Hi Everyone,

I have a mondeo '65 plate which I thought had a leaking crankshaft rear oil seal but its turned out to be a oil leak from the gasket of the high pressure fuel pump.  I have done some research on this and it seems quite a common problem in the 2 litre diesel engines.  I also read that when the gaskets are replaced they do not last and tend to leak again? 

Can someone tell me please how difficult the job is as the pump is at the back of the engine and whether or not its a costly job?

Thank you in advance for all replies received.

 

See my recent thread here with a writeup on how to do it on the Kuga with the same engine as yours. The process is the same, there may be just some minor differences with your windscreen scuttle panel. Alan Howett has some youtube videos covering this as well (his are on the mondeo) which are useful - link in my thread.

If you have the neccesary tools (there isn't anything specialist on the list, it's mostly 1/4" sockets and some extensions) then the cost to do it is about £16 for the gaskets and O-ring you need from Ford directly (part numbers in the thread too), and about 3-4h of your time depending on how speedy you are. If you owned literally zero tools and had to buy everything to do it I still think you could do it for less than £100.

Like you, I read about these gaskets unfortunately being a recurrent source of failure, sometimes as early as 30k miles after replacement. I put some gasket dressing/sealant on my new gaskets when I installed them in the hope that might help them last a bit longer but only time will tell. If it goes again in 30k then I will gladly spend another £16 and do it again.

I would say it is a moderately difficult job, 6.5/10. It isn't rocket surgery but it isn't just a simple car job. In practice it is just unbolting the thing and bolting it back on, but mostly the issue is that access is a bit fiddly and you need to get your tools into some awkward spaces. If you've only ever done an oil change on your car you might find it to be a bit difficult (although still possible if you set aside enough time and patience), but if you've done a little bit of work on cars before then I don't see why anyone couldn't do it.

I have no idea how much it would cost to have done by a garage. They might want to just replace the whole fuel pump which might be £££ or they might be happy to just do the gaskets but I still expect you would be looking upwards of £500. I might be grossly underestimating or overestimating that figure as I have no idea what a garage would charge.

Thanks Sam for the excellent advice on how to do this myself.  As you say, the pump is in a very tricky and awkward position but thanks to your pictures and rthe video, I may be able to try and do the job myself.  I was quoted £160 per hour by Ford main agents to do the job which is outragious to say the least as it could take 2 - 3 hours to do the job!  Most garages charge about £40 - £60 per hour which is much more reasonable I guess.  I appreciate the fact that all these places have high overheads but I think £160 an hour is well over the top!  In my honest opinion, anyway!

There is some mild crank case pressure -  when loosed, the oil filler cap wobbles slightly as engine ticks over but no signs of obvious smoke visible.  The PCV valve may be clogged up I guess.  Car done 122 k miles. 

I do not think that fitting a new High Pressure Fuel Pump would make any difference as my car starts easy and drives well.  I had a Ford Transit Mk8 with the 2 litre diesel engine and that had done 225k miles and never had any issues with the high pressure fuel pump on there.  I never checked the crank case pressure but the engine ran very well despite the high mileage. 

I will update you soon. 

Cheers Sam

You don't need to fit a new pump to sort out this issue. The high pressure fuel pump leaking oil has nothing to do with the function of the fuel pump itself. It occurs when the gaskets between the engine and the drive unit (which the fuel pump bolts on to, or the gasket between the drive unit and the engine fail. The actual fuel pump itself is unaffected, therefore the issue does not cause problems with the car starting or with the car driving.

Theoretically the failing gasket should only cause a load of oil to be sprayed out, rather than any dysfunction of the fuel pump. The breach to the gasket could, of course, result in pressure loss into different compartments - i'm not sure about whether it could give you crank case pressure specifically.

What I am trying to say is that to repair the issue with the gaskets spraying out oil, the fuel pump itself doesn't need to be replaced, just the gaskets that hold it (and the drive unit) to the engine.

Thanks... It has been suggested that I call in at a local garage tomorrow just to assess the crank case pressure .  As I say, there's no smoke when i remove the oil filler cap but there is some mild blowing.  I think the concern is that the replcement high pressure pump gasket may blow again if the  crank case pressure was excessive.  In my opinion I don't think it is anywhere near bad enough to blow a gasket!  I am unsure if the diesel engine in my car has a PCV valve which may be clogged up or whether the breather system needs attention.  Perhaps you can advise or someone else on here can advise, maybe?  It was also suggested that the crank pressure may be caused by an injector?? I don't know enough to comment why that would cause this. 

The car drives very well and I will be surprised if this issue with the leaking gasket is linked to engine wear.  Car has done 122k miles with full service history. 

Thanks Sam

The gaskets leaking isn't due to crankcase pressure build up, but poor gaskets as such. Very common issue.