Keep it or sell it (ST24)?

[Scort]

Well, I've owned my Mondeo ST24 for a little over 3 years now, and to date, it hasn't required any major work (touch wood).
Anyway, it's R reg, coming up for 89,000 miles, completely standard, but needs a bit of work; in no real order:


1. Auxiliary drive belt replaced - for certain, I can get this done for about £50.

2. The IMRC doesn't function - I've had it open and not seen any movement of the cogs, the car has also always felt 'slow', compaired to my old 1.8 Esort Si that is. No 'kick' after 3,000 revs either

3. Needs a full service - pretty sure this is at 90K, but I had an interim service done couple of months after I bought it, so happy to get this done.

4. When turning full-lock out of a parking space, a strong knocking/kicking can be felt through the steering wheel, it has been like this for a few years and checked by a garage - nothing found. Not sure what this could be, suspension bushes maybe?

5. The alloy wheels and body work need some tidying up - the side-skirts are damaged and need to be replaced, the rear driver's side arch is a little tatty (think it had a slight knock before I owned it) plus general stone-chip damage etc.

The front alloys are a bit worse for wear, never kerbed by me thankfully (only ever doen that with a steel wheel), so I'll either pick up two 4-spokes from the auction place, or try and get a set of 5-spokes or ST200s.

Add to the above a possible water pump change, as I'm unsure if this has ever been done, and a tune-up of the engine.


I've never really had to spend money on cars before, aside from the usual MOT/Tax/Tyres/Etc, as they only used to last about a year before I got bored and bought another one, but no longer having loan repayments after Feb, I'll have money to spend on it.

So what do you guys think, keep it and get the problems sorted, or save some money and either p/x or sell private?

Cheers.

Scort.

 

[233]

OK give you an idea of prices,


1. Auxiliary drive belt replaced - for certain, I can get this done for about

wait and get it done with the service, it should be coming off anyway.


2. The IMRC doesn't function - I've had it open and not seen any movement of the cogs, the car has also always felt 'slow', compaired to my old 1.8 Esort Si that is. No 'kick' after 3,000 revs either

i feel your pain this could be pricey

3. Needs a full service - pretty sure this is at 90K, but I had an interim service done couple of months after I bought it, so happy to get this done.

get it done right use proper parts and a good oil, even if your using an independant insist on ford/motorcraft parts

4. When turning full-lock out of a parking space, a strong knocking/kicking can be felt through the steering wheel, it has been like this for a few years and checked by a garage - nothing found. Not sure what this could be, suspension bushes maybe?

typical mondeo tbh

5. The alloy wheels and body work need some tidying up - the side-skirts are damaged and need to be replaced, the rear driver's side arch is a little tatty (think it had a slight knock before I owned it) plus general stone-chip damage etc.

consider some aftermarkets especially if you need tyres as well. you get a nice set of 17's with tyres for not a lot these days
In regards to paintwork speak to a couple of places, prices will vary wildly, don tgo the ford bodyshop route unless you like bending over and having vaseline applied.

Add to the above a possible water pump change, as I'm unsure if this has ever been done, and a tune-up of the engine.

see the service above, tie it all in and reduce labour costs significantly

 

[Scort]

Hey thanks for the reply sormicoft

wait and get it done with the service, it should be coming off anyway

Will do, just looked at my service guide now, it is 90K and the aux drive belt is checked/renewed.

i feel your pain this could be pricey

I've read a couple of stories about these and a couple of people have said a new unit is about £180 - fitting requires taking of the UIM and LIM as well, which is something I have done before, when cleaning the secondaries.

get it done right use proper parts and a good oil, even if your using an independant insist on ford/motorcraft parts

I would more than likely take it back to Ford for this, same as the last service.

typical mondeo tbh

Lol, and phew

consider some aftermarkets especially if you need tyres as well. you get a nice set of 17's with tyres for not a lot these days

I would prefer to keep the car standard, but will still take a look at after market ones.

In regards to paintwork speak to a couple of places, prices will vary wildly, don tgo the ford bodyshop route unless you like bending over and having vaseline applied.

I was toying with the idea of a bit of DIY on this one (the car is white jusr for info), but will also ring round soem local body shops, not Ford on this one.

tie it all in and reduce labour costs significantly

Thanks for the tip, I never thought of that to be honest, hope they do a better job on these 'extras' than the last time - asked them to replace a broken bolt on the throttle body and some snapped vaccume pipes and they pinched a bolt from another part of the engine (the plastic cover over the IMRC) and heat-wrapped the pipes

Thanks.

Scort.

 

[rG-tom]

apparantly if you're handy with a soldering iron it is possible to fix the IMRC yourself can't remember where i read it though, so get googling / searching on MEG

4 spoke rims go for very little on MEG as well, and ST200 rims aren't all that expensive....look 100x better and are still stock ford parts

Tom.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Mine did the wierd full lock thing. It felt like one of the wheels was juddering/being dragged along.

£45 and full front and rear allignment later, it was perfect.

It is NOT typical Mondeo, if it does it, something is wrong. It shouldn't be like that and it isn't common.

