My Ford Mondeo Wagon

On August 31th 1998, I was given the keys to my new company car; a Ford Mondeo 1.8 Wagon, type 'Business Edition'. (This model is known as Contour in the US; it has its own website here).

Ages ago I drove a Ford Escort and had nothing but trouble with it so I swore never to own a Ford again. But since this nice (red) Mondeo became available as a company car I gave in. But still the bad experience with the Escort lingers in my mind. Let's see whether my next car will be a Ford again.

The Mondeo is a fantastic car, let down my a couple of minor problems (see below). At 1299 kg. its 115 bhp engine doesn't give it sportscar performance (running on LPG also doesn't help) but it isn't sluggish either. I find the exterior rather stylish but I dislike the chrome grille and backdoor grip. The interior is elegant and looks great.

I had the opportunity to get this car from a collegue who left the firm. I got the car with 10.796 km. on the clock.

After having driven around ten different brands (lastly a FIAT Marea which I hated), I have to say that my expectations of built quality, when a car like this costs more than $ 23.000, are high. When one spends such an amount it seems logical to have high expectations. But cars are mass produced and not a lot of human attention goes into them after production, which is in strong contrast with the picture the manufacturer's marketing department tries to paint in glossy brochures, where emotion drips from every page.

So problems do come with your wonderful car and it is left to the dealer to sort them out. Now, during all these years I have not come across many sympathic car dealers. A listening ear sometimes seems to much to ask.

If you have read 'Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' by Robert Pirsig, then you know what I am talking about here. A quote from the book: "...involved in it but not in such a way as to care."

For what it is worth:


If you know how to decode more of an European VIN, then email me.

Update: Matthias Karbacher kindly sent me a page from a German magazine explaining an European VIN. The above decodes to a Ford Mondeo 4/5-door wagon assembled in Genk (Belgium) in April 1998.
So all in all it seems a good idea to document my feelings about this new car.
The following will be updated regularly.















So far, the following problems have surfaced:

September 4th, 1998:
September 28th, 1998:

Today my Mondeo underwent its first planned service job (15.000 km). Some of the problems above were fixed. Although I showed them the problem with the seatbelts weeks ago and although they then quaranteed to fix it on September 28th, apparantly they forgot to order the necessary parts. Sigh. So the next appointment has been made ...

October 16th, 1998:

Today the front seatbelts were (totally) exchanged. The new ones have a different protective plastic/rubber 'sock' so it seems Ford has become aware that a modification was required.

I recently noticed that my problems with rough gear changes to second gear vanish when the engine/gear box heats up. Since winter is ahead and the problem seems worse at low temperatures, I told the dealer again about this problem. It turns out that they are aware of it. Apparantly the rings in the synchro-mesh have tiny grooves and ridges. The oil in the gearbox (the user manual mentions the type as ESD-M2C 186-A) contains (it is mineral oil after all) traces of resin that clogs up these ridges at cold temperatures. An additive for the gearbox oil exists that dissolves the resin. They didn't have time today to apply the additive so a new appointment has been made ...

I also found out that my dealer has a website.

November 9th, 1998:

Today 125 ml. of an additive called 'Forte diff/gear additive" was added to the gearbox oil. (Which also allowed me to glimpse the underside of my Mondeo - impressive!). Within 2000 km. it should be clear as to whether this solves my gearshift problem. It appears the supplier of this product (Forte) has a website which isn't functioning at this moment.

January 12th, 1999:

Yesterday a dealer mounted a new head foglight assembly since its glass was cracked.
It is now some 6000 km. since the additive was added to my gearbox oil. There is some improvement it seems, but shifting to 2nd gear still isn't as smooth as it should be.

February 16th, 1999:

Today the car had its second service (31.000 km). No special complaints except for a loose contact which sometimes disabled the left front turnlight (hitting the light unit solved it temporarily). The dealer inserted a new bulb. The transmission and its control was adjusted a bit which might help my shifting problem. It seems improved a bit; all in all the problem is not severe enough to justify a full disassembly of the gearbox.

