style pack but it isn't)
- Door protector guards
- City pack (parking sensors etc)
- Sat Nav with Sync & reversing camera

The last two weren't really required but buying new restricted what was available (due to a lack of availability based on our chosen options). Buying used was a bit pointless due to the numbers coming out only about £10 cheaper a month (on an like for like basis).

We got a great deal on the Fiesta (£13,850 trade in), and quite a bit off the Focus (works out about 21k).

We test drove an identical model (albeit without the options) and it did exactly what we wanted it too - feel like a bigger Fiesta ST - without noticably increasing running costs.

Should pick it up in the next 2-3 weeks just in time to take it to North Wales. :D

The only downside is saying goodbye to the Fiesta. We have had it since new and loved every minute of it. Needs must though but still :(.
 
LeopoldScotch said:
I've just changed the pollen filter on my ST... could they have put it in a less accessible place? :(
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Is that behind the panel in the engine bay? Consider yourself lucky. They've tucked it so far up behind the dash on the C-Max I simply refuse to change mine and I won't until someone develops an infection from breathing what comes through it.
 
So I finally resolved the issue of major chassis vibration under acceleration, just replaced the torque link with an uprated vibra technics mount. about £80 for the part delivered, just bunged our local indie garage £20 to swap them over in ~20 mins.

The rubber in the old mount was looking pretty degraded, no wonder the engine was all over the place under hard acceleration.

I have to say it's a cracking upgrade as well, the gear shifts are much more positive, and the handling is miles better, the steering feedback is much better and the whole car feels more planted and smooth whilst accelerating.

Only drawback is there is a little bit of engine buzz in the cabin whilst rolling about at low speeds and manoeuvring into parking spaces etc but it seems like a worthy trade off with the handling at speed improvements far outweighing the negatives.

Next course of action in the new year will be to get the wheels refurbished and then think about some kind of power increase, anybody have any experience with the mountune 260 package, or would a custom remap and new intercooler from somebody like jamsport be better?
 
Mountune is very expensive for what you get and is only really worth the cash if you were still under the original Ford warranty.

All Stage 1->3 maps are just generic flash maps, regardless of what a tuner may tell you. Get an intercooler and a remap of your choice and you're good to go.
 
Liquidfox said:
Mountune is very expensive for what you get and is only really worth the cash if you were still under the original Ford warranty.

All Stage 1->3 maps are just generic flash maps, regardless of what a tuner may tell you. Get an intercooler and a remap of your choice and you're good to go.
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That's pretty much spot on advice.

The higher stage maps usually need other upgrades at the same time for the maps to give their full potential.

So roughly

Stage 1 - remap alone
Stage 2 - remap plus maybe intercooler, induction kit, exhaust upgrades.
Stage 3 - remap plus full monty of mods.
Things don't end at stage 3, it just gets much more expensive!

Will depend on budget and how far you want to go, in lot of cases tuners will do upgrades on their stage 1 map if you were to start with that before taking the plunge with the other upgrades.

Do some research on the different maps provided by tuners, a lot of the time the peak horsepower figure doesn't tell the whole story.

Some of the common tuners are Superchips, Dreamscience, JW racing, JAMSport, Collins Performance, Mountune, Pumaspeed and so on.

I'm big fan of the maps from Collins, after having sampled DS, Superchips Bluefin & Mountune as well theirs is better by miles imho :)
 
Focus ST owners! I'm looking for some price advice.

I'll be purchasing a Focus ST in the next couple of weeks but the prices seem to vary massively.

What I'm looking for is an ST-3 in 5 door guise. I'd like a facelift but I don't think its do-able on my budget. I've got around £8k to spend which looks like it will get me a really tidy pre-facelift around 07 with 60k ish on the clock.

Does that sound about right, or is that too dear for a PFL?
 
I think you need to look more at private sales because for 8k I would most definitely not be settling for a pre-facelift.

Ok, it's an ST, but it's still just a Focus underneath it all. I can't see why an 07 plate would fetch 8k! :-o
 
Stormster said:
I think you need to look more at private sales because for 8k I would most definitely not be settling for a pre-facelift.

Ok, it's an ST, but it's still just a Focus underneath it all. I can't see why an 07 plate would fetch 8k! :-o
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Problem is they're just not there at the moment. Dealers seem to have an abundance of tidy 5 door's. Most of the private ones ive seen advertised are either tatty or kev'd up!
 
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