 

[Scort]

apparantly if you're handy with a soldering iron it is possible to fix the IMRC yourself can't remember where i read it though, so get googling / searching on MEG

4 spoke rims go for very little on MEG as well, and ST200 rims aren't all that expensive....look 100x better and are still stock ford parts

Tom.

I read that the solder points can 'burn' out, causing a black rim to form on the solder, but I looked for said marks and found nothing
As for the alloys, I'll have to pay MEG a visit, and stownersclub too methinks, thanks

Mine did the wierd full lock thing. It felt like one of the wheels was juddering/being dragged along.

£45 and full front and rear allignment later, it was perfect.

It is NOT typical Mondeo, if it does it, something is wrong. It shouldn't be like that and it isn't common.

Hmmmmm, sounds promising, I'll have to get the alignment checked then, thanks for the tip Fox.

Cheers,
Scort.

 

[dynabol]

RE: The IMRC

Not entirely sure whether this will work for you, but when I found out my IMRC had "gone", I opened it up, took the circuit board off, looked for any signs of damage (of which there were none), then wiggled the motor round a bit.

It was apparent to me that the previous owner had tried to sort it himself, but hadn't banked on being able to put it back properly. My guess is that he'd moved something that caused the motor/connecting wiress to short. Anyhoo, mine started working again when I put it back together...

Just something to try

Oh, and if you haven't already, get yourself on http://www.fordmondeo.org

 

[Scort]

Thanks dynabol, I'll give that a shot - I did try pulling the board out, but it seemed stuck and I didn't want to pull it too hard

Will take another look at the weekend.

Scort.

 

[233]

Mine did the wierd full lock thing. It felt like one of the wheels was juddering/being dragged along.

£45 and full front and rear allignment later, it was perfect.

It is NOT typical Mondeo, if it does it, something is wrong. It shouldn't be like that and it isn't common.

oh believe me its very common

my dealership used to get this at least 4/5 times a week,

 

[dynabol]

Thanks dynabol, I'll give that a shot - I did try pulling the board out, but it seemed stuck and I didn't want to pull it too hard

Will take another look at the weekend.

Scort.

Yeah I had the same thing; turns out the little plastic hex-type screw just above the little triangle with the number 2 in it was holding it in. I just pulled the board slightly after unscrewing the other screws and it snapped of quite easily.

You don't have to replace it, so tug away hehe

Jon

 

[TerryWogan]

Mine did the wierd full lock thing. It felt like one of the wheels was juddering/being dragged along.

£45 and full front and rear allignment later, it was perfect.

It is NOT typical Mondeo, if it does it, something is wrong. It shouldn't be like that and it isn't common.

Fox is right. My dad's new-shape Zetec-S did the same thing. Wasn't too costly to repair.

 

[Scort]

Well thanks for all the posts guys, I'll get the motor all fixed up then, never know, having all 24 valves might add some more excitment back into driving

Cheers,
Scort.

 

[Jamous]

1. Auxiliary drive belt replaced - for certain, I can get this done for about £50.

Shouled only need replaced if badly cracked, factor belts around £15

2. The IMRC doesn't function - I've had it open and not seen any movement of the cogs, the car has also always felt 'slow', compaired to my old 1.8 Esort Si that is. No 'kick' after 3,000 revs either

What happens is the heat from the front exhaust manifiold, cooks the control box (under the black plastic trim saying "Duratec") and it can be repaired by re-soldering the joints but it'll last a month if your lucky. A new one is around £120.
Also, the "secondaries" which the IMRC operates, can become gummed up with carbon and do need cleaned, this can stop them from working and making the control unit seem faulty

3. Needs a full service - pretty sure this is at 90K, but I had an interim service done couple of months after I bought it, so happy to get this done.


Not too expensive, but at the age may be worth getting an Independent to do it, most dealers don't want to know after 5 yearrs old, or DIY?

4. When turning full-lock out of a parking space, a strong knocking/kicking can be felt through the steering wheel, it has been like this for a few years and checked by a garage - nothing found. Not sure what this could be, suspension bushes maybe?

Can be just down to the type of suface you are on. Check P/S for leaks and noises form the pump, pumps are common on the V6

5. The alloy wheels and body work need some tidying up - the side-skirts are damaged and need to be replaced, the rear driver's side arch is a little tatty (think it had a slight knock before I owned it) plus general stone-chip damage etc.

Sounds like it's not had an easy life

I love the Mondeo, I had a LTD Edition Saloon ST200- 299/300, lovely drive. V6's have couple of issues, water pump is no.1 and alternator is no.2, other than that they run for years....

 

[Townlea]

V6's have couple of issues, water pump is no.1 and alternator is no.2, other than that they run for years....

When do these issues appear.... none of the above have appeared for me?

 

[Scort]

Yeah the car has had a hard life I think, I've had it for just over 3 years now, bought it in late 2003, but it was in same condition then - just never really had the funds to get it done up, but that will change soon

I'll have a ring round about the service, as you say, the age and value of the car now doesn't really justify the extra cost Ford will probably charge, but I may call them just to get a rough idea on cost.
If it's £200-300 then I may just go with them to be certain, as much as I can, that the job will be done right.

Scort.