mondeo engine failure: what to do next?

But they didn't know whether it would be wasted or not; they said their computer did not tell and the two photos they had of the engines were taken from different angles so they could not compare them!

Two mechanics have said that a qxba engine will work (though one actually said "can be made to work") but as they bother were trying to sell me engines, they may have been biased. One mechanic, the one that is going to fit it, says not, so I am still looking for a txba. It now seems the qxba may be 140 bhp and the txba 163 bhp.

Reply to
Stephen
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Yes, I have had a few phone calls, one from London, one from Essex, and one from Manchester, offering to supply and fit an engine for £1400. Not living close to these addresses, I am concerned that I do not know whether they are genuine or not, so I have not taken them up on their offers. Some of them are very persuasive over the phone.

Reply to
Stephen

I have found a local mechanic who will take the old engine out and put a new one in for £200-£300. However to keep the cost low, I am having to do the leg work and find the replacement engine.

We will have a good look at the old one when it does come out to see what went wrong.

I have been offered a few engines: £950 for one that has done 78000 miles and two that have both done 41000 miles and are both priced £1200

I am unsure whether to save £200 and buy the 78,000 engine on the basis that 78000 is not much for a diesel or whether to spend extra on a lower mileage one, without making the repair uneconomical. As it is second hand, it's a gamble. Which one would you buy?

On a more positive note, the mechanic has looked at the turbo and says it feels ok, so hopefully it was not damaged and will not need replacing.

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen

Seems reasonable from what others have been saying.

And that may not be a bad thing, *if* you are 100% sure it's the right replacement and it is what it says on the tin etc.

Often of interest but I'm not sure most get the chance unless you are doing the job yourself. I mean, unless the damage is obvious, it might all cost more to look deeper?

That's not a lot of money difference for nearly half the mileage ... assuming the mileages are all correct and that the extra ~40K makes that much difference?

I think it's gotta be your call, possibly biased by what sort of feeling you get from each of the sellers? IMO, it's not always *just* about the cold hard cash ... a touch of 'the devil you know' (re the rest of the car) etc.

As always.

I'm not sure I can help because I've never really been in the position of having a car valuable enough to ever justify spending that sorta money on it. However, in your position I think I might be swayed by any mention of a guarantee, even if only 30 days etc because that at least should protect you from a really duff engine?

With no guarantee at all, it's probably then down to the question of what the cars worth (as is), what it owes you, how much you like the car [1] and how much you will lose by disposing of it with a dead engine, compared with a running one? (And I know much of this has been covered already).

It could be one of those 'speculate to accumulate things, if it works out it enables you to get some more use / value from it yourself. [2]

So that's a few quid saved. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[1] A guy I used to work with inherited his Dads MGB GT. It needed *lots* of work that he couldn't do himself so probably spend double what it was actually worth having it done up. But for him that wasn't the point of course, because it was his Dads car.

We have been in a similar position ourselves. Dad died nearly 4 years ago now and Mum gave us their little 2004 Meriva as she wasn't driving any more. It had only done 75K miles or so and was in reasonable condition so I scrapped the old Rover 218SD (for more than I paid for it, 7 years earlier ).

It cost me a few quid to get the thermostat changed (you have to take the cambelt off so changed that and the other bits at the same time), the ECU got sick and it cost £250 to get that remanufactured, then I had to fit a towbar and I recently replaced the aircon rad (£100).

According to Fuelio app, it's doing ~25mpg (the Rover was still doing

50 at the end) and it costs more to tax and insure. However, we still run Mum about in, it's tidier than the old Rover and it's quite roomy (for something that size) so we are keeping it for now. Even though it was free, we have already spent more on it than all our other cars (including the cost of buying them) over the last 20 years. ;-(

Oh, and I noticed a while back that the rear tyres were starting to crack between the treads and found the tyres were the originals (and ironically, still had reasonable tread left)! I changed them of course (another £120).

[2] My mate sold me the Rover for £100 because he was 'fedup spending money on it'. However (and because he had ...) apart from a few jobs I did on it at the beginning and a few (cheap) jobs along the way, I spent little on in over the 50K and 7+ years I had it (and I used it like a van). ;-)
Reply to
T i m

But they didn't know whether it would be wasted or not; they said their computer did not tell and the two photos they had of the engines were taken from different angles so they could not compare them!

Two mechanics have said that a qxba engine will work (though one actually said "can be made to work") but as they bother were trying to sell me engines, they may have been biased. One mechanic, the one that is going to fit it, says not, so I am still looking for a txba. It now seems the qxba may be 140 bhp and the txba 163 bhp.

Having had some experience of engine replacements / swaps etc I would say its essential to find a good motor of the exact same engine code and year if you can. There are often very very subtle differences with sensors, pumps, injectors etc which will cause a non start of the new motor. Hear it run properly in the donor before removal.

