Mondeo 2.5T died on motorway

This is pretty hard work. Spoke to Gary at Collins Performance who was extremely helpful and said they could sort it out but also said they charge top whack (£1.5k just for engine out and back in again).

Gave me the number of one of their dealers to get in touch with who apparently works on the 2.5Ts all the time and should be able to sort it out a little bit more reasonably. Couldn't get hold of him for now.

Otherwise, he said BD Performance in Wrexham usually have a bunch of 2.5Ts around and should be able to sort it out
 
Have Ford got back to you yet over the problem? it might not be the cracked liners if they havent diagnosed it fully.
also ring Riverside racing. Your not that far away if your the Manchster area
 
I was going to suggest Gary and Collins, surprised it hadn't been mentioned sooner.

They do excellent work but yes expensive, very thorough. If you fancied a RS swap that's who I'd have do the work
 
Dav4 said:
Have Ford got back to you yet over the problem? it might not be the cracked liners if they havent diagnosed it fully.
also ring Riverside racing. Your not that far away if your the Manchster area
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No - all Ford has done is test engine compression, which is low, and say that to investigate further it'll cost £510 to remove/inspect/test the cylinder head and components. That doesn't include putting it back again, by the way!

Got it booked in for Monday 6th now with Gary at Daz Autos who works on the 2.5Ts a lot and is hopefully going to get me sorted. He's going to strip it down and have a look what the damage is and either fix it (he rebuilds them too) or if terrible fit a 2nd hand one.
 
Five_Star said:
I was going to suggest Gary and Collins, surprised it hadn't been mentioned sooner.

They do excellent work but yes expensive, very thorough. If you fancied a RS swap that's who I'd have do the work
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To be fair it's a 9 year old Mondeo...I love it but I had to consider whether it was even worth getting it repaired considering how much it's worth. It needs discs doing soon and clutch probably at some point but I'm hoping this work will give it another 2-3 years of life and take me up to 120-130k miles or so.
 
These engines have always been an issue to get parts for, Volvo just never seemed to make them available.

If it's going to be mega expensive. Might be worth looking at an entirely different engine, one that you CAN get parts for :D
 
esoteric said:
I feel for you, EvilRob, my Rover 25 exploded it's top hose on Monday due to HGF.
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Rover K engines rarely go "pop" because of HGF (Typically it is a oil>water issue rather than a pressurisation one)

Owners can often drive for years with grumbling head gaskets on these, but eventually the oily water will rot the rubber components and sooner or later the pipes will burst.

(See also, little fiat and PSA engines, in all cases it is not "If" but "When". Anything more than 8 years old is on borrowed time. Always check the header tanks for greasiness when buying an old one of these! :p)

I would risk a modest wager that you have had a greasy header tank bottle for some considerable time! They almost never just go overnight (Only if you have badly over heated for some other reason ):p
 
Have they compression tested it because they say it's down?

Is it down enough that it could just be the head gasket and nothing more serious?
If it just the head gasket that a days labour and a gasket price.
Last time I did a head gasket it took about 2hours from start to end but I imagine modern cars are a lot trickier.
 
helpimcrap said:
Have they compression tested it because they say it's down?

Is it down enough that it could just be the head gasket and nothing more serious?
If it just the head gasket that a days labour and a gasket price.
Last time I did a head gasket it took about 2hours from start to end but I imagine modern cars are a lot trickier.
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There's a chance it could just be the head gasket. Ford said it could be that. Will know when it's been taken apart. I'll keep my fingers crossed!
 
I had three engines in my ST in total, lol.

Fingers crossed for my RS, but the number of those going pop is few and far between, so I'm not worried.

Taking it apart to do the head gasket you should be able to see if it's the liners that have went.
 
So, finally looked at by the independent today. Head gasket gone, but he also suggested I have a look about for a 2nd hand replacement cylinder head rather than trying to get it tested/skimmed. Apparently not sure whether it can be skimmed enough.

So far I'm thinking could be better, could be worse. Any idea of good places other than Ebay to find a replacement cylinder head for the 2.5T? There doesn't seem to be much on there.
 
Warranty direct quote is probably looking pretty cheap now eh?

Sorry, that sounds a bit mean.

But why wouldn't you have a warranty on a car costing £6k?

EvilRob said:
So, finally looked at by the independent today. Head gasket gone, but he also suggested I have a look about for a 2nd hand replacement cylinder head rather than trying to get it tested/skimmed. Apparently not sure whether it can be skimmed enough.
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So is it warped as well then? Get a straight edge on it, if it's not warped a simple refacing skim should suffice.
 
