Hello all
I have a 97R Mondeo hatch and I noticed the other day that some bright spark who worked on the car before I got it used a standard trolley jack to lift up the car at the jacking points on the sills.
These are indicated by arrows stamped into the sill itself.
Whats happened is because they didnt use the right tool the sill edge has been bent twice into a sort of U shape,where the edges of the trolley jack head were.
Has anyone else experienced this? I know that garages use these as standard but surely the sills should be strong enough to support the car on the trolley jack? Or do I have to insist they use the manufacturer supplied jack when I get a puncture.
Also the car lost its front windscreen washers last week-I went back to the garage and they reattached the hose under the washer bottle for free.One of the guys I work with has a V reg zetec mondeo and this happened to him as well.Is this common for mondeos?(I did have a look at the car by car breakdown but couldnt find anything on it).
Thanks
John
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John Wall wrote:
>
> Hello all
> I have a 97R Mondeo hatch and I noticed the other day that
> some bright spark who worked on the car before I got it used
> a standard trolley jack to lift up the car at the jacking
> points on the sills.
> These are indicated by arrows stamped into the sill itself.
> Whats happened is because they didnt use the right tool the
> sill edge has been bent twice into a sort of U shape,where
> the edges of the trolley jack head were.
> Has anyone else experienced this? I know that garages use
> these as standard but surely the sills should be strong
> enough to support the car on the trolley jack? Or do I have
> to insist they use the manufacturer supplied jack when I get
> a puncture.
>
Yes, this happened to me when I trusted a local garage to check my rear brakes. As I didn't spot the damage for a couple of weeks (and it would have been hard to prove blame anyway), all I could do was touch up the paintwork damage as the bare metal was showing.
I am convinced these places don't give a toss about damaging customers cars like this, and your suggestion of making sure they use the supplied jack (and actually checking they do) is the only real way of avoiding this.
I now do absolutey all that I can myself maintenence wise on my car - if you can't trust a garage to jack a car correctly, how can you trust them to do anything right??
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My dear wife's Volvo was damaged by jacking; not on the sills/cills but the actual box-sections under the floor.
She had two tyres fitted and then went to another garage for an MOT. Tester found the damage. Both box sections bent.
We could not "prove "it was the tyre fitter even though it could be seen that the damage was fresh.
Having thought I had found a trustworthy tyre fitter, I am now up the creek again.
As you say: who can we trust?
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seem to remember that inappropriate use of the trolley jack on an Austin Allegro resulted in a distorted shell and a rear windscreen on the back seat.
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Michael,
Not sure about the rear jacking points, but in my dim and distant youth some friends and I hired an Allegro (yes, OK, no jokes please) in order to follow the RAC rally round Wales as spectators. After leaving one car park (a very roughly ploughed field) we soon suffered a broken front screen. Had it replaced at the roadside, costs reimbursed by hire co. Some months later we learned in the pub one night that the same car had suffered four more windscreen failures in as many months. Turns out the welds at the base of both 'A' frames were broken, presumabely by the roasting it had got over the ploughed field.
Ashamed to say we claimed ignorance, and blamed good old BL !!
Regards, Adam
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The washer bottle fault is very common on Mondeos and because the undertray has to be partially unscrewed to push the pipe back on it's a b*****d of a job. Two things cause the pipe to come off. One is silt in the washer bottle. But the more common reason is a kink in the pipe where it passes from the inner wing to the inside of the bonnet. It really needs a plastic arc to prevent it kinking here. That said, touch wood, it is the only thing that has gone wrong with my cheap auction bought Mondeo in 34 months, which ain't bad at all these days.
HJ
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Jacking a car with a rear H frame (Golf, Meastro etc) on the H frame in the wrong place will cause the rear wheel and suspension alignment to be knocked out of true.
Many (not all) tyre fitters seem to be college rejects etc and have little or no mechanical knowledge or sympathy.
David
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Many cars have a jacking point along the sill that will lift the whole of one side. I've heard some people express surprise that this isn't damaging. Far from it, this gives an even lift rather than raising one corner and twisting the body.
I use a load spreading wooden pad on my trolley jack as the standard cup (as seen in the tyre dealers) is excellent at leaving its imprint.
David
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Beware jacking Rover 200 400 series on the chassis under front seats. The chassis is glued or stuck on with some sort of mastic, and it comes apart leaving a great lump in the floor! One of my students did it last year.
Nike
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I use Hi Q tyres and they always seem to carefully check where they place the jack. They don't mind you entering the worsksop and watching either
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