Mondeo problem

Started driving up to Cleveland last night (for a mate's wedding today) in my 98 Mondeo 2.5 Ghia X automatic.

On the A1, been in a bit of slow traffic, had just turned the cruise control back on to take me up to cruise speed and it tripped out at about 65 mph (should only do that below 25). Looked at speedo and it was reading 0. Glanced at computer and it was reading 0. Looked at rev counter and that's reading about 3.5k - higher than I expected. Clicked button to take off overdrive (4th to the rest of us) and the revs don't change - so it's not going into top.

Left A1 at next exit heading for any conurbation (Weatherby I think), as we reach the top of the slip road and slow down the gear change was unusually abrupt. When I got to the next roundabout it stalled and I freewheeled into a layby. The car restarted OK but no change on the speed front. Called for cavalry.

Mechanic has a look at the engine, gear box oil was below min. Checks all fuses under bonnet but all fine. Gets it loaded, looks underneath and he reckons that to get at any sensors would be impossible in that situation. We didn't want to miss the wedding so got towed to our destination. On the way he said his mate had a BMW that had a similar problem, would accelerate to 60 the speedo would read zero and it wouldn't engage top gear. That was solved by cleaning the gear box oil filter.

So any ideas on what the problem might be or where to start looking (other than for a new car). I am a knownowt of the 1st order.

Reply to
the man with no idea
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Sounds to me like the speed sensor on the gearbox is broken/on its way out. It's a very common problem on the Focus, and causes almost identical symptoms, but I don't know about the Mondeo, particularly with the autobox.

On the Focus, a dealer charges about =A370 to change it, including the cost of the new part.

Reply to
Andy Tucker

Thanks for that. Is it something that's easy to get at or is it a gearbox out sort of job? I don't even know how to top the gearbox oil up, or even what sort to use, given that all my paperwork is back home, so I'll have to 'get a man in'.

Reply to
the man with no idea

Again, I'm not sure of the Mondeo, but I know with the IB5 manual box on the Focus, it's the sort of thing that's possible in theory from a DIY point of view, but you might find it a bit easier if you're a mutant with 6-inch long triple-jointed fingers. It's also inifinitely easier if you have access to a vehicle lift, as the best access is from underneath the car.

It shouldn't be a box out job...

Reply to
Andy Tucker

Phoned the main dealer and got this response: "The VSS never goes on automatics," "we couldn't get the part anyway," "we'd have to give it a 1 hour diagnostic 1st, that's =A389 plus VAT."

So they sound about as much use as an elastic bog chain.

Reply to
the man with no idea

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