Advisable to ignore TDCI Ford's due to injector/DMF?

Adam

Adam

Adam

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I'm looking for a 2nd car at the moment, just something as a backup for when the main car is being used or trips to the dump/airport runs etc. Something like a Focus/Mondeo for around £1k.

I've found a 2004 Mondeo TDCI which fits the budget, good spec, low mileage (<£80k) but it's the TDCI which I previously completely ruled out due to the horror stories I have read about the injectors and DMF. For some reason I keep coming back to it, it looks pretty tidy and ticks a lot of boxes (local, spec, MOT, history, mileage etc etc).

Am I mad for even considering this or should I consider it on the basis that if it goes wrong I sell it for scrap and take a hit for a few hundred pounds? I know it's a 13 year old car and it won't be perfect but if the injectors/DMF does go wrong then it's uneconomical to repair. In all honesty it will hardly be used!

I'm considering taking a gamble and maybe playing hard ball and aiming to pay £700 or so.
 
Injectors aren't the major issue they once were. They seldom all fail simultaneously and rarely fail catostrophically, and can be replaced for around £100-£150 these days so not a complete disaster. Normally if one is on it's way out you'll get some smoke on startup and a rough idle.

DMF will become noisy long before it completely fails.

These problems won't generally leave you stranded, and if you're only in for a few hundred quid you can always throw it on ebay and move it on. However, the 2.0 petrols of this generation are very reliable and if you're not doing many miles or do mainly short trips a 2.0 petrol might be a better bet.
 
The petrols are far safer than the diesels of this age. They do have injector issues, also intercooler hose issues.
 
I sold my '56 plate Focus 1.8 TDCI for £750 last week. The DMF started to shudder a little on shutdown two or three years ago when it was on around 75-80k. It had not deteriorated since, and was on 106k last week. The reason I got rid was the ABS had failed, and I didn't want to spend any more money on the car. As cars of that era are generally on 100k+, a new clutch and flywheel will be par for the course.
 
I've had a 90k mile (45k driven by me) '56 plate Mk3 Mondeo with the 2L TDCi which needed 2 Injectors (£300) and a DMF (£1k) and I've had a 250K+ mile (150k driven by me) '58 plate Mk4 Mondeo with the 2.2L TDCI which had nothing replaced - It's complete luck TBH.
 
Thanks for the help, seems like it's down to luck. I'd prefer a petrol but not anything suitable for sale at the moment that I can find.

My plan is to leave it a week and see if it's still for sale. If it is I might make a cheeky offer. £600/700 would be a good buy I think.
 
I've got a 2.0 tdci. Bought it at 80k. One injector failed but the garage replaced it. Then I did 60k on it until the DMF recently got noisy as hell. Just paid 700 to fix that (and clutch) because I wanna keep the car. Now I hope to get another year or two out of it.

Good car but they all sound like a bag of spanners.
 
Had my TDCI from 40k it's recently passed 125k. Do far no injector trouble, touch wood! The DMF fell to bits at about 80k is was noisy as hell for ages and eventually the car stopped starting (bits of the dmf fall into the starter and ruin it) had clutch, starter and DMF done for about £800 would have been cheaper to go to a single mass one! It does sound like some sort of farm machine but it drives nicely and returns over 50 mpg on the motorway. Only other issue has been two split intercooler pipes and a split injector pipe.
 
I dont think there is a Diesel engine out there that you can say is 100% trouble free, unless its something uber old like the old PD VAG engibes or the old PSA XUD lumps! Toyota,Honda, Renault,BMW,Merc,VAG all have 'potential' issues.
 
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