Vehicle: 51 1.8 Mondeo (New Shape), 106,000 miles.
Vehicle has a distictive top end chatter, especially worse at idle, I was thinking loose timing chain? Does anyone have any experience of this on these vehicles, up and till now it has been a very capable and reliable workhorse.
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This engine does not have hydraulic tappets therefore requires a periodic valve clearance check, perhaps requires adjusting.
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The Duratec chain driven petrol units 1.8, 2.0 and 2.3 the latter which is not presently available in the UK are not designed for the long haul. They were built on a very tight budget in the Far East and are cheaper to manufacturer than the Zetec-E units that they replaced. One of the cost cutting exercises was not including hydraulic tappets. A number of engine failures have been reported in the US especially the 2.0 and the 2.3.
The Duratec is a fine unit to own with its near perfect weight distribution and relatively compact design but as the mileage grows the confidence unfortunately does disappear. The Zetec-E units regularly achieved well over 200k miles with just the basic prescribed maintenance however many owners especially in the US have had engine failures in much lower mileages with the Duratec. I would not be happy running one of these engines after 120k miles.
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This does not concur anything I have heard / read previously and will only serve to cause unnecessary concern to the OP.
The fact that these engines have a chain as opposed to a belt is a clear indication that they were built with longevity in mind, additionally is is cheaper to build an iron block engine however the Duratec is all alloy so clearly cost was not the only factor in design terms.
Perhaps there have been one or two failures in the US though equally there are a number of 2000/2001 200k plus minicabs going strong in the UK.
I suggest that the OP has a dealer listen to the engine just to be sure that it is the tappets and not the chain that is noisy then have valve clearances checked. Many miles of (quieter) trouble free motoring should follow.
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One or two failures! Many people in the US are very unhappy with the longevity of the unit. The forums and general owners comments have suggested a higher proportion of failures than have been noticed with previous Ford engine offerings. As already stated the Mazda designed and constructed Duratec is a fine modern engine but the mass market longevity of the unit is still a concern especially in the US.
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It could be the valve in the inlet manifold, quite common apparently.
More infomation here www.fordmondeo.org/forum/showtopic.php?tid/710230/
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To Carl - Caterham use the 2.3 Duratec as a base for their new Cosworth tweaked CSR model. A reliable 260 horsepower, not too peaky and by all accounts bombproof.
The Zetec and Duratec units have a fantastic reputation here in the UK. Tuneable, reliable and capable of big mileages if properly looked after.
I think part of the problem might be that our idea of high mileage and an American's idea of high mileage are quite different. Here, a lot of people still (incorrectly in my opinion) consider a 100,000 mile car to be high mileage, whereas I've been in loads of cars Stateside with over 200,000 on the clock. One (a Lincoln Town Car if I remember correctly) had 325,000 on it. That's almost unheard of here.
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Thanks guys, I'll give it a go ASAP, hopefully this is the problem, & not a sinister timing chain gremlin.
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We had the car sorted a couple of weeks ago. Turned out to be fanbelt idler wheel, and tensioner assy. Now quiet as mouse.
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