Ford Reviews

Vibrations during gearshifts in an automatic vehicle suggest something wrong with the transmission. In fact, any vibrations coming from the transmission are bad news as a modern automatic should be very smooth and refined. But your car is still well and truly under warranty, so a visit to the dealership is your first step.

But since your vibration is felt through the steering, you also need to check on other potential causes, including worn engine or transmission mounts, a damaged wheel or tyre, an unbalanced wheel/tyre combination, a dragging brake, worn suspension and plenty more. Again, though, if there’s a mechanical problem (rather than a crash-damage issue) your warranty will hopefully sort it out.

Transmission problems in Ford Territories are far from unknown. That said, 64,000km is very low mileage for major problems to occur.

But the real answer to your question is yes; it’s unwise to continue to drive a car with a noisy transmission as you risk doing more damage to the unit. The actual cause could be any number of things from a low fluid level to damaged or worn internal components. Either way, it needs to be sorted before extra carnage occurs. A transmission specialist should be very familiar with this gearbox and its quirks.

Fundamentally, this message is telling you that the vehicle’s charging system is not working to its proper capacity, or not working at all. Keep driving it like this and eventually the battery will run flat and you’ll be going nowhere.

The cause is likely to be a failing alternator which has the job of charging the battery while you drive. If this component gets slack or dies, the battery won’t be charged and eventually it will run out of volts and the adventure stops right there.

Other possibilities are a battery that is failing itself, a loose drive belt (that drives the alternator) or even something simple like dirty battery terminals or faulty cables. A single wire having jumped ship from its connector can also create this degree of havoc.

A good auto electrician should be able to diagnose this stuff in minutes, and suggest a proper fix. If you have a multi-meter and wish to test the alternator yourself, the output should be between 13.4 and 14.8 volts (optimally 14.2 volts) with the engine revving a little above idle.