New commuter hack Mondeo - petrol this time
Discussion
13aines said:
What did you use?
I'm using a Griffin Autopilot plugged into the ciggy lighter and aux port. It charges the iPhone, and passes lineout to the aux port in the glovebox, and has buttons on the top to control the iphone.
Plugged into the aux directly, no whine. With the Griffin device I get a whine that increases with revs. I can hear it in the background always, especially if the song is quiet, and the headunit is turned up a bit more. It's also more noticeable with more load on the alternator, e.g. heated screens on.
It's driving me nuts! My only thought was to add an inline amp so I could turn the headunit volume down to minimum.
I have the same thing with the iPhone plugged in and fed through the aux port. Seems you can't power and play at the same time without the whine. Unplug the power and it's fine. I assume a Griffin autopilot needs to be powered all the time though? I'm using a Griffin Autopilot plugged into the ciggy lighter and aux port. It charges the iPhone, and passes lineout to the aux port in the glovebox, and has buttons on the top to control the iphone.
Plugged into the aux directly, no whine. With the Griffin device I get a whine that increases with revs. I can hear it in the background always, especially if the song is quiet, and the headunit is turned up a bit more. It's also more noticeable with more load on the alternator, e.g. heated screens on.
It's driving me nuts! My only thought was to add an inline amp so I could turn the headunit volume down to minimum.
Edited by 13aines on Sunday 29th May 23:08
charltjr said:
Just a little weekend update. The Mondeo now has almost 60k miles on it, I'm getting a bit worried it might be getting worn out and I should replace it. Obviously I'm kidding, but it is odd to think that in just a few months I've driven not far off it's usual annual mileage.
I STILL haven't sorted the boot struts out, but now the weather has warmed up a bit they're holding the boot much better so I imagine I'll not bother until the lid hits me in the head again. My epitaph may well be "Knew I should have changed those boot struts"
It's going in for an MoT and a service next week. Gave it a very quick check over this morning and other than a few bulbs being out in the rear sidelights (do any Mk3 Mondeos actually have a full working set?
) there's nothing obvious that will give it a problem. Will be interesting to see just how old and manky some of the filters are or aren't on my "Full Ford main dealer history" car........
I've sorted out the only thing I was missing in terms of spec with £45 of bits from Amazon. The car now has a Bluetooth unit that plugs into the aux port in the Glovebox and does streaming audio as well as calls. I can also connect two phones to it at once which is great since I've got a work and a personal mobile.
It would have been a bit cheaper but I needed to get a ground loop filter kit for it to get rid of some noise on the connection. The wiring is a bit messy but.... Meh. I've got some little stick-on clips which I'll use to tidy it up a bit, I'm not going to rip the centre console apart just for that.
I was a bit annoyed to find that the 12v socket was permanently live as that would mean either putting a switch in or unplugging the kit every time I park up, but it turns out that all I have to do is move a fuse to a different position and that makes the socket ignition switched.
The car continues to be flawless. It's giving an easy 35mpg on the commute rising to not far off 40 if I just bimble along with economy in mind, decent to drive, very comfortable. Even the climate control works perfectly, ice cold air when needed.
This is probably the point where it horribly, horribly fails the MoT
Glad to hear it's going well. Mine is now quickly up to 110k (35k of that mine, since end 2014). MOT in February was painless - brake pipe and not much else. The oddly designed bonnet lock had failed a few weeks earlier which needed sorting out. My friendly independent was able to get the bonnet open (by removing the grille) and fix it, but really what a daft design. I STILL haven't sorted the boot struts out, but now the weather has warmed up a bit they're holding the boot much better so I imagine I'll not bother until the lid hits me in the head again. My epitaph may well be "Knew I should have changed those boot struts"
It's going in for an MoT and a service next week. Gave it a very quick check over this morning and other than a few bulbs being out in the rear sidelights (do any Mk3 Mondeos actually have a full working set?
) there's nothing obvious that will give it a problem. Will be interesting to see just how old and manky some of the filters are or aren't on my "Full Ford main dealer history" car........I've sorted out the only thing I was missing in terms of spec with £45 of bits from Amazon. The car now has a Bluetooth unit that plugs into the aux port in the Glovebox and does streaming audio as well as calls. I can also connect two phones to it at once which is great since I've got a work and a personal mobile.
