Well,Ive had this motor for a wee while now,& all I can say about the mondeo mk3 130 is:Biggest pile of poo Ive ever owned!
Had a drive in another 2 mondeo's & CANNOT believe how bad these gearboxes are.Jesus FORD!!! Guy up the rd from me is selling his ST for a fraction of what he wanted for it originally,as he thinks the same thing. Asked him about his gearbox,& he said "yeah,they're not smooth at all eh,thats the main reason I'm getting shot of it.Comfy enough to drive but everything is just crap on em."
Cannot believe how many are on the roads as well.
If any Mondeo driver ever had a go in a VW,Audi,Merc,they'd die wi their feet up,the difference is shocking.My MK5 Golf,& passat(AND 406HDi!!),would drive like a dream compared to these.I'm amazed at just how bad they are. Steering on em is an issue regarding a lot o folk including me,having a slight pull to left/right,even after 4 wheel tracking etc done. Unbelieveably,even the manager at Arnold Clark in Dundee said theywere crap lol. At the time I thought "how can a ford dealer manager say that about his own company's make?" But he's right though.
Cant wait to get rid o this heap.Not a blemish on it too.Looks good but that is about the size of it.
So,in essence, anyone thinking of buying a Mondeo MK3 TDCi,my advice is DONT!! RUN like the wind in the other direction & never look back. Buy a Vauxhall or anything. But if you dont mind a notchy gearbox(especially when they're cold),slow as hell at low revs until the turbo kicks in, frozen rear brake callipers,subframe bushes that dont last long etc,DMF issues that cost a bloody fortune,then you'll love them.I wish I was told all this before I bought one

 

Ok

 

Good luck selling it on here then

 

had my mk3 mondeo zetec s 130bhp 6 speed for 4 years now and its a great car

 

you've bought a lemon, get over it

and why are you comparing newer cars to older ones?

 

They arnt that bad.

 

You have a point about it bein a lemon mate,but wouldn't want anyone to buy one if they could help it. Few mechanics have said absolutely no problems with the mt75 tranny,but sh't loads o probs with the mmt6. Think I'm away to part-ex it for a 530d hopefully.
Is there any1 else who thinks mondy's ain't any good or just me? Know there's millions I them but folk up here don't tend to keep em for long tho. Maybe they got sick I them as well?

 

i've had mine for about 5 years and nothing has gone wrong with it that wasn't self inflicted other than the fuel pump packing up and the sunroof motor stopping in the wrong stop position

 

My tddi is a brilliant car, done 130k now, still drives like new with no rattles or squeaks. The body work does look a bit tired but it is 11 years old!

 

my other car (406) was like that.only thing that went,was fuel pump as well.dont get me wrong,mondeo is a comfy car to drive,& Im not in a desperate hurry to sell,but if I had a choice again,I wouldnt touch any Ford. In saying that,I wouldnt touch another VW (PD),either. Think my next car will be a 530d or Audi tdi.
Ford dealers as well,are enough to put anyone off.(Think any dealer is getting that way though). One of the best cars Ive seen in a lot of years was my neighbours astra 1.7td.No grunt but really sound & great fuel consumption.Ah the joys of motoring
Also,Im the type of person who will never sell someone a car & not tell em there's a serious fault with it,just so i can get rid of it. Never did it,& never will. Im a believer in karma,what goes round comes around. cant stand when folk sell cars that are riddled with serious or expensive faults.

 

It does sound like you've got a proper lemon!

 

People do sell dodgey cars and its not fair on the buyers.

 

Iv had a 2.0 duratech h.e petrol one for 18 months as my partners daily and iv just had to put a set of leads on it!! Other then the leads iv just put petrol in and drove it!! One of the most reliable cars iv had.

 

Had a 2.0L tddi which i kept up to 160,000 miles, only issue i had was a fuel pump which was Ł120.

Still driving about now.

Have a ST tdci mondeo now and love it, only issue was the EGR valve in it, its now near 100k on it.

