Ford Mondeo collapsed fly wheel

Car: Ford Mondeo
Variant: 2.0DTI
Model Year: 2002
Categories: Running Rough, Starting & Power Loss
Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and was hoping for some expert advice.

I bought my Mondeo for £2400 from a garage in October 2009. It's been well looked after and I was very happy with it - for the first 2 weeks at least. The garage provided me with a 6 months warranty with a claim limit of £750.

2 weeks after buying it I had a mass diesel spillage. The fuel filter had been strapped in with cable ties instead of the correct bracket and it cost me £140 to get sorted locally. After this I thought it would be OK but I then began to get problems with the radio cutting out, the drivers window not working properly and most importantly, the engine cutting out whilst driving. Problems then appeared wih getting the car to start. I've had 4 visits from the AA in the past 4 weeks just to get me started but nobody could be sure what the problm was.

Anyway this week the AA culdn't even get the car to start and so I got towed to a Ford dealership. They've diagnosed it to have a collapsed fly wheel which has filled my starter motor with filings and swarf (I've since found that this is a common problem with Mondeos at about 70k miles?). The bill for everything will be about £1100, or £1300 if I also get the clutch replaced.

I find out tomorrow whether the warranty company will pay for these works but to be honest I just want my money back. Even if they do pay up I'm left with a big bill and I don't know what further problems the car is hiding.

I'm basically looking for advice on the best way to go about things. I'm desparate for a car as the new baby is due in just over a week. At the minute I'm having to fork out for a hire car. I've been in touch Trading Standards as I'm hoping to claim my money back from the garage under the Sale of Goods Act (basically because the car has never been fit for purpose and because it's now undriveable after less than 4 months and 2000 miles). This could drag on a bit so I'll probably have to fork out for the car to be repaired until its sorted.

What's my best course of action?!?!?!?!
Posted: Feb 25, 2010 (14 years ago)
goto an independant garage and get a quote from them to replace the flywheel and starter.
it will be less that main agent thats for sure. then its less of an outlay for you as you have £750 in warranty claim... try that!!!

good luck!!!
Posted Mar 28, 2010 (14 years ago)
Well just to give yous an update. The independent garage I took it to said they wouldn't be able to do the work as the new DMF and starter motor would need programmed in and they didn't have the codes to do it. The warranty company wouldn't pay out as their assessor said the collapsed DMF was down to a partial repair being done in the past, i.e. he clutch had been recently changed (showing less than 5% wear) and the DMF should have been changed at the same time.

The garage I bought it from denied that they had changed the clutch but I managed to track down the previous owner who said when he sold it to them it still had the original clutch on it.

After much letter writing and phone calls I've managed to claim back every penny I paid out for repairs (£1100) through my credit card company and also claimed back for the hire car I had whilst mine was getting fixed (£200). Result!
Posted Apr 25, 2010 (14 years ago)

This problem is archived

If you're having a similar problem please click below to re-post this problem, you can then customise it to suit your situation.

Join the community
Got a question? Can you answer other questions here? If so please...
More problems with the 2002 model year Ford Mondeo

We have 92 problems and solutions in our database for this model year of the car.

View all Ford Mondeo Problems