March 24th, 1999:

Today Carglass replaced my windscreen. It was hit by something hard causing two large cracks. The new windscreen looks like the original but Carglass caused two scratches on the paintwork. Not so nice but there you go with service nowadays.

March 24th, 1999:

On June 10th, the car will get its first extended service (45.000 km.). No major complaints except that the right front door makes a cracking noise when accelerating, the LPG tank only holds 37 liters (it should hold 48) and I think the rear axle is starting to make a little bit of noise; perhaps a ball bearing. We will see what the garage will do about this.

Over these 34.000 km. that I had the car, its (LPG) fuel consumption has been a steady 1 liter for 10.3 km.

June 10th, 1999:

The extended service showed no problems except for a broken lightbulb above the license plate. The cracking door has been fixed; the hinges were adjusted a bit. The LPG tank is 48 ltrs. after all (although the manufacturer's papers say 60 ltrs.) so when filling it upto 80% max. means that 38 ltrs. is normal. The fact that I sometimes fuel upto 48 ltrs. or 100% is a (dangerous!) petrol station's fault where their pumps' pressure is adjusted too high. Quite funny after all; the service technician and I had a good laugh. The slightly more noise I hear are the back (Continental) tires; some cars nowadays come with rather cheap tires that develop noise when they wear out. Probably the tires will be renewed in half a year's time anyway.

Oh; and last week I damaged a front wheel cover by hitting the curb while parking. A new one was fitted.

All in all I am (still) happy with this car.

July 27th, 1999:

The noise of the (back) tires is getting worse. The car sounds like a truck. The tires are not worn out so replacement is out of the question (not my decision but the lease company's). Also the right backdoor's lock mechanism makes a rattling sound. This will (hopefully) be fixed coming Monday (August 2nd).

August 2nd, 1999:

Although the rattle in the door is very obvious, the dealer couldn't fix it. They had a look inside the door and installed some extra rubber gizmo but obviously they didn't testdrive it afterwards. Nothing fixed at all. Great.

It will have to wait until the car's 60.000 km. service since I can't miss it at the moment but the car is driving me nuts. Today it developed a new problem; it chokes and almost stalls when driving off. Sigh.

August 20th, 1999:

Again the car was brought to the dealer for the rattle in the door. They adjusted the hinges and made a testdrive. According to them the rattle is gone. According to me it is worse than ever. I truly can't understand that they can't solve this so very obvious problem. Coming Monday I will contact another, hopefully better, dealer. The good news is that the lease company allows mounting four new tires at the 60.000 km. service stop which is planned September 16th. Also the stalling problem when driving off after a stop is gone. Could have been bad LPG perhaps.

Tuesday August 31st the car will be at another dealer to have the rattle in the door looked at.

August 31st, 1999:

A technician at the new dealer made a testdrive (and immediately heard how bad my Continental tires are) and concluded that they will have to exchange the door's locking mechanism. They have to order the parts so an appointment has been made for September 16th. Also the tires will be exchanged then.

My feeling is that this is a really nice car but obviously let down by a large number of small problems. In one year it was in the garage at least 12 times! A real shame. I doubt whether my next car (will have to wait at least 2 years) is going to be a Ford again.

September 16th, 1999:

Today the car had its 60.000 km. service stop; no special (new) problems surfaced. The Continental tires were exchanged with Michelin Energy XH1 tires, new windscreen wipers were fitted and ... finally, finally the rattle in the right backdoor was repaired. Indeed fitting a new door locking mechanism did the trick. I now have a Mondeo that sounds like new. I have forgotten how silent this car is when tuned properly.

Never, ever will I again drive a car with Continental tires. This is the second time I had to fit new Continental tires way before their normal lifespan expired (the first time being a couple of years ago on a Nissan Primera). An email to them didn't even get answered.

Now, will the car stay this way? Perhaps I was just not very lucky so far. We will see ...

November 12th, 1999:

The rattle is back and even worse. The tires make noise; I believe they are not balanced right. Sigh. Never, ever a FORD again !!!

