Hi all.

First post so please be gentle!!

I recently purchased a 2002 '02 plated Ford Mondeo TDDI Ghia 115BHP. 1 lady owner, full service history, 122,000 miles on the clock.

Test drove it and it drove lovely, pulled nicely, no funny engine noises, suspension knocks. Everything was working perfectly. So i purchased it.

Drove about 60 miles that day in it and noticed that the radiator fan was coming on whilst driving, which I thought was odd, considering the thermostat was showing a normal temperature setting. The day after I drove abut 5 miles and all of a sudden I saw the thermostat rising up very quickly. It got to the top of the red in about 2 seconds so I whacked the heater on to maximum, strangely no hot air at all and pulled over and stopped the engine. Opened up the engine bay, expecting to see steam or smoke or something but there were no visible signs of overheating. I sat there for about 15 mins waiting for the engine to cool and decided to limp home.

When i got home I checked the coolant reservoir. It was completely empty so i filled it up with coolant and water mix and set off for a drive, after the engine had time to rest. The car was significantly different to drive. Much smoother and the MPG's rose a bit to 38, which for a diesel, in my opinion, is a bit poor!

I got home looked under the car and notices a constant flow of pink coolant leaking out the bottom of the car. I rang the dealer who i purchased it from the morning after and told him i wasn't happy at all and he said that a stone had probably split a pipe and that as i had test driven it with no problems it must have happened on the day i got it, he booked it in to his mechanic that does all his cars and said we'd get it sorted. He also told me he used the car for two weeks because it was such a nice runner. (Somehow i think he's lying a tad) Luckily my dad has a pit so it took it there last night to have a look and we've narrowed it down to leaking around the water pump. I'm confident i can change this myself so will look in to how much the parts cost. Water pump, inlet manifold gaskets and water pump gasket are the parts needed for this job.

You can imagine i'm a tad annoyed at this, only the day after i bought it. I didn't check the coolant level when i drove it, as i thought that dealers would probably make sure all fluid levels were topped up as good practice. I did look under the car during the test drive and there was no dripping, so i can only assume it was empty whilst i was driving it. The dealer thinks otherwise.

What are my options here? Should I pursue making him pay for it as it has clearly been leaking for ages as there was a slight rusty-ness to parts of the engine that had been coated in it, or is it unlikely he will?

How much for a Water pump, water pump gasket and inlet manifold gaskets?

Lastly. What are people getting as MPG's from their 2002 115BHP TDDI engines? I feel 38 is not good enough and how can i improve this figure?

Sorry for the long post, but i wanted to give you all as clear a picture as possible.

Kind regards.

Andy.

Hi Andy,

Have a word with garage and tell him if he pays for parts you will fit them as although you didn't see a prob with it when you bought it the rust say's different.

I find that the mondeo mpg varies quite a bit, i know of some that do nigh on 50mpg and some doing 35-38 mpg..

The tddi tends to be a better engine than the tdci as you don't get injector code probs.

See what your mpg is like after you have drove it for a while, if it's still low have a think about a remap.. transforms your car!

Have a look on my website and read info on remapping andy... hope you get it sorted ok. :)

Thank-you for the reply.

I rang him earlier and told him my findings. He said he'd let me know what the parts cost and that the garage he uses charges him £35 per hour for labour so he'll only charge me that. In my opinion it's about an hours work for me and my dad together, so a garage may well be less time than that. I'd hope so anyway!

He said he'd sort out a deal for me like 50/50 each for the cost or something so that's a good start.

I've had a look at your site. What would the cost be for me? Is just a basic re-map all that may be necessary as a start? I clicked on the "chip" link and my car isn't listed......Lastly. I also own a Ford Galaxy, can this be done to that also?

Regards.

Andy.

i just got a td estate the log book does not tell me much i also am suspecting i have probs on the way and have a coolant fan on all the time mine is holding coolant though so will be keeping a eye on this post and especially the re map issue... i would love to know how to tell if my 02 plate is 115 or 130

i just got a td estate the log book does not tell me much i also am suspecting i have probs on the way and have a coolant fan on all the time mine is holding coolant though so will be keeping a eye on this post and especially the re map issue... i would love to know how to tell if my 02 plate is 115 or 130

Hi lewis, look on the offside of the engine and there should be a small plate or sticker that tells you what it is, ie: 115/130

steve

Hi andy whereabouts are you?

yes we can do your car they dont list it on website because the tuning tool they use doesn't read early fords but i have one that only reads ford ecu's...:) petrol or diesel..

what year is the galaxy?