Renault's are particular bastards. They'll go and change the flywheel from a

36-1 to a 40-1 tooth or change a sensor type or location by an inch.

Don't forget if you use the new engine's injectors they'll need their calibrations entered into the PCM before start up.

Tim..

Reply to
Tim

I have asked a couple of places about this and they all say that the car has been "depolluted", which means all liquids (diesel, oil, coolant) have been removed, so I can not do this.

I suppose it makes sense to remove something as flammable as petrol and perhaps it makes its way into the owners' cars? But surely they must realise people would like to check out what they are buying when the price is c £1000?

I'm not sure that I have mechanical expertise to know what I am listening to if I could hear it though.

Whilst he has got a computer that I think will do this, I think the mechanic is wanting to move my injectors across. There was some talk that one may have failed because he said the engine was making such a noise. Would an injector fail if the engine lost oil?

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen

Well it's all hypothetical now. I had the choice of buying the engine with the turbo attached for an extra £100. If I bought without the turbo and subsequently found mine had failed, they would have charged me between £200-£300 for the turbo and I would have had to pay someone to fit it. So I thought it best to wait until the chap had stripped mine down and taken a look. I was told that the thing to look for it play in the propeller as this means the bearings have failed.

The mechanic said that my turbo seems ok, so I was going to buy an engine without the turbo, but in the couple of days it took to strip the turbo, the engines I looked at have all been sold, or so they say. I thought it was strange that all of the engines have sold and the breakers have already received replacements in such a short time but perhaps turnover really is that fast?

The ones available now are all c. 40,000 miles and c. £1200. One breaker said he has some engines from a crash-damaged ambulance Mondeo estate (does he mean a paramedic's car?). I can't make up my mind about this. Part of me thinks that the ambulance service (or whatever its proper name is) would maintain its cars to a high standard, so I would be getting an engine that has been well looked after. The other part of me thinks that they are probably driven fast and hard, so might be subject to more wear than a domestic driver? And without visiting the scrap yard to see the donor vehicle (and that's not easy without a car!) who knows whether they are telling you the truth over the phone, it could come from anything.

What do you think?

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen

Diesels can make horrific noises with a failed injector, including sounding like a big end knock

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Hello,

Well the new engine has arrived. I have not seen it, but I'm told it needs a new clutch and a new flywheel. This is not a complete surprise, I was told that it might be worth changing these on my engine whilst it was out and accessible but that's because my engine had done 80,000 miles. The new engine was supposed to have done

41,000, so I was hoping it's flywheel and clutch would have been in better shape.

The mechanic is asking whether I want to change the timing belt and water pump too. I guess prevention is better than cure. I suppose I should hang onto it once fixed, to get my money's worth!

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen

Seems stupid not to replace the consumables - and, yes, I'm including DMF, flywheel and cambelt in that - while the engine's on the stand. Labour cost? Damn near zero.

If you weren't planning on keeping the car for a fair while, it wouldn't be worth you fixing it anyway - just list it on eBay as spares or repair.

Reply to
Adrian

The clutch and belt are about £130 each, which I was expecting but I was caught out that a DMF costs £260 (I've never had anything to do with these before).

He has suggested changing the water pump too. Why would this be?

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen
[...]

Many water pumps are driven from the cam belt. If the pump bearings fail, it can flick the belt off causing catastrophic damage. Even if the pump leaks, the work involved in replacing it is similar to changing the cam belt. It is easy to replace the pump if the belt is already off.

If it is cam belt driven, it would be madness not to change it in your case.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Yep.

Quite often a full cambelt kit will come with a waterpump.

Reply to
Adrian

Usually the cam belt has to be removed to change the pump, so a pump costs the same to change as a cam belt. If you do it at the same time as the cam belt then it only costs the price of the pump. As the belt would have to come off to change the pump a new cam belt is needed, even if it's only a few months old. Water pumps have an expensive habit of failing shortly after a cam belt change. This is due to whatever belt drives it, it will have been removed and as it would have worn a bit slack it will be re-tensioned to correct full tension. This changes the side load on the pump bearing and pulls the shaft a little bit more, movement that the old and hard pump seal can't accommodate.

If the pump is cam belt driven pump failure will throw the belt and cost valves, clipped pistons, possibly bent con rods. New engine.

If it is driven by the aux belt how often do you look under the bonnet? Do you look at the tarmac where you have parked? If not the first you many will know about a pump leaking is when the engine overheats due to lack of coolant. It may run after a pump change but it won't be "right". New engine (or sell the car).

I've had a pump fail that ONLY leaked in the morning. Once run it was fine but every morning there was a rivulet of coolant from under the car. Didn't amount to a cup full, about 1/2L / week to top up until I got a round tuit.

Reply to
Peter Hill

On our transits we routinely replace the DMF with a solid flywheel, seems it's standards on the higher power output models

AJH

Reply to
news

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