milly09

Hi. I have had my Ford Focus for about a year and a few months now. It has always shaken a little bit, but here lately it has recently gotten a lot worse. It shakes violently and sometimes feels like it wants to loose power. It Vibrates too. It also shakes when I drive it and when its idling, and only stops after it has been running for a good while but always does it again when i recrank it. It has about 161,000 miles on it maybe more, don't know an estimate on it right now without looking at it. I am a college student and need a dependable vehicle, it was okay when I first got it, but lately it has me scared to drive it cause i don't know what is wrong. I have taken it to several places to get it fixed, and everyone just tells me its common for 4 cylinders to shake. It also seems to have one spark plug loose, but everyone claims that they cant fix it, its not that big of a problem. My boyfriend knows a lot about cars, and thinks it may be the engine mounts or misfiring. He also said something about one of my cylinders going out, so i may just have a 3 cylinder instead of a 4 and that's why the loosing of power started recently. It hasn't always done that, but it has always shook and vibrated. I have also been told that the loosing of power may have something to do with the alternator. I am a girl, and I have no knowledge of anything about cars, except how to drive one. I just really would like to know if anyone could help me. Thank you very much. It has had me really frustrated lately.

rtg143

Why not have your boyfriend disable the fuel pump and crnk the engine. If the engine has low compression, (one cylinder has no compression), the starter will crank unevenly because when it gets to the one with low compression, it will spin faster at that moment. It will be a rythemic speed up in the cranking. If it cranks fairly steady, there's a misfire ror some reason other than compression.

milly09

thank you. I will mention it to him.