I have just purchase an MK3 and have a few questions to see if what I am experiencing is normal as it's the first mondeo and first diesel I have driven.

1. My temperature needle never gets to the middle of the gauge, it normally sits about half way between bottom and center.

2. When coming down the slip road today, I was just speeding up in second when the car had a very slight stutter and carried on. Didn't have the issue again?

3. The gears aren't the easiest to get. I mean it's not hard but for first and second it feels like you have to put a bit more effort in and when they go in they do clunk a little.

Can anyone give me a little advice?

Hi and welcome.dose the temp increase if in traffic jam.have you tried a dial sweep where the dials go to full then drop back to see if their is not a faulty gauage.. It could be a faulty temp sensor being diesel theres 2 1 is on the cooler.

It could be the clutch on way out or selector cables need adjusting.. the clunk could be the gears engaging.do they select ok when engine off??

What age is the car?

The car is 2004 and after looking carefully at it, the gauge does make it to the middle, but very rarely stays there. I can't really test it at the moment because I do have the heaters on as it's so cold!

Also, this morning when the engine was still quite cold I was sitting at around 35 - 40mph in fourth gear and the car was juddering.

These cars tend to run cool/ take a lot of warming up, especially in cold tempratures with the heater on - that sounds just about normal

the temp gauge is taken off the sensor on the metal of the head -it is not the actual water temp

The gearchange can be "notchy" even when the car is new - the clutch is not adjustable - it can get worse with age and the juddering could be exessive play in the DMF (on its "way out")

The juddering only happens when I get to about 40mph and sitting steady within a rev range of about 1.5 - 2k in fourth gear. Very precise lol.

The car only judders slightly but when the car is warm then there's no juddering at all.

I was reading somewhere that someone meantioned it could be gunk on the EGR or Inlet Manifold. However, why would this dissapear with a warm engine?

The juddering only happens when I get to about 40mph and sitting steady within a rev range of about 1.5 - 2k in fourth gear. Very precise lol.

The car only judders slightly but when the car is warm then there's no juddering at all.

I was reading somewhere that someone meantioned it could be gunk on the EGR or Inlet Manifold. However, why would this dissapear with a warm engine?

Its non the gunk the EGR valve has deposited (this affects the entre rev range by "choking" the engine, not specific revs ) but the EGR valve actually working that does this - 1.5- 2k is the EGR operational zone if you ever herd apout the "flat spot" or "hesitation" thats what it is, the reason its in 4th is the load changes depending on the gear and its to do with the speed/ style you drive - eg you probably don't "redline" it through every gear

You might use more throttle after the car warms up (the EGR valve closes on full throttle/ you may "drive through" the flat spot if you accelerate through it) and the ECU changes the fuel- air mixture once the engine warms up - thats 2 reasons why it does not "judder" when the car is warm

There will be a flat spot in every gear between 1.5-2k, , not just 4th, you just have not noticed

Cleaning out the inlet manifold and blanking out the EGR (solid plate) will fix the flat spot and improve performance and economy