Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 14:59

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - timbloom

I bought this in May last year. Since then I have done 7000 miles, including approx two 30 mins journey per week, and the occasional long journey. I thought this would be enough to avoid DPF problems, but it looks like I need a new one.

Clearly I have to fix but should I

1. Retain and make sure once per week I drive for min 15 mins on manual and keep revs up or

2.Sell and switch back to petrol?

Any advice gratefully received

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 15:17

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - coopshere

It's not the gearbox that is the cause of the problem but the fact that your mileage is too low for a diesel to operate effectively. There are umpteen articles giving advice on using diesels and just about everyone spells out the dangers of using one for short stop start journeys. You have clearly made the wrong choice of engine for your type of driving. Option 1 may work but in the long term Option 2 may prove to be the best one if you intend to keep a car long term.

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 15:30

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - thunderbird

It's not the gearbox that is the cause of the problem but the fact that your mileage is too low for a diesel to operate effectively.

Don't agree with you there. The OP has covered 7000 miles in just over 7 months, I make that 12000 miles a year. I had a diesel with a dpf for over 5 years, in that time I did just under 40,000 miles, that is only 8,000 miles a year. My commute is 15 miles each way 3 days a week, the remainder was made up of shopping, trips to the outlaws and a once a year trip to the coast. In all that time the dpf just got on with doing a regen when needed, never had a problem.

Just drove it normally, none of the Italian tune up urban myth stuff (that might have worked in the 60's).

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 18:41

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - xtrailman

I do less miles a year than thunderbird and shorter trips, never had any problems with the DPF, and only ever use supermarket fuel.

Been driving like that now for 5 years, and with my present car the revs stay mainly below 2K revs.

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 15:35

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - Graham567

I have a Mondeo TDCI Titanium X manual gearbox.I do very little mileage and it involves alot of stopping before the engine warms up fully.
I have had the car for 4 years now from new and have no problems with the DPF.
This is how i deal with it.

1.The car only wants to regenerate every 500 miles when driven around town so i put the trip mileage back to zero after every regen.

2.When the 500 miles is getting near i take the car for a spirited run.You don't have to go on the motorway,just make sure the engine is hot enough and then drive it like you stole it.Taking the revs to over 3000 rpm seems to start the regen.

3.The regen around town can be felt by a few symptoms.Firstly instead of the trip computer reading 0.1gals/hour on tick over it reads 0.2 gals/hour.The engine sounds and feels rough while it does the regen.I keep driving for the duration of the regen and when stopping at junctions i keep an eye on the 0.2g/h reading.When its finished it will drop back to 0.1g/h and the engine will be smooth and quiet.

4.The use of low ash oil helps alot with reducing the amount of soot produced.I use this one www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002SR76R8/ref=oh_deta...1

5.I put Shell ultimate diesel in now and again which seems to help keep everything clean and it runs better on it.

I know that i should have bought a petrol version but the deal i got was too good to miss and i like the diesel driving characteristics.
As long as your aware of the DPF and deal with it accordingly then it shouldn't be a problem.Its only when you never take it for a spirited run that problems occur.

Enjoy the car,i know i do.

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 18:51

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - Cyd

That's a decent price for that oil Vid, but if you don't mind getting 2 cans at once I use this (and it's recently gone up in price too):

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161058919427?ssPageName=STRK:ME...9

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 17:56

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - Andrew-T

.... just about everyone spells out the dangers of using one for short stop start journeys.

Sad, this. Time was when delivery vans etc.were diesel for just that reason - more economical for stop-start driving.

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 15:18

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - skidpan

What age is the car? Your type of use should ensure the dpf gets the opportunity to regenerate.

As for keeping the revs up that old wifes tale is nonsense. To regenerate the dpf needs temperture and reasonable gasflow, revving it normally prevents the dpf getting up to temp because the gas speed is too high.

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 16:47

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - craig-pd130

I thought this would be enough to avoid DPF problems, but it looks like I need a new one.

Who is telling you that you need a new DPF? Like Videodoctor, I had an 08 Mondeo IV 2.0TDCI which never had a DPF problem in the 3.5 years I owned it from new.

My daily commute is 3.5 miles to work, 3.5 miles home again. I would often go for a couple of weeks of never doing more than 10 miles at a time.

Videodoctor's summary of how the engine feels when regenerating, and the 500-mile regeneration intervals, maps closely to my experience with the car.

Skidpan is also correct that you don't need to rev the engine hard to start a regeneration: simply keep the revs around the peak torque range (1750 - 2250rpm) in 4th / 5th / 6th gear is fine.

However you DO need to be at a road speed of higher than 38mph for regeneration to start (so that the airflow through the engine bay will dissipate the heat around the DPF canister, it really does get very hot). Once the regeneration has started, it will continue even at idle, as the engine cooling fan runs while the DPF regenerates. When the fan switches off, the regeneration has stopped.

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 16:59

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - gordonbennet

Yet again, its mumbo jumbo and trying to work out from a combination of clues that a regen has started.

