Hoping for some help here if anyone can?!

I've just bought a cheap 2001 2.0 Auto Zetec Mondeo On Tuesday which is not without it's issues! The first one I noticed just after picking it up, driving absolutely fine, and was going up a long hill, only about a 30 degree angle, to a roundabout. When it was clear I put my foot down as it's a busy roundabout-got halfway across and the power just died, despite putting my foot flat to the floor. By this time I'm on about a 10 degree hill, just a very slight incline and chugging along at 20mph-foot planted. Pulled over, waited 10 sec, selected 1st gear and pulled away again, dropped into 2nd gear then Drive and it seemed to be ok, petrol guage was a little low so went straight to the garage and put £20 in, seemed all ok after this so assumed fuel guage was inaccurate and was maybe low on petrol.

The next day all seemed fine until the evening when I turned into a road which has a hill of about 45 degree incline. Doing about 15-20mph, I go to put my foot down to power up the hill and the same thing happens, barely breaks 20mph and struggles up the hill, jerking and chugging. Once at the top of the hill, all seems fine again.

Then last night the same again! Any DIY suggestions or have I been sold a proper lemon?!

Second issue is the remote keyfob, if I try and lock the car you can hear the central locking engage then immediately disengage again leaving the car unlocked. I then have to put the key in the drivers door and turn as if to unlock it then turn back the other way to lock the car-this is the only way it locks all the doors & hatch.

Sorry it's a bit long winded, but find the more info given the better!

Hi Wayne,

First off I would be looking to replace the fuel filter. This time of year and on older cars specifically this can cause a lot of issues.

Secondly, I would be looking to get a code reader on the car. as its a 2001, if you have the OBD port (I am sure you will) if you get yourself an "F-Super" and the "Formidable" software, you should be able to check for error codes.

If it drives ok the rest of the time, but not when going uphill, I think it probably will be the fuel filter, as it suggests the fuel delivery is not there on demand when its needed.

As for the central locking, do all doors definitely lock with the key? Have you checked the fuses for the door lock modules?

Thanks for a quick reply James!

Looking through the threads that seems to be a popular one, I'll pick one up later and try this. I'll try the F Super as well if the problem persists.

With regards to the central locking, yes all 4 doors and hatch lock with the key, but only if I turn clockwise 1/4 turn first before turning anti clockwise to lock. If I just start turning anti clockwise only the drivers door locks! I've not checked the fuse modules, I'll add that to my list!

Thanks for the suggestions, fingers crossed!

The quarter turn sounds a strange issue, but then again it might be the correct process. Try just turning anticlockwise twice, and see if that locks the car.

If the remote is locking then unlocking, it sounds like there is a wiring fault, but if that is bypassed by the key, then it suggests the fault may be with the remote central locking module itself. Also will be worth disconnecting the battery for an hour, and then reconnecting it, that should reset all systems, and see if the issue persists. You will likely need your radio code!

I had the central locking fault aswell it turned out to be the unlock micro switch in the key fob had burnt out. i paid about £3 off ebay for a set of 3 micro switches and fitted them myself into the key fob.

All good ideas, I'll try these! Radio code is fine, can get that no problem.

Thinking it may be the module at fault, sat at work here and the alarm went off for no reason about an hour ago, checked the car, no problems, so locked it up again. Then just now I've seen the hazards flashing so it's gone off again-left it unlocked for now, on a secure ind estate and have nothing worth stealing inside! The gremlins seem to be growing......

Next time the alarm goes off, put the key in and see if the warning light comes on for open door or bonnet. I wonder if the bonnet switch is playing up

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

That would potentially make a lot of sense, driving the other night the open door light was on, even though I checked all doors etc. I'll give it a go.

As far as the 'going uphill' problem is concerned, I'd like to be sure you've got 'nose pointing up' separated from 'foot hard on the accelerator'. So, you'd want to try firm pressure on the accelerator, with the car either level or pointing slightly downhill.

Assuming that iit only happens with the nose pointing up, I'd suspect something in the fuel tank that is inhibiting fuel pick-up. If true, this could be a right pain. Not necessarily an expensive pain, but a pain, all the same.

With regard to the central locking, have a look around the wiring. This is now a fairly old car, and it has probably had a fair few owners on its way. It would only take one of those owners to be a bit of a bodger, and there could be something nasty in the wiring. I'd have a look around to see if any of the wiring shows signs of having had injudicious surgery (ie, 'vampire tap' take offs, connections made by just wrapping wires together, poor insulation), because that kind of thing can easily become unreliable over time.

Hi all again, seems my issues are getting more complex as time goes on! I changed the fuel filter and had no noticable change with the acceleration. However, a new fault (possibly related) showed itself last night! Driving from Southampton to Portsmouth I was sat in traffic for about 40 minutes, crawling along at around 5mph. When the traffic cleared I tried to accelerate and the car just juddered and refused to go above 40mph, I eased off the throttle, and back on again-did this a couple of times and the power seemed to return. Then shortly after I had the engine warning light come on for about 10 seconds, the car running rough again during this time. Then later in the evening the same problem, this was all on flat roads.

I remembered my wife's car doing a very similar thing a year or so ago and it turned out she had a cracked coil-could my issue be the same? I can get a brand new Lucas coil for £27 so not an expensive fix but don't want to go down that road if it's not that? The weather is very damp at the moment, thinking it could well be affecting the coil if it is cracked?

With regard to the central locking/alarm problem, I'm waiting on a replacement drivers door module as it appears the car thinks a door is open thus preventing the fob from working. When I lock it with the key could the car still think a door/bonnet is left open thus setting the alarm off in the middle of the night upsetting my neighbours?! I understand these units cause a lot of headaches if they go wrong?!

coils could well be related. I would personally suggest replacing coil pack, HT leads, and spark plugs all at the same time! you might as well get it in tip top shape and have everything changed now at once (its not too expensive in that sense) rather than driving yourself mad in weeks to come.

Well guys, I limped along with this power loss problem from Christmas until last weekend, when the problem became much worse and could barely make a trip without spending a lot of time struggling to reach 20mph even on the flat! So, last weekend I replaced the coil, leads and plugs, and noticed two things:

Firstly, there was two cracks in the coil, which made me very confident I had hit upon the problem. Secondly, when removing the old plugs two of them were rather wet around the threads and body and smelt of petrol-the actual plug tips were dry and of the colour you'd expect.

Put it all back together confident this would solve my woes, took it for a test drive and if anything it's now even worse than before! The only way I can gain any useful speed now is to ensure I don't rev the engine above 2000rpm whilst pulling away and gaining speed, then it will eventually cruise without issue as long as I don't put my foot down.

I've checked the auto transmission oil level and the dipstick doesn't have a min or max indication, just a "min" and a cross hatched area indicated "don't fill in this area" and the level appears just below the hatched part so assume thats ok. I'm just waiting for a code reader to arrive but in the meantime wondered if anyone had any ideas what the problem could be??

Further update, have now run diagnostics on the car and it's showing no faults at all! So now I'm at a total loss.....

Have you checked the leads?