Mondeo ST220 Gearbox Question
Discussion
Having purchased a rather lovely '53 plate ST220 a couple of months ago, it now transpires that it may not have been as lovely as I first thought!
Mine has the MMT6 6 speed box, however it sounds like the box is going to detonate when it's in 1st-4th. Very loud intrusive whine that's worse in 3rd and 4th. My local friendly mechanic isn't quite sure what it could be without taking the box off, and I'm not quite ready for that level of expenditure just yet. I'm guessing it's a bearing(s), but I know 1st to 4th on the MMT6 is on a different spline than 5th and 6th, which would explain why when I change from 4th to 5th the box is silent.
I've rather resigned myself to having the change the gearbox (and clutch. And flywheel), but I'd rather swap a good one into it than have to have the car off the road for weeks whilst waiting for the original one to be rebuilt. Now, here's the question, I know the MMT6 goes into various models however they have different ratios to the ST220, and finding a second hand ST220 box that I could get rebuilt is turning into a bit of a nightmare without having to pay £1k for an already 100k mile box.
Is there any experience of swapping say an ST TDCI box in, or one from a later 2.0 TDCI? Plan A is to find a second hand gearbox and get that rebuilt in anticipation of the day when mine goes pop, but I don't want to waste my efforts thinking of daft ideas that aren't really going to work!
Mine has the MMT6 6 speed box, however it sounds like the box is going to detonate when it's in 1st-4th. Very loud intrusive whine that's worse in 3rd and 4th. My local friendly mechanic isn't quite sure what it could be without taking the box off, and I'm not quite ready for that level of expenditure just yet. I'm guessing it's a bearing(s), but I know 1st to 4th on the MMT6 is on a different spline than 5th and 6th, which would explain why when I change from 4th to 5th the box is silent.
I've rather resigned myself to having the change the gearbox (and clutch. And flywheel), but I'd rather swap a good one into it than have to have the car off the road for weeks whilst waiting for the original one to be rebuilt. Now, here's the question, I know the MMT6 goes into various models however they have different ratios to the ST220, and finding a second hand ST220 box that I could get rebuilt is turning into a bit of a nightmare without having to pay £1k for an already 100k mile box.
Is there any experience of swapping say an ST TDCI box in, or one from a later 2.0 TDCI? Plan A is to find a second hand gearbox and get that rebuilt in anticipation of the day when mine goes pop, but I don't want to waste my efforts thinking of daft ideas that aren't really going to work!
I wish I could help you with this, and it's annoying that I can't remember the figures more fully. From driving experience the gear changes in the 2.0 litre TDCi came at different speeds to the ST220 even taking the large difference in engine revs into account.
If we bear in mind a garage will charge you approx 6 hours labour for a clutch, DMF and slave change then it's something you need to get right first time. I've just dine the clutch, DMF and slave on my 220 and the bill was £750.
If we bear in mind a garage will charge you approx 6 hours labour for a clutch, DMF and slave change then it's something you need to get right first time. I've just dine the clutch, DMF and slave on my 220 and the bill was £750.
I know the ratios are different on the ST TDCI Box, from memory 1st and 2nd are shorter with 3rd - 6th being longer, There's an MMT6 out of an S-Max 2.0 TDCI on ebay for reasonable money, but having done a bit of digging the ratios are wildly different, and I don't want to ruin the whole car by sticking a in a box with ratios that really don't suit the car.
Looks like I'd better get saving
Looks like I'd better get saving

I wish I could help you with this, and it's annoying that I can't remember the figures more fully. From driving experience the gear changes in the 2.0 litre TDCi came at different speeds to the ST220 even taking the large difference in engine revs into account.
If we bear in mind a garage will charge you approx 6 hours labour for a clutch, DMF and slave change then it's something you need to get right first time. I've just dine the clutch, DMF and slave on my 220 and the bill was £750.
If we bear in mind a garage will charge you approx 6 hours labour for a clutch, DMF and slave change then it's something you need to get right first time. I've just dine the clutch, DMF and slave on my 220 and the bill was £750.
I have a box in bits that I stipped yesterday at home that I can take pics and post at weekend to show you the shaft layouts etc.
I have bought a number of ST220 boxes second hand for between £200-250... all have been in excellent condition and none have actually needed a rebuild.
I'm currently running one of them with only upgraded steel caged bearing to over 600ftlb for last 4 years without a single issue.
Just buy a second hand one from ebay.
edited to mention that the ST220 box is as far as I am aware unique to that model. Plenty of ST220 6 speeded boxes for sale so not really an issue
I have bought a number of ST220 boxes second hand for between £200-250... all have been in excellent condition and none have actually needed a rebuild.
I'm currently running one of them with only upgraded steel caged bearing to over 600ftlb for last 4 years without a single issue.
Just buy a second hand one from ebay.
edited to mention that the ST220 box is as far as I am aware unique to that model. Plenty of ST220 6 speeded boxes for sale so not really an issue
Edited by andygtt on Tuesday 5th May 14:52
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