Hi -
I think that this issue may have been mentioned previously, but I can't find the post - sorry.
In July I bought a 52 reg Mondeo Zetec TDCi 130 with 1200 miles on the clock from a car supermarket, not main dealer. I immediately noticed that the car was extremely hesitant when accelerating around the 2000rpm mark. I booked it into the local main-dealer about a month later (as advised by the car supermarket under their 30-day warranty) and they 're-mapped the module' - whatever this means. This helped the problem for about two months, before it cam back. The car then went in for it's twelve month service (5500 miles), and they again waved their magic wand and remapped the module.
The car was again happy for 2000 - 3000 miles but the problem has since returned. It's now on 9000 miles and the hesitancy is very noticeable. I'm in a difficult situation now as the warranty from the car supermarket has expired and I don't want to keep returning to the main-dealer every few months to have this temporary fix applied. At some point, the car will be out-of-warranty with Ford and I guess that this temporary fix will then start to cost my money.
Help - what should I do??
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I am not an expert on these engines, but I know that they can suffer with intractable problems of hesitancy. There have been some very long-running threads on this issue (do a search). I gather that some people have ended up with the entire fuel system being replaced!
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I would write to Ford as this is a known problem. They will want engine and chassis numbers to identify the duild and hopefully they will direct you to a main dealer at there expense.
Regards
Peter
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Welcome to the club!
The truth is I dont know if there is an answer to this problem as yet.Some Tdcis have this problem - mine , a 52 reg now with 20k on the clock has had it quite severely at 1500 rpm and at 1800-2000 rpm as you describe. Some do not seem to have the problem at all. I have had two cars with the affliction- it first appeared with this car with just 7 miles on the clock. Like yours mine has been back many times for modifications and software upgrades. Like yours it usually is then fine for a few hundred miles before the problem returns.
Various attempts have been tried:
1-Ford have done a recall to upgrade the fuel filter from 5 microns to 2 microns- made quite a big difference- the misfire has never been quite as bad since.
2-Another recall covered faulty wiring on the fuel pressure sensor multiplug.
3-Also various software updates.
4-The latest fix is to download new mapping software and recalibrate each injector individually. Had this done a fortnight ago- as usual the problem dissapeared for a week but is now back albeit very mild so far but car is very jerky when cold for the first half mile on part throttle.
I am wondering whether it may be a case of the engine management learning the driving style and leaning the mixture too far- I have been advised by many on this site and on the Mondeo enthusiasts group site (www.fordmondeo.org) to red line it mercilessly and this problem will not occur.
The bottom line is its still a great car to drive and pulls my caravan better than any other I have ever owned. Mine comes out of warranty next week and will register my dissatisfaction again with my long suffering main dealer before the deadline.
Hope it helps a little to know you are not alone!
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Thanks all -
Plan of action then is to write to Ford, copying my local main dealer and the car supermarket who supplied the vehicle. I'll state the problem and remedial action so far. Hopefully they'll come back to me with a suitable plan of action. My main concerns going forward are that the car will quickly fall out of warranty cover (it is 3 years/60k, isn't it?) as I do 30k year, or, the remedial work will affect the fuel consumption of the car as I've read elsewhere.
Kurnal - I agree that it's a good car, but spoilt by this annoying fault.
I'll post any outcome.
Paul
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Spoke to my dealer today and he confirmed that there is a three year warranty- I was not sure because the warranty book describes it as one years warranty followed by two years insurance scheme, the basic version of which is free. So they do have plenty of time to fix the problem.
As far as economy is concerned many users are initially dissapointed but as the engine loosens up it seems to improve substantially- mine started at 38 mpg overall for the first 9000miles, then about 14k it jumped suddenly to 42mpg, another jump at 18k to 44mpg and I'm told this continues with another jump about 40k. (all brim to brim)
You know owning a ford is nothing if not entertaining!
If yours is an LX or zetec theres a brilliant upgrade to install a rear courtesy light on www.fordmondeo.org- I did it a couple of weeks ago and the difference is amazing.
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Cheers Kurnal. Just looking for the rear courtesy light upgrade now - sounds interesting. Mine's a Zetec and it sure is dark in the back!!
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I have a May 2002 Ghia X TDCi, I have a problem with starting every 6 or 8 weeks, along with the flashing glow plug light, though it always starts after four or five tries and never cuts out, also I occasionally notice the hesitancy at approx 1800rpm.
The dealer has advised to leave it alone because the problem is minor and further glitches can be introduced by attempting the software upgrade. Seems to me that this problem is more prevalent on late 2002/2003 models, I wonder if the spec was changed for 2003 model year.
Have any of you guys had a problem with clonking from off side front suspension / subframe / engine mounts, I first noticed this at 6000 miles (now 60000) and it has slowly got worse, the dealer has not been able to a find fault?
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