Mondeo Ghia (The Grandad Mobile)
Discussion
2 months on and I think its update time!
2 new boots on the rear means I now have a minimum of 6mm tread, perfect for winter.
Soaking wet footwell means a lose pollen filter cover and having to dry out the whole interior - excuse for a wet vac.
Now anyone who has driven a MK3 Mondeo must have experienced the terrible headlights. Friend of mine bought some OEM xenon projectors for his but never got round to fitting them. They were in clean condition so snapped them up for £30. How hard can it be. Turns out very.
Turns out to fit them to a halogen equipped car you need the connector from a Xenon car (impossible to find). The leveling and washers arent a problem, can be retrofitted but its impossible to run the existing ballasts and ignitors with the halogen wiring. So onto eBay and picked up another 2 halogen headlights. Also picked up a cheap HID kit and pulled the Xenon loom out, and retrofitted the halogen loom.
Then fitted a HID kit with convertors to the D2S Xenon bulbs and the ballasts to power them.
Plugged them into the car which involves taking the grille out and they refused to power up. Turns out they need a relay to power up, as the Mondeo wiring isnt powerful enough to handle a HID kit. which is a lot of ballache. Total cost so far £40.
Decided against further hassle and cost so swapped the clear lens from the Xenons to my halogen headlights. Car now looks nice and sharp.
Decided to do things properly which has improved the lights one hell of a lot.
LED sidelights from Halfords - believe it or not they're brilliant!
And now the passenger side keeps misting up despite being resealed. Going to see how it fares with some heat in it and a run to Belgium saturday to attempt to dry it out.
Although we have another issue that I think I've solved. 15 turns of the key it took to start the other day. Starter simply refused to engage. Happened for a few days then yesterday and this morning was perfect. Jacked it up with the intent of replacing it as its an auto - I cant bump it. Main power lead to the starter was sodding loose. How its been working for months defys me. All cleaned up and refitted nice and tight, seems to turn over quicker.
Fingers crossed!
To do list : Sort out slightly frayed drivers seat belt, cant source one atm! Fix leak on passenger headlight. Upgrade interior parts.
2 new boots on the rear means I now have a minimum of 6mm tread, perfect for winter.
Soaking wet footwell means a lose pollen filter cover and having to dry out the whole interior - excuse for a wet vac.
Now anyone who has driven a MK3 Mondeo must have experienced the terrible headlights. Friend of mine bought some OEM xenon projectors for his but never got round to fitting them. They were in clean condition so snapped them up for £30. How hard can it be. Turns out very.
Turns out to fit them to a halogen equipped car you need the connector from a Xenon car (impossible to find). The leveling and washers arent a problem, can be retrofitted but its impossible to run the existing ballasts and ignitors with the halogen wiring. So onto eBay and picked up another 2 halogen headlights. Also picked up a cheap HID kit and pulled the Xenon loom out, and retrofitted the halogen loom.
Then fitted a HID kit with convertors to the D2S Xenon bulbs and the ballasts to power them.
Plugged them into the car which involves taking the grille out and they refused to power up. Turns out they need a relay to power up, as the Mondeo wiring isnt powerful enough to handle a HID kit. which is a lot of ballache. Total cost so far £40.
Decided against further hassle and cost so swapped the clear lens from the Xenons to my halogen headlights. Car now looks nice and sharp.
Decided to do things properly which has improved the lights one hell of a lot.
LED sidelights from Halfords - believe it or not they're brilliant!
And now the passenger side keeps misting up despite being resealed. Going to see how it fares with some heat in it and a run to Belgium saturday to attempt to dry it out.
Although we have another issue that I think I've solved. 15 turns of the key it took to start the other day. Starter simply refused to engage. Happened for a few days then yesterday and this morning was perfect. Jacked it up with the intent of replacing it as its an auto - I cant bump it. Main power lead to the starter was sodding loose. How its been working for months defys me. All cleaned up and refitted nice and tight, seems to turn over quicker.
Fingers crossed!
To do list : Sort out slightly frayed drivers seat belt, cant source one atm! Fix leak on passenger headlight. Upgrade interior parts.
Edited by nipsips on Thursday 4th December 15:56
Pollen filter was a pain on my ST220. Ended up adding a touch of sealant over the top of the scuttle (which solved it)
Havin had xenons they weren't that good - even with new bulbs, so I think your option is the best solution to be honest.
Out of curiosity, when you say "upgrade interior parts", what are you thinking of?
Havin had xenons they weren't that good - even with new bulbs, so I think your option is the best solution to be honest.
Out of curiosity, when you say "upgrade interior parts", what are you thinking of?
Podie said:
Pollen filter was a pain on my ST220. Ended up adding a touch of sealant over the top of the scuttle (which solved it)
Havin had xenons they weren't that good - even with new bulbs, so I think your option is the best solution to be honest.
Out of curiosity, when you say "upgrade interior parts", what are you thinking of?
Just a few suttle upgrades are planned. So far. Depending on whether I can pick up a cream seatbelt before the MOT. If I cant then may have to find a grey velour or black leather saloon interior (like hens teeth).Havin had xenons they weren't that good - even with new bulbs, so I think your option is the best solution to be honest.
Out of curiosity, when you say "upgrade interior parts", what are you thinking of?
