Just bought a 98 R reg LX Mondeo 2L auto 5dr hatch... Ex-company car, regularly serviced, runs very well but after a few hours driving, suddenly got acrid burning smell and then smoke wafted from passenger side air vent just below windscreen (i.e the top vents not the forward facing adjustable ones). After major panic and quick look under bonnet managed to correlate the problem with use of the blower (which seems to be working OK, even after fault). Car has A/C which doesn't seem to be working very well - not much cooling effect - and I was using the A/C but after the smoke started I stopped the car, did the check and then tried again with A/C disabled and got fresh smoke, so I *think* the A/C is out of the loop here.
Can anyone tell me what's directly underneath that vent before I start looking, that could be implicated in the problem. After turning blower off drove another 500 miles without a hint of a problem.
One other issue; on steep downhill grades if you lock the transmission down to 2 or 1 then over around 2,500 rpm there's an intermittent noise, maybe once every 10 seconds or so, like a soft clank, which might be transmission-related.(only audible with the window down). It's irregular,not rhythmic. Can't feel anything e.g vibration in car, when it happens. There's no problem uphill or under acceleration, kickdown is smooth, no hunting or judder, car has 83K miles approx, should I be overly concerned?.
PS: what a lovely car they are to drive... once my partner got behind the wheel she wouldn't give it back to me.....