Keep it or sell it (ST24)?

Soldato
Joined
28 Feb 2006
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No longer riding an Italian
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.
 
Hey thanks for the reply sormicoft :)

sormicoft said:
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.

sormicoft said:
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.

sormicoft said:
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.

sormicoft said:
typical mondeo tbh
Lol, and phew :D

sormicoft said:
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.

sormicoft said:
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.

sormicoft said:
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 said:
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 :p

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 :)

[TW]Fox said:
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.
 
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 :D

Will take another look at the weekend.

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.
 
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.
 
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