 

Dan can I ask you somethin? Whats your gearbox like when its cold,downshifting from 3rd to 2nd? Can you get it straight away etc?
I still have my old gearbox & just wondering if its worth my while getting the 1st/2nd synchros/hubs redone & then sticking it in once its a bit warmer

 

My mates mk3 ST tdci is smooth as anything and a lovely drive.

Now VW passat, 62 plate I had last week the gear box was far worse than a mk3 Mondeo.

And as for advising people to buy a vauxhaul, you must be mental.

 

Have honestly never had a problem with the gearboxes in any of my Mondeos (Mk1, 2, 3 and 4). Othe than the dif dying in the Mk2. Have also driven several Mk3s and they've all been fine - Even the company pool car that was more abused than you can possibly imagine has a perfectly acceptable change.

It genuinely sounds like you've got a 'bad 'un'.

 

i use my mondeo zetec s tdci as my daily car, its fine. nice car to drive, just sit back and drive as for the gearbox i think its as smooth as any other car ive driven cant say i have problems when changing gear and seems to be fine in the cold

 

I blame user error !

 

Dan you sound like ya know what you're talkin about. This box that I had put into this mondeo-I've got nearly exactly the same symptoms as the old box.Im gettin a tad frustrated lol. When engines cold,I have a bit of a problem changing down from 3rd to 2nd.It gets better after about 5mins of driving. Ive replaced box,DMF,cables(ford),clutch & slave. Unless Im the unluckiest mk3 owner for a while,I'm maybe missing something else. I'm beginning to think along lines of (i know its maybe waay out,but) air somewhere else in system(not at slave).
Surely both boxes cant be as bad as each other. I know it DOES happen but......

 

Daft as it sounds does it have the correct oil?

 

it'll probably be the cable adjustment

 

yeah its correct oil.1547953 from ford.
Cant be the cables,theyre brand new,& only one can be adjusted.the other just fits on as bought.And as far as i can tell,the 1 thats adjustable is the one that actually selects the gears(one with counterweight),yeah? Im just wondering,what makes you think cable adjustment? im curious to know

 

because there was a thread only a few weeks ago regarding the cables on cars becoming tight in the colder weather and even my transit suffers with gear selection issues in the cold until it warms up

if you have had this motor for a while and it's always had these issues AND it's had a new box, it would point to it being something other than the box perhaps

 

its a dificult one thats for sure. Its not quite as bad as the 1st box,but seein as 1st/2nd gear synchro/hubs are the 1st to go,normally,(thru most use),Its hard to tell if Ive just got someone else's bad synchro problem also lol.I'm going to try adjusting the 1 selector cable in morning. The selector on top of the box can select all gears no prob,when done thru the selector tower,and it cant be clutch related(clutch itself) as everything is brand new,& been checked by 3 diff mechs(1 of which is quite well known as reliable in the trade).I think im gonna take my old box to have new 1st/2nd syncs renewed & maybe fit it in few weeks. Im a bit wary of who to goto though,as 2 well know tranny specialists near dundee,BOTH are well,not reassuring. One put wrong oil in box when level was low in box,AND the other seems to think its quite okay to install new synchros/hubs etc,WITHOUT preloading them..
Anyone know anyone near my neck of the woods that knows their stuff?(I just have a feeling that someone's gonna say one of the guys i was on about lol)
actually dojj,just re-reading your post,The gear stick/cables are ok.they're just a bit of baulking at the point of trying to engage 2nd(from 3rd) when cold.the cables are brand spanking new so age/cold related doesnt really come into it.If I take connectors of tower,cable move freely & loosly enough so its not that. Ive been told by one guy that mondeo's are very tempermental gearboxes(mmt6),if baulk-rings are not 100%,but who knows

 

Hi mate. I can honestly say that the gearbox (touch a lot of wood!!) has been the least of my problems. Fuel system has been the main issue, although the Rear Calipers and Rear Sub-frame needed changing too. But they were relatively minor by comparison. Like you, my experience with the Mk3 (115, in my case) has really put me off Fords, and up to now I would never buy anything else. However, I am coming round to the thought of having a Mk 4, after the reassurance of quite a few people on here, that things, by and large, have been sorted on them. I have done quite a bit of research on the web, looking at viable alternatives and speaking to lots of local garages, and the consensus seems to be that all modern diesels are fine when they're OK, but when they go wrong!!!!