Why oh why isn't there a bloomin great light or dash message solely there to inform of DPF regen/progress...indeed why isn't there a sequence of buttons (fairly complicated so not done by mistake or kids) that can be pressed to order a regen to start when the switched on motorist knows that he's on an ideal journey to suit one, or would that hit lucrative dealer income sorting these horrid things out.

Having said all that, i'm not having a DPF'd Diesel (one was worrying enough) and thats another line in the sand for me, i'll stick with LPG ta or when that gets hammered by dick turpin i'll go petrol hybrid.

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 17:54

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - daveyjp

OP, your 12000 miles is about same mileage as me, most of mine is urban and I would never go back to a diesel. MPG is similar.

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Mon 20 Jan 2014 22:33

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - Happy Blue!

I have a 2009 Ford S-Max with the 2.0 TDCi engine and 6 speed slushbox. 10,000 miles pa with a mix of urban, suburban and some short motorway driving. No DPF issues at all.

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Wed 22 Jan 2014 10:22

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - timbloom

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I think I will replace DPF and adjust my driving as suggested, as I do like the car very much.

1.The cost of the DPF from Ford is around £1200. I see internet sites quoting less than £200 for DPF - why such a difference and is it worth the risk going for a non Ford part.

2. Should I have a go at Ford for some of the cost, bearing in mind the car is only 4 months out of warranty, and my mileage and driving pattern should not have produced this problem?

Timbloom

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Wed 22 Jan 2014 10:30

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - thunderbird

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I think I will replace DPF and adjust my driving as suggested, as I do like the car very much.

1.The cost of the DPF from Ford is around £1200. I see internet sites quoting less than £200 for DPF - why such a difference and is it worth the risk going for a non Ford part.

2. Should I have a go at Ford for some of the cost, bearing in mind the car is only 4 months out of warranty, and my mileage and driving pattern should not have produced this problem?

Timbloom

Problem is you have no idea how the car was driven before you bought it. You have no idea if the correct spec low ash oil was used when it was serviced. The DPF would only have been covered against a manufacturing defect, it blocked which has nothing to do with manufacturing normally (unless the matrix has collapsed). Ford would probably just say no.

With regards to £200 DPF's there is normally a good reason why parts are ultra cheap.

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Wed 22 Jan 2014 16:19

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - corax

1.The cost of the DPF from Ford is around £1200.

That buys me almost a years worth of petrol :)

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Wed 22 Jan 2014 16:48

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - xtrailman

If you have to replace the DPF at high cost, then i think i would be having it removed.

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Wed 22 Jan 2014 16:58

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - skidpan

If you have to replace the DPF at high cost, then i think i would be having it removed.

It should never have been an option to ny right minded person, they were fitted for a reason.

But now as of January 1st this year it is an MOT requirement that ALL emission equipment fitted at the factory is present and working, if its not its a fail.

So if you spend your hard earned cash having the DPF removed, a pipe fitted in its place, having the sensors removed as necessary then having the necessary mapping work done to the ECU to save a few quid at your next MOT you would have to spend loads more money sorting it legally.

Do it right in the first place.

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Thu 30 Jan 2014 17:29

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - timbloom

I have opted to have the Ceramex cleanat Caters Garage at Capel in Surrey. This is a system that has operated for some years forn HGV's, and has recently been licensed by Ceramex for private cars through Unipart licensed garages [picked this up from an Honest John article I think]. Cost is about £300, a lot cheaper than new DPF. Does take about 5 days as CC has to go away to the specialist company.

I will monitor and post results after good period as may be useful to any debate about this subject.

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Thu 30 Jan 2014 19:53

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - sandy56

I have a Peugeot 407 2L HDI diesel auto, the same engine as in the Ford Mondeo. I don't do more than 10k mile a year. I have had the car about 7 months and no problems. There should be a warning light if there is a problem with the DPF.
I plan on keeping the Peugeot 407SW for a while. It is a smooth fast comfortable car.

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Thu 30 Jan 2014 21:13

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - wemyss

My SIL drives a fuel tanker and was telling me only a few days ago that his company had a Mercedes tractor unit on trial a while ago and it was dispensed with. One of the mechanics told him it was because they were unhappy with the very high temperatue of the DPF and considered it may be unsafe to have in the fuel depot out of where he works. Only a word of mouth story but it does sound logical.... Incidentally I was reading in the JCB magazine a couple of months ago that they had developed and designed a diesel engine which does not require one.

wemyss

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Thu 30 Jan 2014 21:16

Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift Titanium Auto 5 - Have I made a mistake buying an automatic diesel? - technegydd

As mentioned the milage should not be a problem, The DPF was probably the reason some one got rid of the motor.Thing could be a lot worse if it was a manual gearbox though.I would remove the DPF for a visual inspection and based on what I found would be the next move in case its beond regeneration .If its blocked it will not always regen' fully due to cold spots inside.

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