Mondeo Mk1 power loss, burning smell and hissing noise

[DocSteve]

Hi,

Have recently bought a Mk1 Mondeo estate with possibly only 50k genuine miles on clock. Anyway, only issue was a temp gauge that seemed to be reading too low. Took it to Halfords autocentre and they checked all cooling system and replaced the temp sensor. They reckoned rest of the car was in good shape. On taking it out of the garage I immediately noticed a lack of power and a hissing / scraping sound coming from under the bonnet on acceleration. I pulled over and noticed a smell of burning. Can't see any leaks or obvious damage. The noise seems to be originating from around the cambelt area.

I am obviously taking it back to them tomorrow but want to try and form an opinion of what they could have done to it in order that they don't try and claim something not relating to their work. It seems quite odd that it was fine when driven in this morning and now in this state after being in the garage!

Any ideas most welcome - I am struggling to tie this together. It's dark and I can't really see very well under the bonnet unfortunately.

Thanks
Steve

[Zad]

I think I would be checking to see if any cables got pushed against the exhaust manifold or engine block. Especially those around the temperature sender.

[DocSteve]

Thanks,

It turns out it was co-incidental it seems - the exhaust box appears to have failed so that not much was escaping and the cat was burning red hot. Fortunately the cat is ok and emissions fine. New box cost me £127. It's hard to imagine how it was related to the temp sensor job but a bit odd....

[anonymous-user]

Has the CAT been checked properly? If they get cooked they melt, resticting the flow again!

[DocSteve]

Dave_ST220 said:

Has the CAT been checked properly? If they get cooked they melt, resticting the flow again!

Well, they said they shone a torch through it and it looked as it should, and the emissions are ok. Not sure if this is sufficient but am hoping so? Thanks

[qube_TA]

Is it a diesel?

I had a split in the pipe from the intercooler on mine which caused a hissing sound and loss of power.

No burning smell though.