Mondeo Automatic Gearbox issues

tekie

I've a 01 March Ford Mondeo Zetec Auto Saloon which has done 110000 miles.

The Auto matic transmission started behaving erraticaly and I took it to my local Ford dealer to get it checked. They've suggested me to either repair or replace it with a refurbed Gearbox. The repair costs starts from £700 and ther's no guarnteed fix or cost at the moment. coz they need to check that in details when it goes for repair.

The second and more reliable alternative according to Ford service is to get a refurbed auto gear box with 1year warranty which will fix the problem. But they are asking for 2 grand and I'm not very sure whether the refurbed gearbox will be any better than getting it repaird. But the service centre is saying even ford is not making any new gearbox's for this car anymore and this is the only option avilable anywhere I go.

The car is in pretty good condition otherwise.

But I'm not sure whether to go for a repair or replacement gear box, Is there any other specialist ford or other garages which can do this job or shall I try another Ford service to get a different quote, or will the independant garages will do the job like Nation wide and Quick fit and likes

Please provide your valuable input and I really aprreciate you help in this matter.

Thanks

goldspanners

forget the ford dealer, go to a transmission specialist,they will probably know the exact part thats failed in your box already.

anewman

goldspanners wrote: »

forget the ford dealer, go to a transmission specialist,they will probably know the exact part thats failed in your box already.

You would hope so but a common problem on old Skoda boxes is 2 nuts may come loose inside the gearbox, leading to a whining noise in 5th gear. From what I have read most people are told they need a new gearbox as "the bearing is knackered". It seems even many Skoda dealers don't know about this. I guess transmission specialists won't work on these boxes that often though as knackered gearbox usually = scrap it :rotfl:

tekie

anewman wrote: »

You would hope so but a common problem on old Skoda boxes is 2 nuts may come loose inside the gearbox, leading to a whining noise in 5th gear. From what I have read most people are told they need a new gearbox as "the bearing is knackered". It seems even many Skoda dealers don't know about this. I guess transmission specialists won't work on these boxes that often though as knackered gearbox usually = scrap it :rotfl:

Sorry mate, I'm talking about Ford Mondeo not skoda

harveybobbles

Describe it's symptoms? Might be low on fluid or something simple?
I had an auto that was stuck in limp mode and no one could find what was wrong with it. Parts were replaced left, right and centre and it turned out to be a erm, fuse...

I can, however recommend some gearbox folk in Merseyside/Cheshire...

marlot

You definately don't want a Nationwide or Quickfit - they are not gearbox specialists. I'd suggest a member of The Federation of Automatic Transmission Engineers

http://www.fedauto.co.uk/

Sirbendy

Yep, go to a specialist. I've had autos from the word go, and When I had issues with the 'box on my rover, I took it to a VAG specalist (it's a VAG/Audi type 030 box)..then after that I bought a huge rover dealers manual that detailed everything including total stripdown and check procedures.

I had both a stuck governor and slipping brake bands. I was quoted the same as you, yet once I'd adjusted the bands, cleaned the governors, flushed the valve chest and changed the fluid it went for 4 years fine and I sold it still fine.

Don't ask a dealers advice...they're all naff. The last astra I had, had a flashing fault lamp and wouldn't shift at all..it was stuck in 3rd. Vx diagnosed a faulty box. It was actually a faulty switch on top of the box..took me 2 hours to sort.

First step, check your fluid level and colour..if it's yellow/grey/black, get it changed ASAP, it's had it. Should be cherry red(ish). If it smells burned, get it changed. If it's low, top it up.

If that doesn't sort it, look for specialists in the yellow pages. Could be ECU, in which case there are outfits that can refurb the ECUs for very little. 110000 miles should be OK...my last one was at 117k and fine when some tit wrote it off..and I've had one with 240k plus that was a lovely drive..

tekie

Sirbendy wrote: »

Yep, go to a specialist. I've had autos from the word go, and When I had issues with the 'box on my rover, I took it to a VAG specalist (it's a VAG/Audi type 030 box)..then after that I bought a huge rover dealers manual that detailed everything including total stripdown and check procedures.

I had both a stuck governor and slipping brake bands. I was quoted the same as you, yet once I'd adjusted the bands, cleaned the governors, flushed the valve chest and changed the fluid it went for 4 years fine and I sold it still fine.

Don't ask a dealers advice...they're all naff. The last astra I had, had a flashing fault lamp and wouldn't shift at all..it was stuck in 3rd. Vx diagnosed a faulty box. It was actually a faulty switch on top of the box..took me 2 hours to sort.

First step, check your fluid level and colour..if it's yellow/grey/black, get it changed ASAP, it's had it. Should be cherry red(ish). If it smells burned, get it changed. If it's low, top it up.

If that doesn't sort it, look for specialists in the yellow pages. Could be ECU, in which case there are outfits that can refurb the ECUs for very little. 110000 miles should be OK...my last one was at 117k and fine when some tit wrote it off..and I've had one with 240k plus that was a lovely drive..

Wow...thanks a lot for your your indepth technical reply, I was really dreading the worst, even started looking for a new car.

My Mondeo auto has got 2 issues, the initial problem which was there from the beginning, like when I bought it, its my first car and I thought It could be me, the car had already done 100k when I bought it.

Those days it won't go to the reverse gear on the first go, so I had to do it twice or thrice to get it working. But for the last month or so it started slipping like when you accelerate the noise was a bit on the high side and then again 2nd to 3rd gear was kind of erratic, and now its jerking when it runs on low gear or when at a signal junction. This was driving me mad and then I took it to Ford. Thats when they gave me this quotations, and it looks like they are sending the car to someone else to do the gearbox repairs.

vikingaero

Sirbendy wrote: »

Yep, go to a specialist. I've had autos from the word go, and When I had issues with the 'box on my rover, I took it to a VAG specalist (it's a VAG/Audi type 030 box)..then after that I bought a huge rover dealers manual that detailed everything including total stripdown and check procedures.

I had both a stuck governor and slipping brake bands. I was quoted the same as you, yet once I'd adjusted the bands, cleaned the governors, flushed the valve chest and changed the fluid it went for 4 years fine and I sold it still fine.

Don't ask a dealers advice...they're all naff. The last astra I had, had a flashing fault lamp and wouldn't shift at all..it was stuck in 3rd. Vx diagnosed a faulty box. It was actually a faulty switch on top of the box..took me 2 hours to sort.

First step, check your fluid level and colour..if it's yellow/grey/black, get it changed ASAP, it's had it. Should be cherry red(ish). If it smells burned, get it changed. If it's low, top it up.

If that doesn't sort it, look for specialists in the yellow pages. Could be ECU, in which case there are outfits that can refurb the ECUs for very little. 110000 miles should be OK...my last one was at 117k and fine when some tit wrote it off..and I've had one with 240k plus that was a lovely drive..

Most dealers won't know how to diagnose an automatic gearbox - they will normally look at the "computer says fault" message and recommend replacement.

On my Dads bucket-o-crap A-Class, Merc wanted £5k to fit a new gearbox - We used fedauto.co.uk and found the genius that is Trevor King at King Automatics in Epsom, Surrey. He charged us £1,300 to replace the burnt out valve body and ECU.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

tekie wrote: »

Those days it won't go to the reverse gear on the first go, so I had to do it twice or thrice to get it working. But for the last month or so it started slipping like when you accelerate the noise was a bit on the high side and then again 2nd to 3rd gear was kind of erratic, and now its jerking when it runs on low gear or when at a signal junction. This was driving me mad and then I took it to Ford. Thats when they gave me this quotations, and it looks like they are sending the car to someone else to do the gearbox repairs.

Those symptoms are indicative of low fluid level.

vikingaero

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

Those symptoms are indicative of low fluid level.

Reverse gear problems sound like a selector problem. The gearchanges and jerkiness sounds like the valve body is shot - the most common failure on autos.