Mondeo Zetec Diesel engine 2000 reg.

No, they're forged steel, certainly not cast.

Tim..

Steel rods. How the hell did he/she punch a rod through the block?

The message from Chris Street contains these words:

Quite common for broken conrods to come through the block. How he/she broke it in the first place is another matter. It's usually down to terminal failure of maintenance, excessive tinkering or bad luck with the metalurgy.

Will forged steel shatter? pete

This is the reason I asked the question. I just cannot understand how it happened at all. pete

This is the puzzle. It had just been serviced and it had done 70K so it is rather a long time for a metallurgic fault to show. He doesn't tinker with the car at all himself and had the car a year and 2 weeks. The warranty was for one year:-( pete

Or being a bit enthusiastic with the box, and changing from 6th to 3rd or something (or in the case of the OP, 5th to 2nd).

FWIW, I've got an 03 TDCI (6 speed), and the gearbox is odd. So long as you

*know* which gear you want next, it's easy to change. If you're a bit undecided, the 'box will have a sulk until you've made your mind up.

It's not just me! My wife has the same opinion too!

Pete.

The rods are forged steel. And forged steel doesn't shatter.

I have seen numerous engines with conrod failure, and from a quick look you can normally tell what's caused them to go. Is there any chance of some pictures?

If the top of the con-rod (small end) has come through the block, chances are the piston has failed for some reason. Possibilites are - Heat seizure - piston sticks in bore and the gudgeon pin is literally torn out of piston - easily spotted by the scored bore and the piston is in bits Piston failure - piston fails due to either an internal fault - piston damaged with no apparent cause Gudgeon Pin failure - very rare fault - gudgeon pin damage which is not obviously caused by it knocking it's way out the side of the block Another possibility is piston overload, either caused by majorly bad timing (advanced too far causing knocking/pre-ignition), or something hitting top of piston (dropped valve, timing jumped causing valves to hit piston, spark plug broken up, other debris drawn into cylinder). Damage to piston crown will be obvious.

If the bottom of the con-rod (big end) has come through the possibilites are- Overheating - lack of oil - con-rod will be blackened, and will most likely appear to of been torn apart, if big-end bolts haven't failed first Bolt failure - bolts do snap - if one bolt snaps, the other side of the big-end normally gets twisted/torn as the big-end opens up, before the remaining bolt either snaps or the con-rod exits the side of the block (different from above in that the con-rod won't appear blackened)

If you can get some pictures of the con-rod, then it should be fairly obvious as to what's caused the failure.

The message from snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com contains these words:

Nah - unlucky flaws can make themselves apparent at any age. I've seen casting which have been faulty for over a hundred years give up for no particular reason other than an uncanny ability to know when it'd be inconvenient.

Well that is the only answer I can think of............unless he or his wife have banged into the wrong gear but then I would expect to see valves damage and he says there is none. pete

I have a similar problem when driving my second car which is 5 gear manual after driving my 5 gear auto but if he had done that I would expect valve damage which he assure me hasn't happened. I am doubtful about this as I remember the he was moaning about the car losing performance for 2 weeks before it disinter grated. pete

A seized small end will do it

That is very interesting but I cannot envisage a seized small end being tight enough to snap a con rod unless it actually causes the gudgeon pin to be ripped from the piston............yes I can envisage that and imagine the damage it would do too. Is this a known problem with this engine please? Is this a Ford engine or a Pug? pete

They're a Ford engine (derivative of the Puma engine in the Transit), "Breathed on" by PSA group.

I've personally not heard of this problem (via my time on the Mondeo users group forum).

Injectors going out of calibration, dual mass flywheels failing on pre '04 facelift TDCI 130s, a drumming noise at idle caused by the auxiliary drive belt, and a honking noise at 1800 rpm certainly, but no con rods.

Pete.

This is puzzling me. I have never heard of a Zetec Diesel having a rod through the side. I am really stumped by how it could have happened and I can only conclude I have not been told the full story but even making allowances for that I cannot envisage how anybody could abuse the engine enough to put a rod through the side. Can anyone think of a way it could be done by abuse? The small end idea seems the most likely so far but why would a small end seize after 70K miles? pete

There have been a spate of small end breakups on Focus diesels at about

80k.....

When you say "Zetec Diesel", is this the TDCI common rail 2.0 diesel, in a Mk 3, or the old 1.8 TD in the last of the old Mk 2s?

In either case, this isn't a Zetec engine. The Zetec engines are 16 valve

1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 petrol engines.

I'm assuming that it's in a "Zetec" model (which means the bits of plastic that are black in the LX and brown in the Ghia are silver).

Shit happens?

They just do. Most failures occur at the beginning or end of a component life. The reliability is distributed on a bell curve. You'll still get spontaneous failures without anyone having done anything wrong.

OTOH, changing from 4th to 1st can do this...

to a Celica engine.

Pete.

That is very interesting Chris. Has anyone successfully claimed off Ford? pete

I do not know. I will see the chap tonight in a Nissan and ask him just what model his car is. At the moment all I know is it is a 4 year old car. He said it was a Zetec.

Oh no, gruesome indeed. pete