Sad Mondeo Newbie

[NigelDkent]

I realise it's bad forum etiquette for a newbie to arrive with their problem and say 'hey here’s my problem, help me!'. But in reality I doubt many of you want to hear how many kids I have or the name of my dog. But without getting gushy I genuinely do appreciate folks who frequent forums like this and spend time helping out people they will never meet.

So here's my problem..... please help me ;-)

On Tuesday I purchased a 2005 1.8 Mondeo (Mistral I think) from a dealer in the North.... I Iive down in Kent incidentally.... have one child... and my dog is called Rufus. All seemed good in the world, the car had only done 34K, had history to substantiate this and was in very very good condition. The downside is the previous owner (of 8 years) was averaging 2500K per year and was called Sydney. In my head Sydney is 60+, probably did/does short journeys and wears tartan slippers at home. None the less Sydney was proud of his car and it does show. He pretty much had it serviced when it should have been and everyone who has seen his former car (at my end) has so far been impressed. General consensus is a lot of car for the money.

The dealer I purchased the car from is the smaller independent sort rather than a large main Ford dealer. He has warranted the car for 1000 miles or one month (whichever comes sooner). At the same time I purchased the car I also took out an RAC Gold 1 year warranty through him.

As soon as I drove the car away (cold start) within 5 minutes it stalled as I approached a junction. Obviously alarm bells went off (in my head, not the car)... except I couldn't be 100% sure it wasn't poor clutch control on my behalf having come from a car that felt/drove completely different. So I started the car up (no problem there) and went on my way. The 200 mile journey back to Kent was faultless. The car didn't stall, splutter or do anything that hinted there was a problem.

The next morning I drove the car to work and.... yep it stalled once again within the first few minutes. But again after the initial stall it started up without issue and behaved perfectly for the rest of my journey. However this time I was sure it wasn't dodgy clutch control. I drove the car for another day and concluded that whenever the car is started from cold it stalls (once only) as you approach a junction all within the first 5 minutes. In fact if you really want to see what I mean...... and this is a bit sad I know.... I made this video this morning to illustrate the problem to the dealer who is 200 odd miles from me:

http://vimeo.com/67384806

Password: mondeo

You may want to go to 2 mins 20 secs and watch for 10 secs to see the stall scenario.

Realising there's was a significant problem, yesterday I had the Mondeo into a local Ford dealer to check it over. They did a full examination with engine diagnosis check. No fault codes came up but they did experience the stalling problem themselves whilst they had it. Their head chap told me they believe the culprit is the inlet manifold. He said they can't be 100% sure about this, but have had several Mondeos come through with this same issue over the years and in most cases it was the inlet manifold. He told me it would be around £500 to put right, £350 for the part plus labour.

Obviously I haven't gone ahead with the work since the car is warranted with the dealer in the North. But as you can imagine I am in a challenging scenario here. This afternoon I spoke with the dealer up north and told him what the Ford dealer was recommending. He is going to come back to me in the morning with possible ways forward. Obviously it will be expensive and time consuming to drive the car back to his dealership and then get a train back home and do the same in reverse once it is (hopefully) fixed.

As I really don't want to do make this round trip more than once, I need to be sure the problem is fixed. So what do you folks think? Firstly what you think is wrong with the car? In the last 24 hours I've read some troubling accounts in forums from people with similar issues. It seems some found different solutions.... but one or two had spent small fortunes on replacing bits that had not cured the problem. In fact the local Ford dealer told me if it wasn't the inlet manifold the next port of call was a new ECU and after that the wiring. We are talking very big bills if the problem is not located.

The other thing is how do I approach the situation with this dealer in the north? I want to be reasonable and hopefully just get the problem resolved. I realise it’s not his fault I live in Kent..... but equally it's not my fault he sold me a car with a fault. What do you folks feel is a fair way to approach this?

Just to give one or two extra bits of information that might be relevant I paid around £2150 for the car plus £140 for the RAC warranty. Also since using the car I've noticed the AC doesn't work (suspect it needs regasing) and there's a water leak in the boot.... which seems to be common on the Mk3 Mondeo and can be fixed by resealing the rear lights.

[jeebowhite]

First of all welcome and please do introduce yourself in the new members area. I must say you have given me a few giggles lol

I can see your reason for concern Agnes right now you're best bet is negotiation with the dealer up north he may pay for repairs down here to a limited value otherwise I would cite that you would bees looking for the cost of fuel to be reimbursed at least.

You have few options but you really need to start with a call to the dealer. Even if he can't help you did take out the warranty with the RAC so that should be sufficient cover for the repairs

[mintalkin]

i would check for any air leaks on the crankcase breather pipe, this can cause the cutting out problem also check any plastic connections.