Car is dead, help us find a new one.

jase1

I'm finding it difficult to get my 2l petrol Mondeo under 35mpg.... not through lack of trying either

It'll sit on the motorway at 60mph delivering 50mpg. I don't think that's too shabby for a heavy car with a biggish petrol engine to be honest.

LincolnshireYokel

forgotmyname wrote: »

Scrap a good car because of a clutch?

Ive had 3 Mondeo's all high mileage. I would fit a clutch knowing the car would last a long time with basic servicing.

Old Renault's and Citroens are not your sort of car if you know nothing about cars. Did the high temperature gauge and hot smell not warn you something was wrong?

Astra sounds OK, I wouldnt buy one. Mostly underpowered.

Get a Focus or Fiesta if a Mondeo is too big.

But they will cost more than a Mondeo.

Getting the clutch out of a Mondeo is a complete engine bay strip, the cheapest quote i could find was £600. It completely beyond the average amatuer, unless you have a hydraulic engine lift, and even then its still beyond most peopel to do. whereas I could do the clutch on a Cortina in about an hour, and the head gasket on a Sierra in about the same, 99% of people (including me) could not do a Mondeo clutch. The fact that so many Mondeos get scrapped at about 130k is testament to this, because by that point to car is only worth £1k at most a and its not worth spending another £600 on it.. Its just entirely uneconomic.

Apparently, you have to replace the clutch kit including slave cylinder which is mounted inside the gearbox and also the dual mass flywheel., also the driveshafts must be kept as straight as possible to prevent damage and the cv jointmust not be removed from the driveshaft as it is a press fit. Its a 5 hour job in a garage, ive been told by three different garages!

jase1

LincolnshireYokel wrote: »

The fact that so many Mondeos get scrapped at about 130k is testament to this, because by that point to car is only worth £1k at most a and its not worth spending another £600 on it.. Its just entirely uneconomic.

Surely this depends entirely on the general condition of the car?

I've never understood this "I won't spend money on a car because depreciation means it's not worth much" line. I will happily spend £500 on a car worth £300 if I know the car and I know it's mechanically sound and isn't rotten.

mattyprice4004

LincolnshireYokel wrote: »

Getting the clutch out of a Mondeo is a complete engine bay strip, the cheapest quote i could find was £600. It completely beyond the average amatuer, unless you have a hydraulic engine lift, and even then its still beyond most peopel to do. whereas I could do the clutch on a Cortina in about an hour, and the head gasket on a Sierra in about the same, 99% of people (including me) could not do a Mondeo clutch. The fact that so many Mondeos get scrapped at about 130k is testament to this, because by that point to car is only worth £1k at most a and its not worth spending another £600 on it.. Its just entirely uneconomic.

Apparently, you have to replace the clutch kit including slave cylinder which is mounted inside the gearbox and also the dual mass flywheel., also the driveshafts must be kept as straight as possible to prevent damage and the cv jointmust not be removed from the driveshaft as it is a press fit. Its a 5 hour job in a garage, ive been told by three different garages!

Did a clutch change and DMF to SMF conversion on a TDCi Mondeo on my drive with 2 hydraulics jacks and a normal set of tools - it's really not an engine bay strip job.

Fiddly yes, but nowhere near as hard as you make out.

bigjl

Buy your friends car, if they have looked after it that is.

That age Astra is a reliable if nondescript vehicle.

1.8 petrol engine is reliable, but dont ignore the cambelt, and do the water pump at the same time.

Cheap parts from suppliers such as Vauxparts, mostly Vauxhall spec parts, but cheaper.

Don't spend money putting profit in a trader pocket when the Astra is available at a reasonable price from a known source.

Notmyrealname

LincolnshireYokel wrote: »

Getting the clutch out of a Mondeo is a complete engine bay strip, the cheapest quote i could find was £600. I

Absolute rubbish. THE PROPER WAY TO DO IT in all versions of the Mondeo is to drop the front subframe a bit and remove it as normal. You do not remove the engine or even any of the suspension. Only a dumb moron who doesn't know !!!!!! they are doing takes the engine out.

When the gearbox packed up on my dads MK2 Mondeo, a local garage charged £175 labour to change it. Took them a morning.

Apparently, you have to replace the clutch kit including slave cylinder which is mounted inside the gearbox and also the dual mass flywheel., also the driveshafts must be kept as straight as possible to prevent damage and the cv jointmust not be removed from the driveshaft as it is a press fit. Its a 5 hour job in a garage, ive been told by three different garages!

Find a better garage. They can't be bothered and they've given you a list of excuses. Just think about it. If the driveshafts have to be kept straight as possible to prevent damage, you couldn't go up a kerb with one wheel. Press fitting does not make something a " must not be removed." You don't have to change the slave cylinder or DMF, it is just advisable to in order to save money on labour in the future. Whenever I've had a job on a car where the gearbox has been removed, if I intended keeping it I changed the clutch as a matter of course.

My mate can change a Mondeo clutch on the floor with axle stands in a day.

jase1

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Absolute rubbish. THE PROPER WAY TO DO IT in all versions of the Mondeo is to drop the front subframe a bit and remove it as normal. You do not remove the engine or even any of the suspension. Only a dumb moron who doesn't know !!!!!! they are doing takes the engine out.

The good thing about the car being so common as well is that even a dumb moron will have dealt with a Mondeo clutch before and will know not to remove the engine.

That may not be the case with a more obscure vehicle with a similar arrangement.

rdwarr

I just paid £550 for a 13 year old Skoda from a dealer - with no rust and a verified 29k miles on it. There are definitely bargains to be had out there at the moment.

lizzywig

Our old car was a Fiat Punto, we bought it in May last year with full service history and have kept it well, including fitting new cambelt May just gone. We are not car people, I am not a driver and know nothing about cars, DH has some basic car knowledge. He says he didn't notice car overheating at all, AA said it was all pretty instant...apparently. The car was diagnosed by a small independant garage and not a big chain and the AA chap had said to DH "prepare yourself, you'll be lucky for the car to come through this" before they'd even got to the garage. I am keen for us not to get screwed over and want to know more about cars but don't know where to start, hence coming on here for some advice. I have been seeking advice from my friends DH who does up cars.

We live in Oxford which I know is more expensive than some areas, does location effect car prices? I wouldn't have thought it would do but we haven't found any cars below the £2k mark. I'm well aware that you need to spend a decent amount of money to get a good car and that was our plan for the new year but this puts an end to that plan for another few years! We can't wait to get a car either, DH has 2 jobs and he'd have to give one up without a car.

I have found another, a Vauxhall Astra 2004 with 50,000 miles, from an indepenant dealer, £2750. They're giving 6 months MOT, service, 1 year warranty. There is a full service history. I feel more secure about buying this one than from the friend even though it is more money because it will be checked over properly. By the way do the AA still come out and check cars over that you want to buy? I feel that this is a lot of car for our money but as some of you have quite rightly pointed out "what do I know?" Based on some of your comments I can't help but wonder if this is over paying?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-Ford-Mondeo-2-0TDCi-130-auto-Ghia-X-Estate-/300759131878?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item4606a426e6

would be my choice of car.