Planned is changing the clock for a black face, cruise control, and silver surrounded facelift cupholder and ashtray.
Not much admittedly but this may change depending on the seatbelt situation.
Did you? Sods law that I ordered one on eBay today! Thanks for the thought though!
Ill have to take my pollen filter housing off again when its a bit warmer and run a bit of sealant along it. It hasn't leaked since I refitted it but I'd rather not be in the position where you need life vests in the footwells lol.
Ill have to take my pollen filter housing off again when its a bit warmer and run a bit of sealant along it. It hasn't leaked since I refitted it but I'd rather not be in the position where you need life vests in the footwells lol.
Late to thread, but never mind..
I've recently bought a Mk3 Mondeo, and so far am very pleased with it! After a house move my commute grew to 130 miles a day (80% motorway, rest a decent A-road) so the trusty MR2 Roadster was sorn'd and left on my dad's driveway and I went looking for something suitable. Needed to be solid, safe, comfortable, cheap, and ideally have cruise. Initially discarded the Mondeo as I was only thinking of diesels and didn't fancy the various clutch/DMF/EGR/etc issues, but my dad suggested a 1.8 petrol as a) chain driven and b) even the LX has cruise control.
When I reset my search criteria I was amazed - found (locally) a 55 plate 1.8LX with 75k on it for £1295! Was prepared for the worst when I arranged to see it, but instead found an immaculate privately owned car that I bought on the spot. Also delighted to find not only cruise, but a/c, aux input, great heater and lights (at least on main beam). And although it was advertised as part history, to clear, a bit of digging found that although the service book had been neglected, it had been serviced every year, with a major completed just a few thousand miles ago! It feels built like a tank, is great to drive (but PHers know that, right?) and my bike fits easily in the back. With my journey (as described above) I'm averaging 37-38 (calculated, but the trip computer is only 0.8mpg optimistic).
Very happy. Few tiny niggles: 1. why no digital clock in the trip computer? I like to time my journeys and can't really do that very accurately with the analogue; 2. why no interior lights in the rear? 3. And on my one, I can feel that the struts for the rear hatch aren't going to last much longer. That's a (very picky) and short list...
I've recently bought a Mk3 Mondeo, and so far am very pleased with it! After a house move my commute grew to 130 miles a day (80% motorway, rest a decent A-road) so the trusty MR2 Roadster was sorn'd and left on my dad's driveway and I went looking for something suitable. Needed to be solid, safe, comfortable, cheap, and ideally have cruise. Initially discarded the Mondeo as I was only thinking of diesels and didn't fancy the various clutch/DMF/EGR/etc issues, but my dad suggested a 1.8 petrol as a) chain driven and b) even the LX has cruise control.
When I reset my search criteria I was amazed - found (locally) a 55 plate 1.8LX with 75k on it for £1295! Was prepared for the worst when I arranged to see it, but instead found an immaculate privately owned car that I bought on the spot. Also delighted to find not only cruise, but a/c, aux input, great heater and lights (at least on main beam). And although it was advertised as part history, to clear, a bit of digging found that although the service book had been neglected, it had been serviced every year, with a major completed just a few thousand miles ago! It feels built like a tank, is great to drive (but PHers know that, right?) and my bike fits easily in the back. With my journey (as described above) I'm averaging 37-38 (calculated, but the trip computer is only 0.8mpg optimistic).
Very happy. Few tiny niggles: 1. why no digital clock in the trip computer? I like to time my journeys and can't really do that very accurately with the analogue; 2. why no interior lights in the rear? 3. And on my one, I can feel that the struts for the rear hatch aren't going to last much longer. That's a (very picky) and short list...
My Ghia has rear interior lights and foot well lights too! I know what you mean about the clock, hence changing mine so it doesn't stand out quite so much!
They are great cars tbh and very well built for the money. All of my mates laughed at me when I bought it, however as I constantly remind them if it had a BMW badge on it then they would all say it's a nice car!
They are great cars tbh and very well built for the money. All of my mates laughed at me when I bought it, however as I constantly remind them if it had a BMW badge on it then they would all say it's a nice car!
Some (potentially) useful stuff - http://www.fordwiki.co.uk/index.php/Category:Monde...
Time for another update 
She is going well so far! Starter issue turned out to be dodgy connection to the main terminal - removed cleaned and all refitted and has been fine ever since!
Fitted the black facia clock - looks better but there is one with white LED hands - need to try and locate this.
In other news the 6006 has died, decided to keep mucking up loading CD's and just generally being a git.
So I've brought the Mondeo into the iPod generation. I've refitted the 6000 into the dash and plugged a iPod auxiliary adaptor into the CD changer port. This is then wired to come out in the ashtray which can be hidden away when not in use.
Quick clean and we're there! Till summer anyway. More to come!
She is going well so far! Starter issue turned out to be dodgy connection to the main terminal - removed cleaned and all refitted and has been fine ever since!
Fitted the black facia clock - looks better but there is one with white LED hands - need to try and locate this.
In other news the 6006 has died, decided to keep mucking up loading CD's and just generally being a git.
So I've brought the Mondeo into the iPod generation. I've refitted the 6000 into the dash and plugged a iPod auxiliary adaptor into the CD changer port. This is then wired to come out in the ashtray which can be hidden away when not in use.
Quick clean and we're there! Till summer anyway. More to come!
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