March 2nd, 2000:

The door still rattles but the tire noise has improved a lot. Ages ago I drove a Ford Sierra (the predecessor of the Mondeo). It had one big fault; almost every service stop new front brake discs had to be fitted. They easily warped causing the steering wheel to shake while braking. One would expect Ford to be able to solve this problem in the meantime, but no. My Mondeo developed the same fault and today both discs were replaced. Also the car had its 75.000 km. service stop. No other complaints. Oh yes; I had a damaged windshield again due to a stone. It was kind of repaired by Carglass, although the damage is now worse than before the 'repair'.

Sigh.

August 14th 2000:

Today the car had its 90.000 km. service stop. No major problems except that it appears that the tires start to make noise again (after only 30.000 km.). I suspect the car's front-wheel alignment to wear out tires too fast. Balancing didn't help either.

August 18th, 2000:

Today I brought the car in because I received a recall letter from the lease company! Apparantly some Mondeos have a corroded brake pressure cylinder. Anyways; it turned out my car was fitted with the correct type.

The left front turnlight again starts to disfunction now and then (see February 1999 above). Not so bad that it needs attention but we'll see what happens.

I hit the curb (again, see June 1999 above) so a new wheel cover (amazingly cheap) was fitted.

Oh and yes, since you ask, the backdoor still rattles. I try hard not to hear it.

January 10th, 2001:

Today the car had its 105.000 km. service stop. No major problems. New windscreen wipers and the comment that at 120.000 km. the distribution chain needs to be replaced.

May 1st, 2001:

Already 120.000 km. so again a service stop. No problems whatsoever. The tires start making noise which after 60.000 km. is quite normal I guess. The car was safety checked (required annually in The Netherlands after three years) and got new 'European Community' licenseplates.

July 2001: Guess what? Now that it is around half a year before I will get a new car (at 150.000 km.), I am starting to appreciate the fact that in essence the car has never let me down, starts immediately and runs smooth, even on LPG. Now that the New Mondeo is out, will I be tempted in half a year's time? I also like the new Citroen C5 a lot!

We will see ...

September 27th, 2001:

A lot has happened. I leave my current employer October 1st, 2001. Since the car was leased by them and my new employer does not keep company cars, I have decided continuing the lease myself for four months and buying the car in Februari 2002.

The car had its 135.000 km. (full) service stop today. Four new tires, new windscreen wipers and a new battery were fitted. No other complaints.

I have had the car for three years now and have driven 120.000 km. in it. It has never let me down; it still drives well and according to the service engineer it will easily do another 100.000 km. So I am not complaining; I like the car and if all goes well I will drive perhaps another two years in it.

November 4th, 2001:

Today a new thermostat was fitted in the cooling system. I noticed over the weekend that the engine was running much hotter than normal and that the cooling fan was running continuously. Turned out that the thermostat was not opening/closing properly. A new one solved the problem. Not a large problem (at least it is cool weather now; I would have run in problems with this if it would have happened during a hot summer).

February 18th, 2002:

Today I became the official owner of this car for around EUR 8.000. It has now done well over 150.000 km. and will get its next service stop coming Thursday. I expect to drive in this car until after summer 2003.

The 150.000 km. service stop did not reveal any problems.

June 19th, 2002:

Today the car had its 165.000 km. service stop. A clicking sound in the driver's door when accelerating and braking was solved by adjusting the doors' lock. No other problems whatsoever. The running cost of this car is now really low (around EUR 0.35 per km. or $ 0.50 per mile everything included).
Unfortunately I managed to scratch the rear fender in a parking garage which I sort of repaired with a lick of pepper-red paint that came with the car.

A status overview:

The car has now run for 165.000 km. (just above 100.000 miles). It is now just over 4 years old. Apart from normal maintenance there has been just one mechanical failure; the thermostat. The car runs just as fine as it did 4 years ago. No rust whatsoever. A few small scratches and dents where people slammed doors against the car in parking lots. One little (repaired) crack in the windscreen (see March 2nd, 2000). A slight rattle in one of the back doors. It still looks as new. The tires will manage for another 30.000 km. The 180.000 km. full service stop will be more elaborate than the previous two but I don't expect any problems. Problems that now might pop up are ofcourse the clutch and exhaust system. At 75.000 km. new disc brackes were fitted; now they again are warped a bit (the steering wheel vibrates when braking at high speeds). Not bad enough to replace them though.

I plan to drive this car until the end of 2003. It will then have done 225.000 km. I wonder what it will be worth then...

My next car will most probably again be a Mondeo!

August 9th, 2002:

This week I noticed that the exhaust had an unfamiliar sound to it. When I looked under the car I noticed that the last 10 inch piping of the exhaust was missing. Since that could cause CO gas to penetrate the cabin that half of the exhaust was renewed today at a mileage of 169.169 km. (!). A maintenance job that is to be expected at this age I guess.

While browsing the internet by coincidence I found a site where someone reports that his Mondeo 1.8TD Wagon was lost in a fire. According by two legal experts the fire was caused by the same piece of exhaust pipe missing. Apparantly it can cause the plastic rear fender to catch fire. I had a closer look and where exhaust gases hit the rear fender a small crack and bend plastic is indeed visible. It appears I was lucky!

October 16th, 2002:

In September the windscreen was cracked by a stone (again) so a new one (the third!) was fitted. The car has now run for 178.000 km. so the next service stop is in a few weeks. Only three minor complaints; the rattle in the door that was corrected in June is back, the light switch is not illuminated anymore (must be a broken lightbulb) and there is a resonating sound at around 2200 rpm, probably some metal touching something. Could be the exhaust. No major problems though.

April 30th, 2003:

A new job and loads of other issues kept me from updating this webpage. In the meantime my Mondeo today reached 203.302 km. (127.000 miles). It is now five years old. Since the previous post it had service stops at 180.000 km. (full service) and 195.000 km. Amazing that apart from normal service items there were no extra charges whatsoever. Not even for the repaired lightbulb in the light switch. Due to its low maintenance costs and my company's travel allowance, this car has now turned into a money maker for me...

Twice in the last few months there was a loud bang from under the hood when I stopped the engine and restarted it almost immediately. No damage whatsoever; perhaps some gas in the exhaust or something. The resonating sound (the exhaust?) is still there although it is heard less frequent.

The disc brakes are really warped now, perhaps I will decide to have them exchanged at the next service stop. At speeds below 120 km/h there is no real problem though.

I am looking at the new Mondeo but have learned that an LPG fuel system is not available (yet). Perhaps end of this year I will buy the new Mondeo with TDci diesel engine instead.

July 2nd, 2003:

Today the car had its 210.000 km service stop. No special complaints; the front tires were worn out and replaced (not bad after 75.000 km.). Also all four brake pads were renewed as well as the front disc brakes. The trembling steering wheel when braking is now gone.I got the advice from a mechanic to not hold the break pedal down when the car has stopped when you brake at a high speed, for instance when coming off the motorway and waiting for a traffic light. The now hot discs (from having to put the brake on at high speed) are locally cooled by the brake pads; making the disks warp. Seems to be a Ford problem though.

They had a good look at the car and found nothing wrong with it. The amazing fact is (this is a garage that has been in business for ages) that until now they have only once had to replace a gear box or clutch in a Mondeo. They more or less guaranteed me another 100.000 km. with this car.

October 17th, 2003:

Today the car had its 225.000 km service stop. No special complaints. Between the last service stop and today two light bulbs were replaced and that was it! And I hit the curb (again!) when parking and had to replace a wheel cap.

At the next service stop the distribution belt needs to be replaced. The only other noticeable difference between the day I got the car and now, 210.000 km. later, is a gearbox that is a bit more noisy.

February 16th, 2004:

Today the car had its 240.000 km. service stop. The distribution belt was replaced. A couple of weeks ago a driver behind me didn't stop in time and only just hit my rear fender. No visible damage but the service technician today moved the fender a bit to the left so that the fifth door does not touch it anymore (the door just touched it on the lower left side causing the paint of the door and fender to wear off, which could cause it to rust in future).

Apart from this no complaints whatsoever!

May 29th, 2004:

The car had its 255.000 km. service stop. No complaints besides a blown light bulb in the dashboard. This was fixed.