It would have been a bit cheaper but I needed to get a ground loop filter kit for it to get rid of some noise on the connection. The wiring is a bit messy but.... Meh. I've got some little stick-on clips which I'll use to tidy it up a bit, I'm not going to rip the centre console apart just for that.
I was a bit annoyed to find that the 12v socket was permanently live as that would mean either putting a switch in or unplugging the kit every time I park up, but it turns out that all I have to do is move a fuse to a different position and that makes the socket ignition switched.
The car continues to be flawless. It's giving an easy 35mpg on the commute rising to not far off 40 if I just bimble along with economy in mind, decent to drive, very comfortable. Even the climate control works perfectly, ice cold air when needed.
This is probably the point where it horribly, horribly fails the MoT
That aside the car is doing a great job - I remain thoroughly impressed with these cars. I'm probably due another spring or two soon (!) but for now I'm enjoying a car that is always nice to get into, swallows my road bike easily, is always comfortable, sits happily at 75-80 and returns 37-39 mpg week in week out. Also the gearing on these is great - a recent visit to 100mph (bored on a very long straight stretch of m-way) and the car was just over 4k rpm and actually felt smoother and quieter than it does at 80, they are great high-speed cruisers potentially.
PS It seems the boot floor (the board over the wheel well) is loose and makes a bit of a racket - makes it sound like something more serious is loose at the back of the car, but obviously nothing to worry about. Anybody have any experience/bright ideas about properly locating it? (And frankly if that's the biggest thing I have to worry about on a 110k 11 year old Mondeo worth about £950, then I don't have much to complain about do I?!)
paulmaurice99 said:
I have the same thing with the iPhone plugged in and fed through the aux port. Seems you can't power and play at the same time without the whine. Unplug the power and it's fine. I assume a Griffin autopilot needs to be powered all the time though?
Yup it does. I bought one of these... Some reviews say there is no appreciable drop in quality so i'm hoping it will be well worth a punt for a fiver - i'll report back.charltjr said:
I got one of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0037NYYFY
It arrived properly retail boxed so I don't think it's some dodgy fake, does the job.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0037NYYFY
It arrived properly retail boxed so I don't think it's some dodgy fake, does the job.
13aines said:
Thanks!
Does it affect the sound quality much?
I saw it in my searches, but saw that some of the reviews mentioned attenuated sound and just a general drop in quality.
Sounds fine to me, bluetooth is a bit average for sound quality at the best of times but piped through a stock Mondeo head unit and speakers I seriously doubt anyone would really notice a difference. Bass doesn't seem quite as good but then it's a filter so I've no doubt it's affecting something a bit. Perfectly listenable.Does it affect the sound quality much?
I saw it in my searches, but saw that some of the reviews mentioned attenuated sound and just a general drop in quality.
£10 well spent with a breaker, and an easy job.Thanks for the heads up on the Kensington thingy.
Works really well noise wise even with lots of load on the alternator and high volume. And, I managed to wire it all up neatly without removing any trim.
Short end of the lead plugs into my Griffin Autopilot, down the LHS of the centre console and under the trim that runs along the tunnel. The box part fits tightly behind there, and the long end of the cable reaches the extension lead that drops behind the glovebox and down behind the dash to the tunnel/centre console side trim.
Works really well noise wise even with lots of load on the alternator and high volume. And, I managed to wire it all up neatly without removing any trim.
Short end of the lead plugs into my Griffin Autopilot, down the LHS of the centre console and under the trim that runs along the tunnel. The box part fits tightly behind there, and the long end of the cable reaches the extension lead that drops behind the glovebox and down behind the dash to the tunnel/centre console side trim.
I buy all my cars preabused so that I don't have problems like this. My current Mondeo had a woman owner before me and it's pretty clear that she was more interested in what was happening on the back seat than anything happening outside. As a result every panel has a dent and the back seat was 5mm deep in crisps, chocolate and whatever other baby food is available. It took some shovelling out. The mechanicals though are all good, it came to me for loose change and 2 years on it's still doing well. 118k so far. One creaky Mac strut when the thing is being manoeuvred, but the MoT guy is unconcerned. At each MoT it hands in a couple of bushes and stuff like rusty brake pipes and a knackered cable, so I'm relaxed. The central locking on the passenger door has even healed itself miraculously without any intervention from me.
