Uber - Ford Mondeo 1.6 TDCi MK4 (2013)

[GrantD5]

So, first things first, I still have my trusty Volvo S60 D5, it's just going to be driven by my Mum and I will still get a few bits sorted on that and update that thread, I can't let that car go just yet.

Just over a year ago I got hold of a 1.6 tdci Ford Mondeo estate as a replacement for my BMW X1 after it was involved in a crash and I wasn't most happy with the repair. Anyhow I got the car and landed a job where I was doing around 100 miles round trip a day, so that's where I came in with the Passat and let my Mum drive the Mondeo as she was doing a fair amount less miles that I was, so I shedded around in the Passat and enjoyed it. That job lasted around 4 weeks and I returned to Nissan parts, then swapped my car with a friend and I landed with a MK4 golf gti. The list was too long to sort for a car that really wasn't worth the hassle and that's how I ended up with the Volvo, and I love the car.

Moving on, I need some extra money so considering I'm based in London, I'm going to do some Uber'ing. I have been doing a fair amount of research and spoken to a few friends who do the same and some chauffeuring they have persuaded me to get involved. This is where the Mondeo comes in perfect, it's pretty eco, spacious and just works. I can get parts cheap and will pay pennies for labour in the great scheme of things.

My CRB is currently being processed, my medical is on Monday and I will be sending off for my PCO licence following those 2 being complete.

Only photo of said car... Zetec Business Edition, cloth seats but has air con, cruise control , sat nav, DAB heated windscreen etc.



I will get some more photos shortly.

It had a full service using Ford parts a few months ago here at my work before my Mum took it for a drive up to Sunderland.

Now it's coming back in to my hands I have ordered a Gates cambelt kit including waterpump and I am probably also ordering a clutch kit.

I will be having a dash cam installed for Insurance purposes (Private Hire insurance is not cheap!) & changing the seats to half leather half alcantara. The car will be valeted before getting it on the road and I plan to keep a little diary here for the maintenance I seem to come across. More photos and couple of updates in the next couple of weeks before I hit the road.

Disclaimer - If you don't agree with Uber becuase you are a glorified Black Cabbie, don't let your problem become my problem I really don't want to hear it.

[anonymous-user]

Looking forward to reading this as it progresses. I considered doing Uber in the past but my car isn't on the list and I haven't been driving long enough. I like the idea of being able to go for a drive and get paid for it when I have nothing else to do - a Friday night for example

[pixelatedJH]

+1 - Looking forward to the updates, always thought it'd be quite fun to waft around London and get paid to do so. Just a shame that the insurance cost means you can't really do it once in a blue moon.

[BlueHave]

Cloth seats in a taxi is never a good idea, get a few tins of Scotchgard Auto and spray them or you will be forever scrubbing dirt and or sick out of them

I know a few taxi driver and they say it's brilliant

Edited by BlueHave on Sunday 30th July 00:48

[anonymous-user]

That's an extremely large and heavy car (especially 4/5 up with luggage) for that little engine to pull around. Probably efficient while up to speed but is it tragically thirsty and slow around town?

[itcaptainslow]

Good luck with the Uber work. A top tip-those engines when I worked at Citroen were an absolute nightmare for what we termed "engine cholesterol"-the oil ways and turbo feed were small and prone to blocking up with carbon, especially when the injectors leaked (common-if they start leaking, rectify it immediately or they'll weld themselves to the cylinder head!) or when they weren't serviced scrupulously. This really is an engine that's worth doing 6k oil services on, especially with the use you'll be giving it.

Mondeo's are a properly comfy car though and drive surprisingly well for such a large, heavy vehicle!

[ChemicalChaos]

BlueHave said:

Cloth seats in a taxi is never a good idea, get a few tins of Scotchgard Auto and spray them or you will be forever scrubbing dirt and or sick out of them

I know a few taxi driver and they say it's brilliant

Edited by BlueHave on Sunday 30th July 00:48

Or, seat covers as sported by most minicabs

[JakeT]

Looks to be an interesting thread. GlasgowRob ran a mk4 up to about 300k as a long distance taxi driver and swears it's the best Mondeo made. Better than the current one, for sure.

[GrantD5]

Jbeale96 said:

Looking forward to reading this as it progresses. I considered doing Uber in the past but my car isn't on the list and I haven't been driving long enough. I like the idea of being able to go for a drive and get paid for it when I have nothing else to do - a Friday night for example

My aim is to religiously work Thursday / Friday / Saturday nights. I will also be testing different times of the day to see what works for me and where the money is. Don't fancy plodding around midday during the week when it's probably not the busiest it can be.

pixelatedJH said:

+1 - Looking forward to the updates, always thought it'd be quite fun to waft around London and get paid to do so. Just a shame that the insurance cost means you can't really do it once in a blue moon.

I did consider doing it part time, but as you said insurance prices make that near on impossible to do so. I'm still on the hunt for cheaper insurance where possible.

BlueHave said:

Cloth seats in a taxi is never a good idea, get a few tins of Scotchgard Auto and spray them or you will be forever scrubbing dirt and or sick out of them

I know a few taxi driver and they say it's brilliant

Edited by BlueHave on Sunday 30th July 00:48

I plan on putting something similar on the seats anyhow to try and protect them. Will be carrying a few cleaning items in the car in case of sick happenings. But I will cover a post to show what I will be carrying in the car..

dme123 said:

That's an extremely large and heavy car (especially 4/5 up with luggage) for that little engine to pull around. Probably efficient while up to speed but is it tragically thirsty and slow around town?