A couple of days later I experienced that the car looses power (on LPG only, not on normal fuel) in fourth and fifth gear. This continued for some 250 km. LPG consumption was 30% up. After refuelling, a couple of days later (after some 50 km.) the problem went away but surfaced again a couple of days later. Coming Friday the car will be checked for loose connections, dirty vaporizer etc. Also some other light bulbs in the dashboard are now broken (weird); some were exchanged for new ones today but they came one short which will also be replaced next Friday.

If the LPG problem can be repaired, this car is terrific! I will certainly buy a Mondeo again but it appears that moment will not be near...

June 27th, 2004:

Last week the dealer had a look at the LPG problem but couldn't find anything wrong. The problem is less frequent but still present; if it gets worse I will bring it to an LPG specialist. Also some light bulbs in the dashboard where fixed.

August 9th, 2004:

Today the electric clutch that connects the airco compressor to the engine was replaced. Last week the airco stopped functioning; being used to an airco made driving in the car at 32 degrees C unpleasant. A rather expensive repair since the refrigerant (R134A) used in this system needs to be recovered, the system needs to be vacumed and tested for leaks after which it can be recharged with refrigerant again. After repair the airco works fine again. The car now has done 265.000 km.

The LPG problem has surfaced once in thousands of kilometers so I will not bring it into a service station yet.

October 6th, 2004:

Today the car had its 270.000 km. major service stop. No complaints whatsoever. Also the LPG problem is gone. Must have been bad petrol at this one petrol station. This is getting boring but this car just keeps running without any major problems. Cost per mile is very, very low. In six years and 270.000 km. the only extraordinary repairs were the rear exhaust, the thermostat and the airco compressor clutch. The next car definitely will be a Mondeo again, but boy have cars become expensive!

November 19th ,2004:

Today a truck on the motorway hit my Mondeo at the left, just above the left wheel, badly damaging the rear fender and denting the bodywork. He hadn't seen me entering the motorway although I had been driving in front of him with my lights on for at least half a mile. Anyway; the damage was repaired a week later at a cost of around $1600. Tough, but the car is worth it.
The rear tires are making a bit of noise; but they have done 145.000 km. (!) so I am not complaining. The front tires need to be replaced at the next stop, after 72.000 km. which is normal.

February 1st, 2005:

The 285.000 km. service stop. The ball bearing in one of the rear wheels was repaired. A quite expensive repair but at this mileage this is to be expected. Apparantly the ball bearing alone cannot be exchanged; the whole part connecting the rear axle to the wheel needs to be exchanged. A small problem with the LPG again (see above); probably bad LPG again or the engine is a bit more critical. Apart from this no complaints whatsoever.

June 6th, 2005:

The 300.000 km. (!) service stop. Two new front tires were fitted (after 90.000 km.) and the spare tire was used to replace the right rear tire which started to make a roaring noise when making a left turn. The rear tires were not worn, even after 165.000 km. New wind screen wipers and that was it. When leaving the shop, the service engineer remarked to go for the 500.000 km. mark. We will see...

July 29th, 2005:

I recently found a small patch of rust near the rear right door. Since I want to drive this car a bit longer I had it repaired. They told me it was rather deep and would have been a hole in a year's time, now the repair cost was minor. The repair has been done very well.

November 18th, 2005:

The 315.000 km. (!) full service stop. New wind screen wipers were fitted as well as a new rear half of the exhaust. This is the second replacement of that part of the exhaust. It was first replaced mid 2002 after 4 years of service and 170.000 km. The replacement today happens after another 3 years of service and 148.000 km. Quite normal I guess.

December 22nd, 2005:

Last Friday (at 321.000 km.) the car literally backfired on me. A new phenomenon to me; apparantly it is possible that the explosive mixture of LPG and air within the inlet manifold under certain circumstances can be ignited causing damage to the air filter and/or inlet manifold. In my case the inlet manifold bursted with a loud bang. Fortunately it caused no bump in the bonnet. The inlet manifold was replaced today. The possibility of LPG exploding in such a way does worry me, especially since nobody told me something like this could happen.

Update: See entry of January 22nd, 2007 below.

