This forum looks a whole lot better than my local dealer...
I've a 51 plate, 1.8 mondeo estate that started what I believe is a misfire (never experienced one before) just before xmas. I've searched previous posts but can't find a good match for my symptoms.
Starting from cold and just idling with my foot lightly resting on the clutch pedal I can feel the occasional jerk. When I go to pull away I find myself kangarooing down the road. The fault carries on through 2nd, through slow acceleration in 3rd and I can still feel power loss accelerating in 4th on the motorway. On the return journey in the evening the fault seems to clear much quicker. After 10-15 minutes things are usually back to normal. That said I drove from Brighton to Bristol once over xmas and could still detect the problem, all be in slight and infrequent, when I arrived.
Once I've got past the jerking I can accelerate hard and everything seems fine.
I've replaced HT leads. Oil and plugs were changed by a main dealer 3-4 months ago. There are no warning lights and a local garage checked the ECU and found no faults.
I'm not keen on taking it in to the local Ford garage without some idea of where the problem could lie. I'm also aware we have a big cold spell coming and I need to get it sorted. Any thoughts ?
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Could well be a faulty coil,a common problem area on most fords.Also make sure the ht leads are genuine ford parts.
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Possibly an air leak on the inlet side that's sealing itself (partially anyway) as the engine warms up. This would also be consistent with your comments about it clearing quicker on the journey home, as the chances are the ambient temperature is higher when you leave work than when you leave the house in the morning.
Not sure on the specifics of the Mondeo 1.8, but I know from bitter experience that not all sensor faults leave codes. A failing coolant temperature sensor will often give symptoms that change as the engine warms or cools.
Cheers
DP
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When they changed the plugs did they put the correct type in or some cheapos and are all the leads properly seated.
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Thanks for all the comments so far - some good areas I can check myself.
With regard the leads and plugs - I only changed the leads as a sort of 'substitution test' so for that reason used cheapos (and kept the originals). My trust in main dealers is minimal but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they fitted correct plugs. No, on second thoughts maybe I'll check.
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Could be an EGR fault ......some mk 2 Modeos suffer from this which leads to lump running
Not an expert on this but try the following forum, you may find some useful stuff from owners with similar problems:
www.fordmondeo.org/forum/showforum.php?fid/84/
s.
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Thanks again. I tried the link and the only problem I could relate to mine involved a rubber tee piece. Looked around (Duratec HE) but couldn't find it, the only tee I found was mettalic.
On the earlier suggestion of coolant temp sensor can anyone tell me if it's the same sensor feeding the ecu as is feeding the temp gauge ?
I had 5 minutes escape from the kids to look under the bonnet to day so opened up every electrical connection I could find for a spray of WD40. Also checked the plugs for obvious damage to ceramics but nothing.
I did however spot that a linkage had popped off which seemed to be connected to a valve in an air or, more likely, vacuum line. I re-attached it and opened the throttle and predictably it jumped off again. Can anyone tell me what this is and whether it could be linked to my problem ?
See photo at www.baywindow.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/5.html
(Engineer hence bad mechanic).
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Spot on link, funnily enough I'd gone with a similar solution only with a couple of layers of cling film rather than PTFE tape. PTFE will cope with the temperature better so I'll swap it out tonight.
Unfortunetly nothing to do with the juddering though. Although the car started perfectly this morning I still got all the juddering down the road. Unless anyone can come up with any other easy checks I'll test the coolant sensor and if that doesn't work book it in with the dealer.
PS: Another really odd thing - struggled to start it yesterday and at one point the whole starting process seemed to pause and both speedo and rev counter went to maximum before slowly dropping back to zero. Weird.>>
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Next on the list must be the idle air control valve if the car is a Mk3. Seems to be a service item :-( There is a work around (bodge) which involves depressing the accelerator as the car is switched off, I think this opens the IACV ready for the next start, others think it purges the exhaust gases from the inlet manifold. Perhaps it does both.
Gauges doing strange things can mean battery problems or earthing problems .... I think.
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i had a similar problem with a 1997 mondeo many moons ago and it turned out to be the pipe from the inlet manifold to the brake servo had perished so i would have a look for an air leak on or going to the inlet manifold
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Problem Solved !
Rather disappointing I'm afraid. It was one of the most likely faults mentioned quite early in this thread but something I never got time away from the kids long enough to check - a cracked coil pack.
Gave in and took it to a local dealer (the only one I hadn't previously used and vowed never to go back to). Excellent service, good chat with the assigned mechanic and 40 minutes later a call saying they'd fix it. The crack wasn't evident until the pack was off the car, quick replacement and the fault cleared.
Thanks for all the advice, I couldn't use it all but it still could have avoided an unnecessary expense.
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