Car trembles when starting

MSaxp

Hi,

Apologies for the absence of technical vocabulary to explain this.

The car is a 6yo Ford Focus. It starts fine but after 20 yards, I have to stop and turn into a bit of an uphill street. There the car will just tremble a bit and feel underpowered as I am letting go of the clutch and starting on the uphill. That only happens in the first minute of starting the car on a cold morning. I cant notice it any other time.

Any ideas what it might be? Thank you

Strider590

First of all, are you labouring the engine in too high a gear?

When was it last serviced properly?
I assume it's actually had a full service in it's life? Spark/glow plugs are not changed on an interim service, both would cause issues from cold starts.

facade

Could just be the engine is cold.
Either give it the extra minute before you start off, or take account of it when you drive, as you are doing.

It could also be the car is simply overdue a service and something is stuck/blocked up (Like the EGR valve).

MSaxp

Yes, sorry should have clarified. The car is serviced every year as per schedule, its 5th service (just under 50k miles currently) is booked for Thursday. All services at the Ford dealer. I will tell them about the issue, but have no clue what it might be, so dont want them to replace half the car "just in case"

And I was talking about first gear. Starting it uphill in 5th would be an issue regardless of how cold it is, I guess

And obviously I could wait for a minute, but "warming up the car" is a memory I have from the 80s, didnt think it is a valid excuse nowadays. I thought if it doesnt work fine when it starts, then something needs fixing.

Prothet_of_Doom

Do you have a rev counter ? How many RPM are you showing ? Tremble could be clutch judder, due to cold friction surfaces, the engine on the point of stalling because you need to press both the accelerator and clutch more, or even a bit of wheel spin because the weight is transfered to back wheels, and the front wheels which do the driving have less grip.
Here's an idea, when you get home, turn straight around and try it with a warm engine.

Strider590

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

or even a bit of wheel spin

I always miss out this obvious one
I should know better, I see newish cars (even some sporty variants) everyday, parked up near work, wearing cheap and nasty rubber. Probably the same people I see putting £5 worth of petrol in their car. The "financed the car, can't afford to run it" crowd....... :rotfl:

spacey2012

Petrol or diesel.
The crystal ball is broken.

MSaxp

No, its not wheel spin. It feels as if the clutch is not fully off and pressing on the gas pedal, you dont get as much power as normal and it struggles. But it doesnt happen after the first minute of driving. Ever. Revs are no higher than normally and obviously if i rev it up a bit, it stops shaking, but i only need to do that when its cold. Other than that no issues.

agrinnall

Please see post #7.

Strider590

Regardless of engine type/size, it's sounding like an EGR or ICV fault, taking them off and cleaning them up would be my first port of call.... One application where WD40 is the right choice.

MSaxp

I can give that a try. And apologies, its a 1.6 TiVCT petrol