Who owns a Mondeo ST220 / ST TDCI?

Howard · 1 Jun 2013 at 12:33

I'M SO HAPPY I COULD CRY

I found the noise

Turned out to be the bonnet hinges/brackets. Bit of oil and lubricating later and it's silent.

Howard · 3 Jun 2013 at 11:03

My battery died suddenly last year. When I got a new one the starter motor cranked the engine over so much faster, the old battery must have been knackered.

Howard · 3 Jun 2013 at 11:29

You know how the bonnet hinges are metal brackets that fold / pivot as you open/close it? The joints there were just a bit 'dry' so it'd creak when you move the bonnet - i.e. grab the rear edge and move it a bit with your hand. I oiled them up nicely and then silence.

I discovered it when I had my dad driving the car with me walking alongside it to try and locate the noise. I opened the bonnet and the noise stopped. That was the eureka moment.

Re. the battery, I'm not actually sure what capacity mine is, but will check later! I had Ford replace it when I had my coolant pipe sorted, as it wasn't any dearer than a 'decent ' aftermarket one really.

Howard · 3 Jun 2013 at 11:44

The hinges at the back of the bonnet by the window, next to where the gas struts are

Where is the rattle coming from exactly? The only slight noise I get from the boot sometimes is what I reckon is the nasty loose plastic trim in the boot by the lights etc. My parcel shelf wobbles a bit but it's silent.

Howard · 3 Jun 2013 at 12:27

Yeah I can see mine do that too. Doesn't make a noise though. Try putting something really heavy on it and seeing if it changes.

Or just detach the shelf and shove it in the boot or something

Howard · 3 Jun 2013 at 22:45

The only slight leak I had from underneath was from the filter, which stopped when I tightened it more. It isn't in a particularly useful location for getting any hand held purchase!

Howard · 4 Jun 2013 at 08:24

thedazman67 said:
He said a batteries don't just die spontaneously. Is this true?

Nope.

thedazman67 said:
The whole week prior to the battery going it didn't exhibit any signs of impending battery death.

Neither did mine

Rybo89 said:
Brake squeak as come back.... Extremely annoying.

Going to replace the front disks and pads, also find some chemicals that will strip the carriers back to the metal.

Squeak will be crushed!

When does it do it? Is it quite quiet, or quite loud?

Are any of the brakes sticking a bit, perhaps?

You shouldn't need to go OTT with the carriers, just thoroughly wire-brush the bits that hold the pads, and give them a general de-grease. Make sure the pad faces and discs are thoroughly cleaned with brake cleaner, and the backs of the pads are cleaned and you apply some copper grease to them just before you put the calipers back on.

How worn are the discs?

Howard · 4 Jun 2013 at 10:21

It's the idle control valve that causes it, isn't it?

Howard · 4 Jun 2013 at 11:51

The Ford OEM pads I recently fitted work better than the Pagids I had before. ~£45 from eBay.

You shouldn't need to do any chiselling

Just clean up the indents where the pad lugs sit, maybe use a curved file a little bit.

Howard · 4 Jun 2013 at 12:51

Makhaira said:
The ST brakes tend to go for silly money these days - with the level of popularity it is they often fetch the best part of £300 now. Given that there's nothing wrong with the ST220 brakes, they're just less assisted than most other cars, I'd personally say you're best saving your cash.

Agreed.

The only reason I'd contemplate bigger brakes is purely in the name of appearance and vanity.

Howard · 4 Jun 2013 at 12:56

But it's something I'd consider if I could pick up some calipers and carriers for £100 or something, not £150 for the carriers and a further £2398572345 for the calipers that seems to be the going rate

My dad drove my car at the weekend (when I was trying to find the rattle), and his initial comment was "these brakes feel a bit funny". I then said "drive it normally, then stop quite hard". So he did. "Oh yes, fair enough" was his response! He was just used to the rather sharp brakes in his Honda.

Howard · 4 Jun 2013 at 14:58

Randomly came across an old thread I made on stdrivers.co.uk and wasn't sure if I posted my ambient / submarine lighting here!

The newer Mondeos have it, as do many BMWs, Mercedes' etc so I thought I'd copy.

End result looks like this in the dark. Front photos were taken before I added front footwell lights:

It's not intrusive in the slightest but that's the closest I could get the photos to represent it.

And if anyone cares how I did it:

Make holes in ceiling light cluster:

Wire up 10mm orange LED:

In action:

Ran wire from roof down to the cigarette lighter illumination terminals as they light up when the headlights are on, which is how I wanted this to be powered.

I love how it looks at night and means the interior doesn't contrast too much against the light outside the vehicle. The orange LEDs are dim enough to not be intrusive in the slightest.

I used 8 5mm LEDs for the footwells, two for each footwell.

Some people might not fancy it but hey ho.

Howard · 4 Jun 2013 at 15:34

Whoops. Fixed!

I really like how it bathes the console etc in a slight orange glow, and I chose orange because of how closely it matches the exterior 'colour temperature' of street lighting and other outside ambient lighting in the dark. It doesn't reflect off the windows or anything like that.

It's particularly nice in the back because otherwise there's just a black 'void' in the back footwells when its dark, and any passengers I've had in the back at night seem to like it!

Howard · 4 Jun 2013 at 19:45

Is yours doing it then?

Howard · 4 Jun 2013 at 22:29

Sound clips aren't always accurate but that doesn't sound right. If it was slightly lower-pitched I'd suggest you've got bearing issues..

Also sounds like you have an air leak somewhere or a noisy tensioner/pulley.

Howard · 4 Jun 2013 at 22:40

The DMF tends to rattle / grind when it's wearing out so it's unlikely it's that

Howard · 5 Jun 2013 at 08:07

I'm going to change my belts and tensioners etc at some point soon probably, seeing as she's nearing 100k miles! :eek:

Howard · 5 Jun 2013 at 09:36

Yep. Along with the little baby belt and poor lonely water pump on the right hand side I guess

Howard · 5 Jun 2013 at 18:42

Doesn't look that difficult to change so will probably do it as part of its service next year or something.

Howard · 6 Jun 2013 at 21:39

Well I thought this evening was a nice enough evening to wrap my interior silver trim with 3M DI-NOC black brushed aluminium vinyl.

Door before:

Gear lever surround before:

Clock surround before:

Removed the trim from the doors (faff):

Half way through wrapping the door trim:

Finished wrapping the door trim:

Finished wrapping the clock surround:

Finished wrapping the gear lever surround:

All done!

Previous interior pics for reference:

What do we think? I really like how it's come out and I think it looks a bit smarter and more upmarket than the rather common silver!