Well hopefully I won't be carrying 4/5 people with luggage around town then, hopefully they need to go on a motorway to an airport destination. IT won;t be ideal but the majority of the jobs will not be airport pick ups. People queue up for an hour or 2 to get an airport job and that's not my ideal way to waste time.

itcaptainslow said:

Good luck with the Uber work. A top tip-those engines when I worked at Citroen were an absolute nightmare for what we termed "engine cholesterol"-the oil ways and turbo feed were small and prone to blocking up with carbon, especially when the injectors leaked (common-if they start leaking, rectify it immediately or they'll weld themselves to the cylinder head!) or when they weren't serviced scrupulously. This really is an engine that's worth doing 6k oil services on, especially with the use you'll be giving it.

Mondeo's are a properly comfy car though and drive surprisingly well for such a large, heavy vehicle!

Yeah it will be serviced regularly, I have heard the injectors on these seem to be an issue, what seems to be a give away that they are starting to fail? I think the car drives pretty well too for a plotting around car.

[itcaptainslow]

GrantD5 said:

itcaptainslow said:

Good luck with the Uber work. A top tip-those engines when I worked at Citroen were an absolute nightmare for what we termed "engine cholesterol"-the oil ways and turbo feed were small and prone to blocking up with carbon, especially when the injectors leaked (common-if they start leaking, rectify it immediately or they'll weld themselves to the cylinder head!) or when they weren't serviced scrupulously. This really is an engine that's worth doing 6k oil services on, especially with the use you'll be giving it.

Mondeo's are a properly comfy car though and drive surprisingly well for such a large, heavy vehicle!

Yeah it will be serviced regularly, I have heard the injectors on these seem to be an issue, what seems to be a give away that they are starting to fail? I think the car drives pretty well too for a plotting around car.

Picture stolen from Peugeot Forums


The injector seals leak allowing combustion gases up past the injector, which collect as rock hard carbon deposits. You'll see this tar like substance, plus hear a chuffing noise & smell diesel fumes under the bonnet and through the heaters. Don't delay in sorting it, as it's hazardous to health and left unchecked will eventually ruin the engine and/or turbo.

[anonymous-user]

GrantD5 said:

Jbeale96 said:

Looking forward to reading this as it progresses. I considered doing Uber in the past but my car isn't on the list and I haven't been driving long enough. I like the idea of being able to go for a drive and get paid for it when I have nothing else to do - a Friday night for example

My aim is to religiously work Thursday / Friday / Saturday nights. I will also be testing different times of the day to see what works for me and where the money is. Don't fancy plodding around midday during the week when it's probably not the busiest it can be.

I reckon that early-ish weekday mornings (6-9am) would be a good one too. Especially Mondays when people aren't so lively in the morning and may miss trains etc. and will have to rely on an Uber.

Also Friday mornings as certainly in my office if not most others, the majority of nights out are on Thursdays and people are often feeling a little too delicate to drive in on Friday morning!

[GrantD5]

itcaptainslow said:

The injector seals leak allowing combustion gases up past the injector, which collect as rock hard carbon deposits. You'll see this tar like substance, plus hear a chuffing noise & smell diesel fumes under the bonnet and through the heaters. Don't delay in sorting it, as it's hazardous to health and left unchecked will eventually ruin the engine and/or turbo.

I will have a nose around then when getting the cambelt done. I have a noise when releasing the clutch or sitting on the biting point usually reversing up something. Possible release bearing. Need this sorting to, drives fine can just hear the noise but not ideal.

Jbeale96 said:

I reckon that early-ish weekday mornings (6-9am) would be a good one too. Especially Mondays when people aren't so lively in the morning and may miss trains etc. and will have to rely on an Uber.

Also Friday mornings as certainly in my office if not most others, the majority of nights out are on Thursdays and people are often feeling a little too delicate to drive in on Friday morning!

Yeah I will be giving some of the early starts a go also, see how they fair out too, you have the right idea haha

[bungz]

These the 1.6 PSA lump?

As mentioned service every 6K with decent oil, if it has some miles on already I would check the gauze in the turbo feed pipe and the sump pick up but depends how far you want to go with preventative stuff.

Good engines but you have to baby them.

[joshcowin]

Interested to see how you get on with the Uber experience! Keep us posted

[GrantD5]

bungz said:

These the 1.6 PSA lump?

As mentioned service every 6K with decent oil, if it has some miles on already I would check the gauze in the turbo feed pipe and the sump pick up but depends how far you want to go with preventative stuff.

Good engines but you have to baby them.

I believe its in the mid 40's at the moment but I haven't drove it in months so not hundred percent sure but servicing will be kept on top of, especially being a workhorse.

joshcowin said:

Interested to see how you get on with the Uber experience! Keep us posted

I'll be doing a few blog posts along the way so I will keep links updated in this thread and keep up with general gossip and supply any interesting dash cam footage i pick up

[GrantD5]

Just to keep people updated, the process is moving on. Medical was all passed, CRB has gone through all clear and I have my Topographical test on September 1st.

I borrowed the car for the weekend and the car has just ticked over 47K and the cambelt is being done in the next couple of weeks so a 50k interval is pretty reasonable.

Hopefully some real updates soon.

[joshcowin]

This takes a while!

Do uber guide you through this?
What have they been like to deal with so far?

[Nunga]

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the Uber caper!

[xjay1337]

Keep us updated!

[BlueHave]

ChemicalChaos said:

BlueHave said:

Cloth seats in a taxi is never a good idea, get a few tins of Scotchgard Auto and spray them or you will be forever scrubbing dirt and or sick out of them

I know a few taxi driver and they say it's brilliant

Edited by BlueHave on Sunday 30th July 00:48

Or, seat covers as sported by most minicabs

Could always go for the old school option... clingfilm