February 16th, 2006:

A slowly deflating rear tire was repaired today at 326.000 km. No further complaints other than some more noise than usual when breaking at high speed; I guess the disc brakes are slightly warped again, which appears to happen every 100.000 km. Probably these will have to be replaced at the next full maintenance stop. The gearbox rattles a bit but the car still drives like new.

March 17th, 2006:

Already the 330.000 km. (!) service stop. No complaints whatsoever. The car also had its legally required safety and environmental checkup (APK in Dutch, or MOT in the UK); also no problems found. This car still runs like new...

May 12th, 2006:

Going strong at 336.000 km.

This week two problems with the car were solved that appeared dramatic but turned out to be only rather minor repairs. Two weeks ago the car stopped running on LPG. It ran fine on petrol but the engine fully stalled when switched to LPG. The normal repair shop told me they can't repair LPG installations so I had a look on the internet and found Autogas Airco Ruissen. These guys are amazing! I told them on the phone what happened and without any doubt they told me what the problem was; the coils on the vaporizer that electromagneticcally open and shut a valve have gone bad. And they were spot on; this week they replaced those two coils at minor cost and the car runs fine on LPG again. Apparently the plastic housing of the coils cracks open due to the strain of heating/cooling causing corrossion and short-circuits between the wires of the coil, weakening the magnetic field. Again; amazing spot on diagnosis by phone!

Second repair this week was a bit more serious; the front right wheel's ball bearing was replaced. I had noticed a humming sound at certain speeds which in time became worse. At the repair shop they immediately noticed the humming sound by rotating the wheel by hand although a loud radio was playing in the shop... I heard nothing. Yet again; today the problem was fully repaired and the humming sound is gone. See the entry of February 1st, 2005 that shows that at 285.000 km. the ball bearing of the right wheel at the back was replaced. I have to wait and see what happens with the other two wheels I guess...

August 25th, 2006:

Still going strong at 346.000 km.

Two weeks ago one of the rear tires slowly deflated. It could not be repaired so a new one was fitted. Turned out the car did 210.000 km. on that tire (!), so it was about time. Also last week the car had a normal service stop with no complaints whatsoever. However, the LPG problem surfaced again. In May 2004 the car experienced the same problem; stalling at around 4000 rpm in fourth gear, consumption 1:6 (from 1:10) and loss of power. It then disappeared completely but now after two years it surfaced again. The complete LPG system was checked at Autogas Airco Ruissen. They did not find anything wrong with it but suggested the lambda sensor and/or the spark plugs/wiring might be the problem. In the meantime the problem appears to have disappeared again. We'll have to see what happens...

January 22nd, 2007:

Today (at 358.000 km.) the car again (see also December 22nd, 2005 above) backfired. Again a totally exploded inlet manifold which will be repaired coming Friday. Also a full service stop inclusive exhange of the distribution belt is ahead. The LPG problem also manifests itself every now and then. Perhaps it is time now to plan for a new car. Perhaps the new 2007 Mondeo or VW Passat.

In the meantime I learned from a Haynes repair manual that the part that has exploded twice is called an 'Air intake plenum chamber'.

March 9th, 2007:

Today (at 366.000 km.) the car again (see also December 22nd, 2005 and January 22nd, 2007 above) backfired. Again a totally exploded inlet manifold which was repaired. I have decided to get a new car!

It has been a very positive journey with this Mondeo but I need a reliable car and its age is showing now. It can easily do another 100.000 km. but the risk of the car letting me down is increasing. Problems with the LPG, a tire is making noise, the gearbox rattles a bit; too many small problems. I like the new Mondeo but it will be available too late, I can't wait until then. So I have decided to get a (lease) VW Passat Variant. A beautiful car. It will arrive at the end of May 2007. My Ford dealer assures me that in three to four years' time he will see me back. We will see.

The new owner of the Mondeo will be a poor student!

I skipped the full service stop, only the most important maintenance was done. So the distribution belt was not changed; running the risk that it will break. The LPG problem still manifests itself every now and then.

May 12th, 2007:

Exactly (!) 9 years ago this car was registered and today I transferred it to its new owner at 375.195 km., yesterday I collected my new VW. See pictures below of old and new.




















So far, so good. Will keep you posted. Comments? Then email me!
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