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EvilRob said:
So, finally looked at by the independent today. Head gasket gone, but he also suggested I have a look about for a 2nd hand replacement cylinder head rather than trying to get it tested/skimmed. Apparently not sure whether it can be skimmed enough.

So far I'm thinking could be better, could be worse. Any idea of good places other than Ebay to find a replacement cylinder head for the 2.5T? There doesn't seem to be much on there.
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Sometimes you are better off working with what you have. When I had major issues at the top end (cracked heads) the heads ended up going to a place called benchsound who are about one of the only places that I could find that could weld alloy heads and guarantee their work.

The costs were mental before I had them ported and gas flowed so that work didn't add much to the cost. Fixing my cracked head ended up costing about 1k which was still considerably cheaper (and the end result stronger) than just going to buy another cast head. Edit: I think I ended up paying £1700 to have both heads skimmed all the cracks sorted and the heads rebuilt with the port and gas flow (not sure I would bother with the port and flow if I did it again mind as I am not sure it did anything to the cars power). I have never heard of a head that you cant give a little skim.
 
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Thanks for pointing me in the direction of partsgateway - hope they will come up with more than Ebay.

Regarding warranty, yes, I would consider it in future - but, self insuring probably averages out over the long term. This is my first major mechanical failure on a car. But really beside the point now, isn't it?

Vince - I get your point, but really, I'd just like the car to last another couple of years and I'm willing to take a small gamble on how to achieve that. Hopefully skimming the head will be feeasible and hopefully it won't cost £1700 :) Will probably know more tomorrow.
 
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EvilRob said:
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of partsgateway - hope they will come up with more than Ebay.

Regarding warranty, yes, I would consider it in future - but, self insuring probably averages out over the long term. This is my first major mechanical failure on a car. But really beside the point now, isn't it?

Vince - I get your point, but really, I'd just like the car to last another couple of years and I'm willing to take a small gamble on how to achieve that. Hopefully skimming the head will be feeasible and hopefully it won't cost £1700 :) Will probably know more tomorrow.
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This is what I am saying, if its a simple warp in the head following a HGF it should just be a simple skim and away you go. Couple of hundred quid sees the head sorted :) The 1700 was for welding, testing, grinding valves in, you know all that shenanigans on both of my heads. I would get a second opinion on the head is all I am saying, I would bet it can be saved cheaper than sourcing another head. Even if you do get another head 9 times out of 10 it will go for a skim before it gets paired up with your block anyway ;)

Good luck matey and keep us up to date on progress. :)
 
It's HIGHLY unlikely to be a liner issue, this would show symptoms only on a cold start, not during driving. You don't boil the coolant off, you leak it into the cylinder causing a misfire on cold startup for around 30s whilst it's burnt off. It's followed by a billowing of steam out the exhaust. Once the engine is warm you'll notice no difference. Easiest way to diagnose it is to test the coolant for hydrocarbons, a DIY way of testing is to take the coolant reservior cap off and give it a sniff, if it stinks of petrol it's usually the liners. HGF is very rare on these, in the nearly 5 years I've owned mine I've heard of 2-3 failing I think!

Nasher said:
These engines are not cheap though. £6000 was what I read when I had my Focus ST.

Best bet would be to ask on the owner's club forums. There might be someone who can fix it there.
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Second hand engines are around £1,500.

snips86x said:
Hope my 2.5T doesn't suffer from this, I'm in the process of a mortgage application..
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£500-£600 for a set of shims to be installed between the cylinders. Worry over. It's also a very rare occurrence.

rallyfan1986 said:
Ive read mixed reviews on the rebuild with new liners, apparently the new liners can slip and cause issues
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I've known of a few lads have Darton Liners fitted, longest lasting was 18 months.

EvilRob said:
I just called them and they said they don't really work on the 2.5T anymore :eek:
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EvilRob said:
Yeah, I was pretty surprised given the focus of their website...
Apparently they "still have a couple of bits lying around". The main guy was in the workshop so they asked me to call back, but not sure if it's worth it.

I'll give bdperformance a go.
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They're talking crap, who did you talk to? They're constantly working on the Focus ST, they're developing ModXRS+ and have only just released their Stage 5 conversion. They've got a Focus ST Dyno day this Saturday!

I'd avoid BD like the plague, especially when it comes to engine rebuilds. A mate had his engine forged there and just over a year later it's pretty much scrap. Losing compression on 1-2 cylinders and drinking oil like it's going out of fashion. Not to mention all of the crap parts they fitted whilst invoicing him for much better ones.

My personal recommendation would be Gary Lendon over at Collins Performance in Congleton.
 
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