mondeo engine failure: what to do next?

Hello,

I had to be towed home last night. My 60 plate, 2 litre diesel Mondeo developed a rattling sound; I pulled over as quickly as was safe to do so, only to find that there had been a catastrophic oil leak. A garage has looked at the car today (fixed leak, added new oil and replaced filter) and said that it idles ok but the engine rattles above

2000rpm.

Their computer says it will take 12 hours to take out the engine and fit a new one. To strip the existing engine will be 29 hours but the concern they have with doing this is that they do not know what damage they may find and how much it may cost to fix it.

A new engine (reconditioned with warranty) will cost £2,500 before any labour charges. They are also suggesting that it would be worth changing the flywheel and clutch while it is all in pieces.

They said the car is only worth £4000, so is it worth spending another £4000 to fix it?

What do you think I should do? I think there are three options: get a new car, replace engine, or repair existing engine?

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen
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Report it stolen and set light to it

Reply to
George

I would recommend getting shot of it by a p-x against a new one.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

No. Because even with a brand new engine it will still only be worth 4 grand.

The obvious cheap way would be to fit a used engine from a crashed etc car. But if you can't DIY, flog it to someone who can (Ebay etc) and put that money plus the 4 grand towards another.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

If the rest of the car is known to be in really good condition it may be worth getting a second opinion on fitting a replacement (used) engine. Google might be your friend here, e.g. I found this site without trying too hard:

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Reply to
D A Stocks

Indeed - a mate had a 'new' engine fitted for under a grand. In this case, though, it was only the bottom half (and the trouble could be in in the top half of the OPs), and 'new' in this case was something of no known provenance.

Reply to
RJH

Indeed.

Place I use for getting welding done (£40 a patch) had a Diesel Pug in for engine swap. The car had been bought recently from a trader and they had agreed they were liable for the engine so supplied a complete 2nd hand engine. But the replacement engine was useless. At this point the vendor had stopped talking to the buyer.

Conversely.

I bought a 2nd hand Nissan CA18DET engine and gearbox off E-bay for £400. It was complete with turbo and alternator. Fitted the engine and have done over 10K miles. I have since bought a few "spares", none for over £300. One came with loom and ECU. I suppose I should go do leak down tests on them before I need to fit one - it's always the day before the MOT is due..

Reply to
Peter Hill

Thanks, that's what everyone seems to be recommending.

What do you think it is: the big end? It's frustrating not knowing.

Would I get anything for it as a part exchange? Won't the noise put them off?

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen

Whilst I would love to have a go at DIY because doing is the best way of learning, I don't have the kit and space at home to do this and I am suddenly feeling trapped, as its the only car in the household.

Reply to
Stephen

My worry about getting an unknown second hand one is that it could blow up a fortnight later and I would be back to square one but with even less money. Also there is the logistics of getting the new engine to me.

Reply to
Stephen

I think, if it was me, I could get an engine supplied and fitted locally with a 3 month guarantee for under a £1000 I'd get it done. Worth a couple of phone calls? Otherwise, as a couple of posters have suggested, px at a car supermarket, or ebay (faults declared).

I exchanged a car at a car supermarket a few years back. It had been diagnosed as having a failed DM flywheel at the last service. If asked, I'd have told them. But I wasn't asked, and the mechanical inspection didn't go beyond the salesman starting the car, letting it run for 5s, and turning it off. He did spend about 5 minutes inspecting the interior and the bodywork.

What was the cause of the oil leak BTW? You say there was a sound, but no other warning?

Reply to
RJH

You'll be dealing with a salesman not a mechanic

Reply to
Norman Rowing

They tend to go by a recommended book price. The most likely scenario for the damaged engine is that it would need a crank grind and shells to make it quiet again, but from there there may be all types of other damage which could not be guessed at until the whole engine is apart and inspected. It is rarely worth taking one apart these days, best option if you want to fix it is a genuine exchange engine. few rebuilders will be able to repair a modern engine to as good as new standard, and if you can find one please let me know.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

buy a complete, drivable crash damaged car from an insurance salvage place.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

It's obviously a gamble buying a used unit. But if the car was scrapped due to accident damage, chances are it's ok. As many engines outlast the car. Put it this way - if your car had been scrapped (due to a crunch) before you had engine problems, would you have been happy with that engine

- assuming that leak hadn't happened?

Trouble with a cheap 'recon' from a specialist is they may be a mixture of used parts from worn or broken engines, and unlikely to be as good as a maker's unit. But you might be lucky.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Big ends tend to make the most noise when the engine is under load.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Until you get an offer for the car as it stands you can't make a sensible decision.

Is it the 115hp 1.8TDCI?

We got one from a crash damaged focus and put it in a 2005 plate Transit connect and it's run fine since.

We've done the same with a 1.4 in a fiesta van so even with fitter's wages both came in at under £750

Just before Xmas one of our 61 plate transits with the 2.4 tdci burst its oil-water heat exchanger and because the numprty carried on driving the camshaft seized, which I was unaware of when I bought the new oil cooler.

Gaskets and timing chain kit about £300, new cams and bearings and bits and bobs (rings, shells etc) over £2k van worth about £7k but sign written and Chapter 8 markings which would cost £1500 to do.

So I bought a new ford engine for £1995 and 60 quid delivery. We'll see how long it takes to get going in the new year but should have a transit with new engine, 12k miles warranty (subject to replacing certain items and recoding injectors) for less than £3k.

AJH

Reply to
news

That sounds about right. It sounds normal at idle and only makes the noise above about 2000rpm

Reply to
Stephen

Daft question but do insurers only pair with certain scrap yards and if so, how would I know which they were?

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen

I'm not sure if they might hear the noise as I drive on/off the forecourt.

I wonder whether it would be cheaper for a car supermarket to repair? I remember having a car that had a dent and I asked whether I would get a better price for the car if I got the dent repaired; they said that it would be cheaper for them to repair it as they could get the repair at trade prices. Of course, that might just have been them wanting to offer me a lower price for it!

OTOH if they employ someone to work on all of their cars, I suppose they have the mechanic in place, so there is no additional labour cost, just the engine, which again they get at trade price, and hopefully can cover that and still make a profit with the margin they get on selling me a new car and reselling mine afterwards.

Or am I trying too hard to justify this course of action?!

Someone told me that they had this problem a long time ago and replaced the oil with gearbox oil to hide the noise. I have had a google and it says that gear oil is the same as 10w40. While it may have worked a long time ago, from what I can read, gear oil is acidic and will do more harm than good in the engine. Perhaps best to use

10w40 instead (it has 5w30 in at the moment).

Other google finds suggested additives such as STP but I thought these were all snake oil?

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen

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