Mondeo front coil spring problems.
Discussion
Please forgive me if this is 'old news', but I did a search on here, and found nothing of relevance. Recently bought a mk1 Mondeo 'shed' for £100. I've known the car for the last few years as a mate got it from the original old-boy owner when he stopped driving, 65k miles. This is my first foray into FWD 'shed-dom'. Gone out the other morning to find that one of the front coil springs has broken while it's been standing there. To cut a long story short, an internet search reveals that with Mondeos of all models and years this is a common problem. I asked a professional mechanic friend who confirmed this and told me of a lady he knew who took her car for an MOT which it duly passed. She pulled out of the MOT station and had one of the springs break and pierce the front tyre! What I am wondering is if Ford ever recalled any of these cars due to this potentially deadly problem? I should add that upon inspecting the springs on my car, they (including the broken one) appear to be a lot newer in appearance than anything else under there (shiny black paint under a light coat of grime), suggesting that they may have already been replaced at least once...
How do you work that out; it's a Ford Mondeo and it happened to it, and from what I've subsequently discovered it seems to be common knowledge that it's a common problem with Ford Mondeos. Please enlighten me with your knowledge!
http://www.google.co.uk/search?source=ig&hl=en...
http://www.google.co.uk/search?source=ig&hl=en...
Edited by TiMopar on Monday 21st March 17:25
Zad said:
It does indeed happen to Mondeos. It also happens to Focuses, Fiestas, Vauxhalls, Fiats, Citroens, BMWs...
Blame the "traffic calming" not the car designers.
Very common on Merc's too. Nothing to do with traffic calming (ever been in a Merc taxi in a foreign country - they just smash them over speed humps etc as if they're not there). They generally break, just as the OPs did, while the car is parked overnight.Blame the "traffic calming" not the car designers.
The main issue is they can't plate the springs with the stuff they used to use as it's considered hazardous now, so the springs corrode.
Yes it does happen to other vehicles and due to the state of the roads and budget cuts, the rate of damage such as this is is only going to increase. Saying that however, my ST24 has bust both front springs; my fathers old ST24 estate did the same and my father-in-laws Zetec also broke front springs, so its not just the V6 engined cars that it happens to. Yes, its possibly an issue more relevant to Mondeo's than possibly other brands, Ive never heard of one breaking such that it punctures a tyre though. All the spring breakages Ive seen are usually the top or bottom coil, leaving the car drivable until its swapped, its just a bit noisy over bumpy roads.
It wouldnt put me off buying one, put it that way.
It wouldnt put me off buying one, put it that way.
Edited by Marty V8 on Tuesday 22 March 23:53
Thanks for your replies. I have run 'old-school' Fords (Capris, Escorts, Zodiacs, P100's, Cortinas, more Capris and even more Escorts etc) for over three decades and this is the first I had heard of this problem. Maybe I've just been lucky. Two of my local motor factors confirmed what you have all said; "*Yawn* Yeah, Mondeos, Focuses, especially Focuses.."
Exactly same happened to my '02 plate Mondeo estate, front driver's side spring broke overnight. first i knew was when i hit the first bump in the morning and thought the strut was going to come through the bonnet. Relatively cheap to replace (£70 for new spring and bearing). Mechanic said that you need a good set of spring compressors to do the job.
I blame the potholes after the rubbish winter we've just had.
Just had the Mondeo MOT'd and told that the rear springs are starting to corrode as well!
I blame the potholes after the rubbish winter we've just had.
Just had the Mondeo MOT'd and told that the rear springs are starting to corrode as well!
Well, I have replaced the spring which was thankfully straight forward. Spring, £9.00 on e-bay. Managed to get the old leg off in about 10 minutes; fortunately the pinch bolt at the bottom of the leg came out easily enough, but apparently sometimes they will sheer. For anyone contemplating doing this job, I needed 4 x spring compressors to get the new spring in place.
Not my website, & I don't proclaim to be a fountain of knowledge but 2 mins on Google would have revealed this :-
http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&...
http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&...
http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&...
http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&...
Never mind, I'm sure the £9 spring off eBay will be top quality!
http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&...
http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&...
http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&...
http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&...
Never mind, I'm sure the £9 spring off eBay will be top quality!
Thanks, I posted a link to google search earlier. Dave, do you actually have any first hand practical knowledge of this problem? Has it happened to your car? Did you fix it yourself or have a garage repair it? If it was the latter, chances are you got the £9 springs too, only they charged you a bit more for them. Why are you assuming this particular car is any more dangerous than any other? It had a month of MOT when I got it, and it went through a new MOT with just two advises; exhaust starting to corode and cracks on the plastic bumpers. As I said it's a three owner vehicle with just over 60k miles. Three weeks after the MOT, the spring breaks. For any one vaguely interested, and not just wanting to provoke an argument, my decision to use the 'e-bay special' springs does bare an explanation. When getting prices for springs, nobody could offer any guarantees of how long they would last, regardless of the cost. I dismissed paying for the Ford ones as they are the crap ones that all apparently break in the first place. I only intend to run this car for a year, and based on it's value and projected use (going to Tescos), I went the 'budget' route. If it lasts a year, job done.
TiMopar said:
Dave, do you actually have any first hand practical knowledge of this problem? Has it happened to your car? .
It's common knowledge that this is NOT solely a Ford/Mondeo problem. It hasn't happened to my car (110K miles 1996N, although admittedly the original springs came off for 30 odd K miles when I had the Ford RS springs on).TiMopar said:
Why are you assuming this particular car is any more dangerous than any other?
I'm not, you seem to be?!TiMopar said:
What I am wondering is if Ford ever recalled any of these cars due to this potentially deadly problem? ?
Gassing Station | Ford | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff