My car is sick !!! major vibrations when in drive (R D 1 2)

C

CHICAGOMARK

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2 days ago: I start the car , put it in the gear and I felt a vibration, and a pretty strong one!!!! like that one when the engine is running in one or two cylinders.
I have stopped the car , tried park and neutral....no more vibrations, so ... I presumed no problems with the engine, round and smooth.
When in gear (R D 1 2, with or without overdrive ) it start to vibrate, from idle up to 2000 rpm (I have not tried more speed in city of Chicago, Friday at 6 pm....).

In speed,or stopped if I put it in neutral the vibrations are gone

I have pulled the codes through OBD I code reader, and are some problems with the engine.

I have suspected problems with the engine misfiring , or something like this, but, for whatever reason I could not complete cylinder balast procedure....so no idea if are all firing or are ok, again in N or P the engine sound acceptable...

I have the cheap reader (30$) This are the codes :

214, 411, 412, 538,

The vibration is present whether or not the car is moving, but loaded when in gear, even when stopped.

The car was sick before this, have had high idle before, and a very slow deceleration response, basically after accelerating (in gear or in P N, stopped or running), the rpm dropped only after 10-30 seconds, and this was not a mechanical problem, like bad acceleration cables...I went to a shop for this problem before and they gave-me a 1800 $ estimate.... so I payed the price for gas, 8-9 mpg/city (real, based on the full tank > empty tank/miles), 22-26 highway

I put a short video with the car on idle alternating between P and R to hear and see the vibration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uWhIDKDKvo




Technical data :Temperature outside when occurred 24 degrees F (-4 Celsius) , but has the same intensity of vibration when warm...

Mark VIII 1993

130.000 miles, coil spring suspension converted, transmission rebuild 30.000 miles ago, some rough shift when cold sometimes, but overall ok (by now)... the trans was rebuild on a small suburb shop, believe-it or not but the car broke RIGHT in the front of the trans repair shop, exactly in the same day turned 100K miles, and actually I have to push-it 100 feet in to the shop...

My mechanical Skills levels.... good (ex mechanic for classic/vintage motorcycle and restaurateur ) but no familiar with automatic transmissions

I will appreciate any help...Thank you !
 
You need to complete the cylinder balance test to see what's going on with the ignition system. In the video it's hard to tell but maybe and egr exhaust leak or tranny mounts?
 
I think you have a bad Camshaft position sensor or the connector had loosened or the wires are broken or disconnected. This will cause the oher codes to show up. Maybe someone else will ring in and give their thoughts.
 
Will a mod please combine this guys threads...he has the same thing in the General tech Forum....thanks.
 
This is not a vibration.
It's a severe miss related to ignition.
Check the crank and cam positioning sensors.
 
Last edited:
some work done today, no results

some work done today, no results

Work done today:

Replace the spark plugs (bosch platinum) with motorcraft platinum, only one of was wet (obviously not working)

Replace the Camshaft Position (CMP) sensor and order the Crankshaft Position (CKP) sensor.

Visualy inspect the coil plug ...look ok (btw, are the original "motorcraft" 8 mm grey)

No change, same problems.

Unfortunately I did not have time to pull out the codes....so this update does not help to much...
 
Get yourself some new Ford Racing spark plug wires (Choice of Blue or Red). You probably got originals on there and no plugs are going to help bad wires.
 
I had a similar problem with my VIII, it felt like a tranny problem, I don't remember the code but the fix was replacing the bad coil on the cyclinder the code said had an issue. I didn't have the $ to change all 8 coils so I changed the one and bought a spare, Sounds like you may have more than 1 bad coil it its the problem, I hope that's your problem because its an easy fix once you know which ones to change....Good luck
 
he doesnt have 8 coils like you, he only has 2, each one has 4 posts on it for all 8 cylinders, it could be a bad coil pack, but unlike 97 and 98 you cant get them as cheap, they are mounted in front of each valve cover, what you can do carefully is while its running, take one wire off at a time from each coil post and when you pull the one off that doesnt seem to make any change in the motor, you can narrow it down to either a bad plug wire, or a bad coil pack. by the sounds of the video you deffinetly have a car that is not running on all 8 cylinders thats obvious. probably needs new plug wires.
 
Open your hood with car running when it is VERY dark out. Look for arcing at the plugs wires paths and around the coils...this may give you a clue on if it is (obviously) the wires.
 
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