Ford Mondeo MK3 (Ghia X/Titanium X) - What to look for? {FAO: [TW]Fox}

RastaManBob

RastaManBob

RastaManBob

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Hello,

I've been keeping an eye on the usual classifieds with the intention of replacing my aging Ford Mondeo MK2 Ghia 2000/X. Having considered my options, opinions here considered, I've decided that the best direction going forward (considering budget) is a Ford Mondeo MK3, ideally Ghia X/Titanium X trim levels (the price seems only negligibly different but the specification is a fair upgrade).

So; as per
this thread (particularly Fox's reply), I'm hoping you might be able to give me an idea of what to look out for:

-Is there anything I should particularly look out for?
-Any problem areas? Any bits that I expect should have been recently done/replaced?
-What are the optional extras on the car and which ones should I look to have?
-What price would you say they are worth (ball park figure). Confused.com quote around £2300 (auction) to £3210 (forecourt).

Any other information greatly appreciated! :)

Thank you!
 
I own a Mk3 55 Mondeo Ghia diesel. I paid £2k for it last September on 110k.

The main thing to look out for these is injectors. The big giveaway that they are on the way out is that the battery light stays on after the car has started, and electronic throttle has no response during this time. It starts off being ~5 seconds and will gradually get worse until it can last for a minute or so. It will also be throwing no end of crap out of the exhaust while this is happening. The light will then go out and the throttle comes back to life. You may also get misfires when driving normally. To replace a full set of 4 injectors will set you back around £1000 at a good indy.

There's also the usual turbo, clutch and DMF. DMF failure is signalled by odd noises when engaging/disengaging the clutch or possibly some slip. Again this isn't a cheap fix and will cost you in the region of £600.

Of course if you're looking for a petrol, none of that applies :)
 
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Spunkey said:
I own a Mk3 55 Mondeo Ghia diesel. I paid £2k for it last September on 110k.

The main thing to look out for these is injectors. The big giveaway that they are on the way out is that the battery light stays on after the car has started, and electronic throttle has no response during this time. It starts off being ~5 seconds and will gradually get worse until it can last for a minute or so. It will also be throwing no end of crap out of the exhaust while this is happening. The light will then go out and the throttle comes back to life. You may also get misfires when driving normally. To replace a full set of 4 injectors will set you back around £1000 at a good indy.

There's also the usual turbo, clutch and DMF. DMF failure is signalled by odd noises when engaging/disengaging the clutch or possibly some slip. Again this isn't a cheap fix and will cost you in the region of £600.

Of course if you're looking for a petrol, none of that applies :)
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Sorry, should have I said; I'm looking for petrol only at the moment. Ideally 2L seems the sweet spot. Thanks for your excellent post, though :).
 
Liquid_Entity said:
mk3 - check the inlet manifold for the infamous flaps issue. They're either there and ready to implode in the engine or they've hopefully already been removed.

well documented here: http://www.talkford.com/topic/97564-important-inlet-manifold-failure-in-graphic-detail/

(not sure if promoting another forum is allowed however it's for cars not computers)
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Having just looked this up following your message this is seriously not the sort of thing that I'm capable of doing - Let alone before purchasing a car to check whether it has had the work done. However, reading about the failure rate this has got me seriously worried - I would not want to buy what is, let's face it, an old car only to find this goes shortly after purchase. Hmm, more research needed I think!
 
I bought a 52 plate 1.8 petrol with 103k on the clock. When I first looked at it I checked over the engine and heard a rattle. Got the garage to remove the flaps and the car's been fine ever since, apart from a replacement Coil Pack too, which is common on mk3s as well.

On that long thread there is a youtube clip that shows a very quick way of checking if the manifold has flaps or not. I can't view it properly at work but if you go through it then you will find it.

Nearly all people on that TalkFord forum are flapless and they have no issues with their engines because of it.

I got my car for £950 and it's been the best car I've owned so far, only 4000 miles in to my ownership.



 
A read on that thread that it's a ~4 hour job. Not cheap considering labour rates! I'll definitely have to read more about this - Thanks for the heads up and the link.
 
I watched the garage do it, in all honesty the longest part of it was accessing and removing all the bolts. As there were a few awkward ones. The removal of flaps etc was the easy part and epoxy'ing the holes took a while to go hard but put it all back together. Took about 3 hours mostly.
 
Following the link you posted I came across this:

http://www.fordwiki.co.uk/index.php?title=Inlet_Manifold_Fault_-_Duratec#What_can_I_do_about_it.3F

Specifically;

Replace the entire manifold. This is the expensive and comprehensive option. Either use a second-hand manifold from a 2003 or later car, or buy a new one direct from Ford.
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Does this suggest that later cars do not suffer from this inlet manifold fault at all? I'm mainly looking at face-lift MK3 so perhaps it is not a concern? Thank you.
 
The design got improved but it's still not 100% as somewhere in that forum a few face lift models had the same issues, I just think they last longer before they go to be honest.

As most say on that forum, flapless is the way to go and it's without detriment to MPG or performance.
 
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