Potential Mondeo disaster :(

shephga

shephga

shephga

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27 Feb 2003
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1,160
Hi,

My much loved Mondeo is having issues and I'd appreciate your views and comments.

The mondeo is an 05 plate lx 2ltr 115ps tdci with just over 90k mileage, which has been incredibly reliable, and cost very little in maintenance to run up until the last few months. The car does a daily round trip of 58 miles a day + runs round town etc. Costs recently are as follows :

  1. Exhaust silencer rusted away from main exhaust pipe - £55
  2. Replace rear brake calipers and discs - £250

^^^ Not too bad considering how reliable the cars been for me for six years. Then comes Tuesday 12th, my wife (very gentle driver) tells me that a warning light came on, I investigate and find out its the glow plug warning light. The car's been starting well from cold so I was confused about why the glow plug light would come on whilst the car was running. I drive the car home (not so gentle driver), no warning lights and want to test the car to see if I can replicate the fault. I accelerate on a motorway on a upwards slope and the glow plug & engine management lights come on and the car goes in to crawl mode. Car restarts, engine management light lid solidly, car drives normally and I get home. We book the car in to get looked at by a friend who run's his own garage, get it there friday (car didnt want to start for the first time ever, I presumed it was the glowplugs) he hooks it up to his diagnostic computer and there are 2 warnings, both based around "the powertrain". We leave the car and go home, later that day we're told it's possible swarf could have got in to the fuel injection system. Our friend had got in contact with a diesel specialist who advised they replace the fuel filter and put the old one in to a jar and look for swarf or metal filings. The old filter looked clean of swarf and metal filings and just looked like a normal used fuel filter. We then get a phone call to say that the starter motor has appeared to died. We chat on the phone and hopefully the diesel specialist would be able to have a look Monday, worst case Wednesday. We both agree no point changing the starter motor til we understand what the main issue is and the costs to resolve, my friend will tow start the car when the diesel specialist comes to have a look.

So, looking on parkers my car is roughly valued at around £1050 - £1300, I expect the starter motor will cost around £60 + service + resolving the engine issues will exceed the residual value of the car. I wouldn't mind spending a good sum of money to get the car repaired, it's been a very good car but I'm worried about it suddenly turning in to a money pit where stuff just keeps failing.

I don't know what I expect anyone to say as no one has a crystal ball. My wife and I need a car each for work, school runs etc. We've been trying to sort out our finances and are currently paying the loan for the other car, so as with all things like this it's bad timing.

My gut feeling is I'll be looking for another car, my employers do a scheme where I can lease a car before tax etc and it's all fully insured/maintained etc as part of the scheme, don't think I want to buy another car as I'm fed up of finding dings/scratches from other drivers parked cars or unexpected repairs etc.

Thanks for reading, any thoughts/sympathies welcomed.
 
Money pit cars are my worst nightmare now, so I'd naturally say go look for a new/nearly new replacement. I've hated it when you are commuting some 55miles to work, and you breakdown. Or on a big trip, despite checking the maintenance items, you find yourself stranded halfway to your destination.

I'd check your employer's scheme as you say - where I work, we have a green car scheme which I believe is a fairly standard scheme these days.

It will get you insurance, maximum of 12 tyres, tax, MOT, servicing, lease/PCP thrown into one monthly figure which is then deducted pre-tax from your salary. The downside (if you call it that) is that the vehicle needs to be 120g/km emission or less.

It's value for money is entirely dependent upon how many miles you put on it, and how you drive it. I believe the typical saving is around £100 per month excluding tyres and servicing costs (as these vary car to car).

If I didn't desire a larger engined car, I would have been all over this scheme.
 
I seem to remember that the Flywheel going can cause starter failure as it fills the starter with metal shavings or something, look for that?
 
OP. you would have to pay to repair any damage that happened to a lease car, so thats not going to change.

In fact it would change, on your own car you can choose not to repair dings and scratches, on a lease car you have no choice, either by a cost to repair at end of lease or cost to change at the end of the term.
 
I don't think anyone could be much help here unless you provide more specific fault codes than just "powertrain". It could be anything from the EGR, turbo, injectors, fuel pressure switch, fuel pump etc etc.

A code isn't always a gurantee of a particular fault but it can help to point to the correct direction for a diagnosis.

iirc powertrain codes on a Ford diesel are likely to be fuel side related, most liekly it's an injector fault that should be easy to check via a leakoff test.
 
shephga said:
My gut feeling is I'll be looking for another car, my employers do a scheme where I can lease a car before tax etc and it's all fully insured/maintained etc as part of the scheme, don't think I want to buy another car as I'm fed up of finding dings/scratches from other drivers parked cars or unexpected repairs etc.
Click to expand...

