2000 Ford Escort ZX2 from North America - Comments

When idling, the whole car vibrates (I'm told this is due to a problem with the motor mounts).

I really like this car. It has good pick up, and is VERY good on gas (on a recent long distance trip I was averaging 42 MPG). Also, it's sporty looking, and the trunk is quite large.

The one thing that really bothers me is the vibration. It's so bad that the steering wheel shakes, as does the exhaust pipe. When I bought it, I noticed the vibration and was told that before I purchased it they would fix it. Well, it was in the shop for 2 days, and came out exactly the same. Why is this? Is it the motor mounts, as I've heard from many other people who own this type of car, or something else?

Also, though this sounds kind of stupid, the oil filter is a little difficult to get to. Could they jam these things further up in there? I might be a woman, but still, I like to be able to change my own oil and do routine maintenance myself, and this makes it kind of difficult.

This is to all who have a ford with the zetec engine, not just the writer of this review: don't expect the vibration during idle to go away. It is a minor problem that seems to exist in this engine. I had a 97 Ford Contour and it also had this problem. I found out at contour. org that many others have this problem especially as the vehicle gets into the higher mileage. Its not a big deal, but its really not fixable, more like it is treatable.

I'd like to comment about the idle shaking. It's not necessarily the motor mounts. I have a 2000 model myself and had to take it in due to the rough idle. My tech had found that Ford had put a service bulletin out on this problem. When Ford had installed the motors, depending on year, they were not put in straight. This caused the vibration issue which resulted in the engine being taken out and re-aligned. Also, the engine and transmission mounts to be replaced. Once this was taken care of, the shaking no longer occurred. Just a little FYI.

Mine shakes too. I just pretend it's got a throaty v8 in it =D.

I love my Escort! It runs like crap! Mine shakes so bad that I lose my teeth while riding!??! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE CARS!? My tech told me nothing was wrong with it and it was normal. I was about to punch him in the mouth.

Please someone tell me where to get this fixed and how much?

Thanks Escort lover :(

I've found that shifting into neutral significantly ameliorates the slight vibration at stop lights.

Drivers of standards either hold down the clutch or shift out of gear at stops.

My ZX2 is a 2000 model.

The odometer reads 85000+.

All ZX2 's vibrate at idle in drive and sometimes a little in park. Every single one of them (unless you have one of the very few 2.0 SPI engines). From the time the rolled off the assembly line regardless of year or age. Anyone who says they've corrected theirs must be an engineer to rework a faulty design. I sold these cars for a few years, had salesman demos, went on test drives with customers and heard the same complaint over and over.

In my career at Ford I had never seen, nor heard of any service bulletins that corrected this problem. And I would have known because I wound up buying an off-lease 2001 ZX2 with 17000 miles on it, and the trademark vibration. The vibration is a small price to pay because the car now has 99000+ rough NYC miles on it. Aside from brakes, tires and fluids I have not had to put a single cent into this car.

One thing you can do to make it SEEM smoother is try to insulate any rattles inside the car. One thing that rattles with the vibration is the hard plastic cover plate between the speedo and the top of the steering column (that makes noise on all Escorts). If the headrests are extended they'll make noise too. The power window cables inside the doors will also buzz and rattle too with the engine vibration. I also had to adjust my hood and dab a little more caulk between the skin and ribs of my hood, at idle it made it sound like worn valve lifters.

It's a fantastic little car, don't hate for one minor design flaw. BTW Ford didn't design it, Mazda did.