Ok.Just tell him not to be fooled if his engine suddenly starts to run more smoothly than it used to.Paradoxically this can happen just before the big seizure&blow-up!!

That’s ridiculous for an exhaust back-box! I thought Land Rover parts were expensive, until I met Ford, Citroën et al.

The saying "you can polish a turd and put it in a box, but it's still a turd in a box" expresses my contempt pretty accurately with regard to this ABS unit. It’s a rather expensive mass-produced turd though. IIRC £1100 of the £1300 was material cost of the part. It’s pretty obvious from this, I think, that Ford are making a huge mark-up.

I suspect the difference between a Ford Teves mk 60 unit and a VW Teves mk 60 unit, for example, is few bits set in memory locations of the embedded computer system to inform the unit of the specification of the vehicle it is inteded to be installed in. For my Focus you can’t buy it from anywhere other than Ford. I suspect this is the same for other manufacturers.

My point here is at least you have the choice of aftermarket parts when it comes to items such as exhausts. The options with the Teves mk60; a) get it repaired (potentially by a bunch of cowboys? (BBA reman etc) b) get a new replacement. I try to do the responsible thing bearing in mind that it’s brakes. So option b). Thus, no choice but to buy it from Ford. It’s probably anti-trust; unfortunately I don’t have time to fight the world.

p.s. £1100 +VAT = £1292.50 + cost of fitting. Yes, slightly more expensive. Doesn’t make ABS unit look cheap though! Looking on the bright side though, at least I got a nice box for my turd, you would’ve just got a box made of turd. ;-)

Talk to the last keeper.

Spam serves a useful purpose, in providing something to laugh at with its unusual spellings and grammar.

C5 are pretty reliable, you can get odd niggly faults but they rarely break down, the suspension is simply unbeatable for load carrying and is practically maintenance free these days. Make sure you get a higher end model and not a basic steel-sprung one! The diesel engines are the same as those fitted to the Mondeo.

I put 600Kg of bricks, sand and cement in the back of my C5, the guy at Wickes came running up to warn me not to drive off (back of car literally on floor) I winked at him and started her up - level in seconds - you simply cannot feel the weight when driving. The Wickes guy looked very impressed!

Of course what I did was wrong on two parts, 1) I probably shouldn't carry that much weight in a passenger car. 2) I should have loaded the car with the engine running, letting it rest on the bump stops whilst overladen could have damaged the suspension spheres. Still they are quick and cheap to replace - not that they need replacing very often. Mine are still fine after 7 years of abuse.

I'll concur with most of above - modern Mercs are rubbish - always going wrong. Shame, coz they look nice at last.