You know you get charged for these dings/scratches when you return the car?

I too am tired of owning cars and all the crap that comes with them. Cheap cars aren't really cheap any more either. :(
 
I'm curious, if you are going to bin the car what colour is it and where are you located?, I know someone who wants a couple of TDCi MK3's for spares?
 
Coil Packs and dual mass flywheels are common problems on these cars.
The starter motor can go when the flywheel starts to fail (as already mentioned)
The coil packs are not cheap either as they have to be coded.
 
Coil packs on a diesel? Do you have a clue what you're on about?

Before messing about with the fuel system, check the cam, crank and fuel rail pressure sensors are working correctly. Many pumps get replaced unnecessarily because the error codes show fuel pressure issues when it's actually the sensor that's at fault. I'd be inclined to throw one on before even looking at the fuel system because they're not particularly expensive or difficult to fit.
 
So, the 4 injectors have died (which is very unusual) at £200 each to replace, this is before understanding and resolving what caused the injectors to fail, so £800 + whatever to resolve + starter motor + service = beyond economical repair for me at least. My mate's told me to replace the starter motor and put it on ebay as a "Spares or repair" auction. The best online value I have been given for scrap is £196, you reckon I'll get more the ebay route or any other suggestion for getting as much cash back from the car as possible ?

Thanks
 
I've had two of these, both TDCI 130's, first one started to have a noisy flywheel (sold it), second one had the glow plug lamp on a couple of times, after various testers, leak-off tests, filters, sensors etc, I ended up selling it, though to a friend and its still going fine 1 1/2 years later!

Starter motor failure is the first sign of a failing dual-mass flywheel, all the debris from the flywheel ends up in the starter and then it fails. A faulty flywheel can also cause all sorts of sensor and running issues as the flywheel sensor gets erroneous readings as the flywheel isn't rotating as it should.

Injectors are the usual culprit for engine faults, but really there is no point replacing the injectors if they have been filled up with debris from a failing fuel pump, really both need replacing along with new injector feed pipes.
Did the garage conduct a leak-off test? Or did they just condemn all 4 due to a code reader? You can get them cleaned but you do take the risk on the pump, though any good diagnostic reader should be able to view live fuel pressure, this together with a leak-off test should identify the pump and or injectors.
Then I guess you could make the decision before spending big money.

I've owned 5 Mondeos of all variants 4cyl/V6/TDCI and I like them, comfy to drive and the TDCI's are lively and economical until this happens then you realize the money saved running a diesel over a petrol has just been swallowed up by the repair bills.
Though if they were that bad then taxi companies wouldn't use them, the best advice on these is change the fuel filter as often as the oil and use a genuine Ford or Delphi (as its a Delphi fuel system) filter.
 
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Jamous hit the nail on the head on this one. As another ex-Mondeo TDCI owner - this fault will be injectors, more than likely just 1 or 2 however. Sods law would come into this one and the other 2-3 would start playing up soon after getting the ones having issues replaced and then that's another diagnosis fee and £200+ each to replace.

The starter motor going is indicative of the DMF failing, the swarf from the DMF gets into the starter motor and kills it. So its a new starter motor, DMF, clutch and slave cylinder replacement for this - the kit is £450-500 then labour around £250-£300. You probably get where this is going...

Just before christmas last year I paid to have my injectors recoded, started having problems again a few weeks later. The MOT was due and I needed 2 new tyres at £160+ a corner for decent tyres, a new backbox was needed also. I was looking at a bill over over £1400 to sort out a 12 year old Mondeo.

I traded mine in for a 1.6 petrol Focus as I only do 9000 miles a year. For my mileage a diesel is pointless, however I do miss the mondeo. In a few years time I might go for a 1.6 ecoboost petrol (160BHP).
 
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blueboy2001 said:
Coil packs on a diesel? Do you have a clue what you're on about?

Before messing about with the fuel system, check the cam, crank and fuel rail pressure sensors are working correctly. Many pumps get replaced unnecessarily because the error codes show fuel pressure issues when it's actually the sensor that's at fault. I'd be inclined to throw one on before even looking at the fuel system because they're not particularly expensive or difficult to fit.
Click to expand...

Gah, I meant the injectors. Lol
 
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