Just ticked over 8,000 miles in my ownership so time for a quick update.
One thing that I am finding interesting is that I'm really enjoying not having a diesel, by which I mean instead of relying on the in-gear torque I need to work the gearbox and engine when I want to "make progress" on quicker roads. It makes driving just a bit more involving for me, although I'm sure many people would find it annoying and miss the "foot down and go" torque of a turbo engine.
Other than that, there's really nothing to say. It's filthy and needs a good wash. Oh, the windscreen washer fluid level warning light came on the other day, that's about as exciting as it's got
One thing that I am finding interesting is that I'm really enjoying not having a diesel, by which I mean instead of relying on the in-gear torque I need to work the gearbox and engine when I want to "make progress" on quicker roads. It makes driving just a bit more involving for me, although I'm sure many people would find it annoying and miss the "foot down and go" torque of a turbo engine.
Other than that, there's really nothing to say. It's filthy and needs a good wash. Oh, the windscreen washer fluid level warning light came on the other day, that's about as exciting as it's got
I have bought my wife one of these in 2001 2.0 Ghia spec but its the four door saloon with 115000 on it. 2 nearly new tyres on the front, climate, mud flaps all round, ford service history, 6 disc cd player curtain airbags, alloys lovely spec really, admittedly it had no mot but you don't know if you don't take a chance. Anyway parted with £100 and shoved it in for an Mot and it went straight through with no advisories. I have changed the oil and took the flaps out of the inlet manifold and that's all I have had to do to it. Could not recommend these cars any more highly.
charltjr said:
Just ticked over 8,000 miles in my ownership so time for a quick update.
One thing that I am finding interesting is that I'm really enjoying not having a diesel, by which I mean instead of relying on the in-gear torque I need to work the gearbox and engine when I want to "make progress" on quicker roads. It makes driving just a bit more involving for me, although I'm sure many people would find it annoying and miss the "foot down and go" torque of a turbo engine.
Other than that, there's really nothing to say. It's filthy and needs a good wash. Oh, the windscreen washer fluid level warning light came on the other day, that's about as exciting as it's got
We're neck and neck then... I have had mine since March and put about 8k on it. Windscreen washer light has come on a couple of times now too, and mine is also in desperate need of a wash and polish.One thing that I am finding interesting is that I'm really enjoying not having a diesel, by which I mean instead of relying on the in-gear torque I need to work the gearbox and engine when I want to "make progress" on quicker roads. It makes driving just a bit more involving for me, although I'm sure many people would find it annoying and miss the "foot down and go" torque of a turbo engine.
Other than that, there's really nothing to say. It's filthy and needs a good wash. Oh, the windscreen washer fluid level warning light came on the other day, that's about as exciting as it's got
Averaging 41mpg with some heavy footed driving, motorways, and towns. Not bad at all.
Got loads of stuff in the back moving out of my flat too. I got a 190cm long TV unit in there by pushing the front passenger seat forwards, tilting it forwards, and folding the rear seats - but I did have to fold the rear seat base up and unbolt it to utilise the passenger seat space! This usage alone though has made me re-think changing to an E60 5 series saloon...
My stepdad has an x-type estate with leather interior, and I think my Mondeo drivers seat is inordinately more comfortable as soon as I sit in it, let alone if I did a long journey! Lumbar support is good, but the seat generally feels better.
Stereo working well with the Griffin AutoPilot, iPhone, and Kensington Noise Reducing CarAudio Cable, all wired neatly down the side of the tunnel trim. Sounds pretty good indeed, no desire to fit an iPod controlling headunit or better speakers.
Had a few days away in Devon this week, which confirmed that a) a 2hr+ journey hurts my left leg for some reason and b) no-one around Bristol knows how to use a motorway......
I also need a new windscreen, which is really annoying but hardly the car's fault. A stonechip picked up near the edge of the screen turned into a crack overnight, so I'll be on to the insurers to get that done.