The real decider, is that most things on a Ford are relatively cheap to correct, but other manufacturers are a lot more expensive in this area, and all things like this must be taken into account, for me at least. Even Passats and Peugeots have diesel issues, but they do cost a lot more to correct compared to the Ford. I would consider a petrol, but road tax is becoming a bigger issue all of the time, with regards to them.

Happy hunting

 

Ive got all my mk3's probs sorted inc new gearbox,and Im trying to sell her now lol
Im gonna try out a 530d manual. lot more expensive to fix but wow what a car. quicker than sh*t off a shovel & pleasure to drive.
asked couple bulgarian mechanics about bmw's in snow,ice etc,& they just laughed & said in their country they have 3' snow-drifts & only got stuck once each. ah well time will tell
ps got a 2007 tdci with new gearbox,injectors,4 wheel alignment,egr,pads,discs,stat(&oil!),128k if anyones interested

 

All I can say mate, is that we were on the M25 Dartford Side two year ago and all the Beamers and Mercs were stuck in less than 1 foot of snow, but my Mk3 had no issues (with the snow at least). Is your 2007 a mk4 1.8, 2.0 or 2.2? If you had all of that trouble, it doesn't sound to me as if they've ironed all of the issues out that they had on the mk3.

 

Its mk3 tdci late one.
I tend to think folk who get stuck in rwd cars have got no winter tyres on,no weight in boot,& in the wrong gear at wrong speed.
I know a lotta polish/bulgarian mecanics that drive em & never been stuck once since theyve been in uk. They even said in their own countries,very rarely do they get stuck(& thats with no street gritting etc).
My old man was a taxi driver for 30 yrs & he reckons the early rwd cars just take some getting used to,& that its a learning process

 

My 2007 ST TDCi has been great for me in the 4 years I've owned it, bought it with 47k on the clock and it now has 91k on it, done the usual servicing, brakes and EGR valve and that's it

steve

 

I'm truly envious Mate. Mine had 90,000 when I bought it 3 years ago. Fuel system probs started at 105,000, and now coming up 125,000. Maybe the old adage that Diesels go on forever doesn't apply anymore.

 

The MTX75 gearbox in my 2002 ST220 has also been quite notchy and occasionally cruchy, particularly between 1st, 2nd and 3rd when both cold and warm, 4th and 5th always fine, bought the car on 91k but just changed the gearbox oil a couple of weeks ago at 106k and discovered there wasn't quite enough oil in it (only 0.3l less than there should be but possibly enough to make a difference), so put enough of the new spec gearbox oil in (1.9l of genuine Ford stuff), and although still a little notchy when cold, it disappears now once warm

But have replaced numerous other things on it in the last 18 months which has probably added up to a small fortune, but my previous car before that, a Mk1 2.3 Galaxy, bought with 101000 miles, I sold with 168000 miles on it and not a single thing wrong with it, and only needed an ABS sensor in 4 years of owning it (apart from general wear and tear stuff).

 

the mtx75 gearbox is problem free when compared to mmt6. you shouldnt be experiencing this unless the previous owner had issues wth the clutch dragging slightly or was extremely hashy. this can affect your synchromeshes & the demise of the box. have you checked the alignment of your cables? all it takes is a half mm & some gears will be tight/notchy. and changing gearbox oil can sometimes be a bad thing as synchromeshes need friction to operate in these types of boxes. people sometimes dont realise this & think the opposite