Argh! This Flippin' Car!!! :/

[BigD]

Went to pick my daughter up from school today, REALLY hot here. So while my wife went into school I'm sat in the car with the air con on, or so I thought.

"That doesn't feel very cold", I thought to myself. Put the window down and could hear the compressor clicking on and off. EXACTLY the same problem I had last year, when the radiator fan turned out to be stone dead. So I got out and had a look, sure enough, the fan is just sitting there, oblivious to the fact that it should be spinning away like a top.

OK, so it's no massive deal to fix. I'll just get a scrap one, like before, and see how long that lasts - only problem is one of the bolts on the mounting bracket is seized on, so I'll have to man-handle it out of the top, past all the hoses again. Unfortunately, I've had so many problems with the car, I am completely and utterly pig sick of both spending money on it, and lying on my back underneath the damn thing.

Cannot wait til business picks up a bit and I can get rid of it. Don't think I'll be getting another Ford after this.

Edited September 5, 2013 by jeebowhite
Removed a few choice words!

[BigD]

Apparently the censors are on overtime, and describing something covered in blood as being "!Removed!", is not acceptable. Ho hum. :)

[jeebowhite]

Removed a few choice words from the thread and title, whilst I appreciate something covered in !Removed! is blood'y its all about context and we like to keep the forums clean and family friendly (U Rated!)

Dose the bolt in WD40 and repeat this several times over a few hour period, to help it try and release the bolt's hold a little bit, then this might allow you to remove it!

seems like you have had a few bad experiences with it, so can understand your lack of trust in the brand!

[BigD]

Thanks for the reply - I did the WD40 thing last time (left it overnight, in the end). It would not budge. But despite what the Haynes manual says, it was actually not that difficult to get it out from the top.

Anyway... this is my 6th Ford (Escort, Fiesta, Mondeo, Escort, Focus, this Mondeo) and apart from the fuel pump on the Focus failing which cost me a fortune, I've not had any major issues with the previous five cars. Fortunately I'm not scared of getting my hands dirty otherwise my current car would have cost me a fortune in garage bills.

Just priced a new fan, and I'm looking at £400 from Ford O_O. Think I'll plump for another £30 one from the scrappie.

Just a quick Q though - there are a few different types of fan - is it possible to replace just the fan motor from a different rad fan? I'm fairly conversant with a soldering iron if need be, as I might have trouble getting one that's a straight swap.

[BigD]

Well, just been in the garage and pulled the fan out. Pulled one of the retaining bolts out in the process and it landed on the splash panel underneath - took me longer to get that back than it did to pull the radiator. :/

Anyway, crux of the matter is that the fan is running, but is very laboured/slow (you can almost count the rpm) and making a sort of grinding noise. It is definitely kaput.

Got a few short runs to do in the car tomorrow so I'll just run it with the fan off, since it isn't going to do anything anyway. I put a bag over the power connector to keep the water out, and tie-wrapped it to the battery housing, out of the way. It'll do til I can get to a scrappie to source a replacement. Going to rain tomorrow, so, maybe monday.

[jeebowhite]

Dont see why you couldnt run a new motor to it, but you might end up putting more weak points into it and so I couldnt say you could do it and with success.

Best bet is to get one from a scrappy if its cheaper, and just see what you can do with it.

[BigD]

Got a new fan this morning (well, a scrap one) for £30, tested it, all good. Re-tested the old one with the new module to be double sure, and it's still dead.

Started to gently man-handle the new fan in from above, and everything was going great until it got caught on the header tank return and ripped the connector clean off the radiator - and peed water and coolant all over the garage floor until the header tank was empty. Now I need a new radiator and I just cannot be bothered any more, so it's gone off to the garage on the back of a lorry. Really just felt like pushing it out onto the drive and setting fire to it.

[stooge75]

theyre a nightmare at times eh

[jeebowhite]

Not much fun! hopefully your not going to have an expensive trip tot he dealer. But I think if I was you, I probably would have set fire to the bleedin thing!

[BigD]

Garage just called and it's going to cost me in the region of £300 to get it sorted, so, costly error. They'll earn their money trying to get the radiator support brackets off, hence why I was trying to get it out topside.

The other thing is they can't do it til Monday. Thankfully I'm paying for courtesy car cover with Green Flag (I live in the middle of nowhere so NOT having a car isn't an option), so I might as well make use of it, although I can only have it for two days so if I need it longer, I'll end up paying extra. Just waiting for Enterprise to call us to arrange it now. Probably end up with something [edit] that wouldn't be my first choice of vehicle [/edit] like a Kia Picanto, but as long as I can do the school run Monday is doesn't matter so much.

Beer o'clock.

[jeebowhite]

Heres hoping it comes back a better beast and that you get something usable to drive.

[BigD]

....aaaaand relax!

I did say I'd never have another Ford - truth is, I'd have another Focus like a shot. I had mine (51 plate TDDI) for over eight years, and it barely gave me any trouble other than the fuel pump dying, which was very costly and it was well over 150k when that happened. I only got rid because we needed a hatch (it was a saloon) to get the dog in, and it had just over 160k on the clock.

To be fair to the Mondeo, it's a great car - it's just, little things keep breaking, that shouldn't. An electric fan motor is the simplest device ever and should be rock solid, yet I'm on my third in 18 months. We've done trips to Scotland in it, 2,000 miles in two weeks, and it never missed a beat.

As for not being able to get the mounting bracket off, what I really need (and never get around to buying) is an impact driver. That'd shift it.

The radiator getting bust today was completely my fault. I was careful, but not careful enough.

[BigD]

I got a phone call from the garage this morning saying the car was fixed. \o/

He said he'd managed to bond the outlet back onto the radiator, and it was only going to cost £40 instead of £300. Picked the car up soon after.

I forget what he said he'd used to reattach it (one of those super-strong araldite-a-like things), but the upshot was that it would be just as strong as before, if not stronger. Drove it back from the garage and everything's fine. Being a little wary, as we drive a lot, I looked into picking up a spare rad, just in case, and discovered there were two types. So I went to have a look which type I had, and that's when I got the shock of my life.

The radiator fan, which WAS in the boot when it went to the garage, was now in the engine bay, but it wasn't attached to the radiator. It was just stood on the radiator mounts. And also, they hadn't put the plug in fully. If water had got into the connector it could have caused all manner of problems. For me, this could have dropped out of the car onto the road at any time.

I've bolted it back onto the radiator and plugged it in correctly. What if it had been somebody who only knows how to drive a car and put petrol in it??

Which brings me nicely onto the repair - it looks a mess. It's bone dry, not leaking, but it's ugly. I still don't have confidence in it, and don't want to be going up the motorway when it decides to go pop.

I'm off to pick up a new radiator Monday, then it'll be up on the ramps Monday night once the school run is over.

I had booked an MOT at the same garage for Tuesday, but Monday I'll be ringing up to cancel that.

I can honestly say I've never in my life seen such a half-assed job done on a car.

[FOCA]

I have a brand new lightweight (2kgs) kit car racing fan that i bought for my Mondeo that i did not use - its still in the box

I wonder where the £400 comes from that Ford wants for a new fan?

Ive had my Mondeo 8+ years and i am very happy with it, it is very reliable and just gets faster as time goes on

[BigD]

The price I got was from here: http://www.fordpartsuk.com/shop/ford_mondeo_engine_cooling_motor_and_fan_2005-2007_f_1437591_c_658.htm

£337.19 + VAT = £404.63