Sounds like a garage worth avoiding.

I had to call them again, after again being promised a call back with a quote and not getting one...

I was told it was my fault for not mentioning the radiator was faulty within the first 12 months and that the best price they can do for me as a favour is £150 all in.

Now I hope that means all in, and not additional vat afterwards, cos I agreed on the £150 'all in' price.

I was told it will be (and I am not making any of this up) 'Half done today and should be ready tomorrow'.

I was really really considering going elsewhere but as they know about my problem and had fitted the previous radiator it just seemed to make sense to keep it with them as they know the history behind the problem...

I hope I don't regret this because in all honesty I have almost zero confidence in them now.

 

 

Edit: Here's something else that happened... when I called an hour and a half ago I said...

'Hello, its Paul about the Mondeo'

I then received a mixed up message saying...

'Hello Paul, really sorry but we have fitted the wrong glow plugs' (or jets or something like that, they rattled on and I didn't understand it)

(forgive me if I got that wrong as I know next to nothing about cars)...

They confused me with a different customer... and clearly have screwed him up too.

 

 

 

Hope they sort it, thanks for the update

I couldn't resist a quick call to see if things had moved on at all in the 5 hours since I gave them the go ahead to do the job.

The radiator has now arrived at the garage (no idea if its the correct radiator as you may recall they ordered in the wrong one three times before they got it right last time).

I was told that I am the 'first job in the morning' and that work had not started on my car yet... but 'It should be done by about 11am'.

I couldn't resist a bit of sarcasm so I said 'Ok, I will call about 1pm and see where we are'.

I will update as and when...

Might be 2 Pauls with broken Mondeo's there...common car and name lol.  But yeah, I'm not sure I'd use them again tbh!

Good luck for tomorrow!

To be honest I don't know if the other Paul had a Mondeo, as I said 'Hello its Paul about the Mondeo' I could hear the girl shouting 'It's Paul...'

...Then the mechanic started to apologise to me about some wrong plugs or other he had fitted.

But yea... common as muck :)

Got the car back.

The coolant is a disgusting colour, the mechanic said he had flushed it several times but some ATF will remain.

The main thing I am noticing is I am now hearing a water trickling noise as I accelerate, it does not sound like bubbling, but more like trickling water from behind the dash area, can only hear it when I am pulling away.

Also, not sure if it is related but when I turn on my heater (to any setting) I hear a funny noise for a spilt second, difficult to explain it accuratey, heater works fine other than that.

Any ideas please?

Yes it's all related, the coolant system hasn't been bled properly...

Sorry but how do you mean exacty?

Yesterday they fitted the new radiator and he said he flushed the system twice... is this different to bleeding the system?

Edit: Just called the garage and they said drop it in right away and someone will look at it...

Yes flushing is different to bleeding, flushing is just draining and putting a hose in to 'flush' all the old stuff out (which they haven't done properly either if it's still a funny colour lol).  But after flushing and refilling the air needs to be bled out of the system (same as bleeding radiators in a house).

It 'might' sort itself out in a few days of driving though.  I really wouldn't use that garage any more.

I just got back from the garage and explained about the water noise, he looked a bit a confused but then looked at the car, my coolant was now sat on the minimum mark (was on the max when I collected the car yesterday) he said it had probably settled now... but I will keep an eye on that like a hawk as it never fluctuated before the ATF fluid leak.

I did ask him about bleeding and asked if this was different from flushing and he said yes, he then said that Fords self bleed themselves and the air finds its way out or something like that.

Also when I asked him how much ATF he topped up with he said...  ''About 2 litres,  its basically the same stuff as power steering fluid.''

Does all of that sound acceptable to you?

Yes that sounds ok.  Although they should self bleed you're still meant to run them until it settles ideally, sounds like that has sorted itself out now though.

ATF and power steering fluid are essentially the same yes, it's all just hydraulic fluid.

Ok thank you, I was just asking as it sounded like he had topped up my gearbox with power steering fluid by the way he said it, so I was making sure that it wouldn't have been harmful if he did.

On the way home today I put the gear box into 'Sport' and had a little fun... I have only used 'Sport' a handful of times before, but I wanted to listen for water trickle noises and the way the gear box holds onto the gears longer in 'S' mode would have highlighted that easier, dang the thing can move... I really love this car and I am not ready to give up on it yet, it owes me nothing to be fair.

As I only use the car 3 times per week I wont know how things are until probably at least middle of next week, or this time next week... but I will post back to say if I have any fluid fluctuations or not, and if there are any further water trickling noises too.

I really hope this is the end of that now, the car has only done 74k, this is by far the worst issue I have had in 6 years of ownership and I just want it over with.

Edit: Sounds like I am advertising it a bit there lol... which I assure you I am not... I would not want a different car that I don't know the first thing about its history and to go through all of this again... just to be clear on that :)

 

Well the car had been running great since the radiator was changed and the coolant topped up, the level had stayed the same, no issues at all, until about 1 hour ago...

I was coming home from shopping and I saw some smoke seeping from under the bonnet, I looked at the temp gauge and it was static in its usual 'cool' position, so as I was 1.5 miles from home I kept driving and watching the temp gauge... there was only 1 brieft stop in the 1.5 miles and when I stopped for a second I could see smoke was still seeping out from under the bonnet with a horrible smell to it...

So I pull up at home (the temp gauge still hadn't moved) and I popped the bonnet, the first thing I could see was water all over the engine then I noticed my coolant chamber was below the minimum and steam was wafting out... then I noticed the big hose that connects to the engine had a 1 inch split in it on the top...

So I have somehow split a hose (how?) and I hope not done any other damage (?) I also do not know what I am supposed to do next as I cannot drive the car as it is.

Please help.

 

Well the hose needs replacing before you drive it any distance.  You may be able to tape it up just to get to a local garage if needed.

As the temp gauge didn't show any over-heating I doubt any further damage will have been caused.

The hose might have just been old, and weakened during the rad change.  Or there may be too much pressure in the cooling system, possibly due to a faulty radiator cap, can be a sign of headgasket failure but I really doubt its that in your case.

Its just one thing after another at the moment and all in the same area of the car...

This week I checked all my fluids, everything was fine, I removed the oil cap, no white gunk in it.. I do that every now and then as a precaution.

How exactly would I tape it up please?

 

I was thinking of something water proof to go over the spilt in the hose and then just wrap the hose up with loads and loads of insulating tape?

The garage is about 1.5 miles away...

Yeah just use your imagination really, maybe cut an old plastic bottle to wrap round and tape over, or roll a bit of cling film round if there's space.  Any tape will work if you use  enough, duct tape would be better than insulation tape but whatever you've got to hand.  It probably won't be fully water tight so take some water for the drive over and just make sure it doesn't overheat.

I did as you said... used cling film and then some aluminium sticky tape I had and just wrapped it as best as I could and as tight as I could and then topped up the coolant above the max (just in case I lost some early on) and drove the 1.5 miles...

The coolant level was still in the same place when I got there, probably could have gone shopping first it was a good job ;)

Any way, I was told as the breather pipe spilt was not the end by the radiator that it is not covered in the warranty which is understandable.

Price I was quoted was £54 all in supplied/fitted, will be done tomorrow afternoon I was told.

When I think about it, the pipe might have been 'folded' up away to make room to remove the radiator and this would have creased the part that split, if that makes sense... it would explain one possible way how this happened, really hope it is nothing else that caused it.

Haha, you're obviously good at bodges!  

I reckon you're probably right about the pipe being folded, I'd have done the same to remove the rad.  They do get brittle and weaker over time though, if it's the original one from 2000 it's done well.