Oddly after my last update where I said I really enjoyed the revvy nature of the engine compared to the "big thump of torque" turbo engines I found myself caught out a couple of times on really steep inclines and fervently wished I had a big thump of torque on tap. More to do with me still not being quite used to driving like that - the last time I was on the same roads was in an Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo which certainly didn't lack torque
I also need a new windscreen, which is really annoying but hardly the car's fault. A stonechip picked up near the edge of the screen turned into a crack overnight, so I'll be on to the insurers to get that done.
Oddly after my last update where I said I really enjoyed the revvy nature of the engine compared to the "big thump of torque" turbo engines I found myself caught out a couple of times on really steep inclines and fervently wished I had a big thump of torque on tap. More to do with me still not being quite used to driving like that - the last time I was on the same roads was in an Alpina D3 Bi-Turbo which certainly didn't lack torque
Update.....
67k miles on the clock now so I've done just over 11k in the last seven months, the car continues to soak it up as you'd expect.
The mondy has needed a new battery, not surprising as it was still running the 10+ year old original Ford battery. Tried a recovery cycle on a CTEK charger but that didn't help. £45 from ECP for a Bosch replacement and it's good as gold again.
I had the cracked windscreen replaced through insurance which was all done very smoothly, no issues with the replacement at all.
Sure, it's white goods motoring, I feel no more affection for the car than I do for my washing machine, but I can't deny it is doing a superb job and I'm still really pleased with it.
I'll be moving house next week which will cut my commuting mileage down to about 6k a year. It'll be interesting to see just how long my respect for this car can fend off the obvious need to get something with six or eight cylinders once I'm not doing many miles.
67k miles on the clock now so I've done just over 11k in the last seven months, the car continues to soak it up as you'd expect.
The mondy has needed a new battery, not surprising as it was still running the 10+ year old original Ford battery. Tried a recovery cycle on a CTEK charger but that didn't help. £45 from ECP for a Bosch replacement and it's good as gold again.
I had the cracked windscreen replaced through insurance which was all done very smoothly, no issues with the replacement at all.
Sure, it's white goods motoring, I feel no more affection for the car than I do for my washing machine, but I can't deny it is doing a superb job and I'm still really pleased with it.
I'll be moving house next week which will cut my commuting mileage down to about 6k a year. It'll be interesting to see just how long my respect for this car can fend off the obvious need to get something with six or eight cylinders once I'm not doing many miles.
A Mk3 Mondeo is an insanely useful house-moving companion. It's done countless tip runs and shuttling between houses over the last few weeks, picked up three loads of logs, moved items too delicate for the van to take, picked up eBay furniture purchases and as usual hasn't missed a beat.
I've settled into the new commute now and it turns out I will be doing about 4k miles a year on the commute, not 6k. My total annual mileage will be somewhere between 6k and 8k miles. Makes a nice change after a couple of decades of doing 20k+ miles a year!
MPG has dropped significantly, now down to low 30's MPG but I'm still more than happy with that given the commute and general use of the car is much more urban than it used to me. If it was just used for the commute a tank of fuel will last me about a month
No changes planned at the moment, but it will be interesting to see what 2017 brings. Definitely seems rude not to investigate the possibilities of something a bit more tuneful for the commute.
I've settled into the new commute now and it turns out I will be doing about 4k miles a year on the commute, not 6k. My total annual mileage will be somewhere between 6k and 8k miles. Makes a nice change after a couple of decades of doing 20k+ miles a year!
MPG has dropped significantly, now down to low 30's MPG but I'm still more than happy with that given the commute and general use of the car is much more urban than it used to me. If it was just used for the commute a tank of fuel will last me about a month
No changes planned at the moment, but it will be interesting to see what 2017 brings. Definitely seems rude not to investigate the possibilities of something a bit more tuneful for the commute.
Reading this thread with interest as I will probably be replacing our shed (Almera 1.4) as I cant see it going through another MOT. Had MK1 V6 24v Mondeo (not ST24) about ten years ago and loved it.
Might consider a MK3 as they are big (good for a dump run) and cheap enough to leave in the station car park without the worry of carpark drongos bashing your door. Ghia will have all the toys, Could be a good call.
Might consider a MK3 as they are big (good for a dump run) and cheap enough to leave in the station car park without the worry of carpark drongos bashing your door. Ghia will have all the toys, Could be a good call.
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