'93 Mondy thread - (very) partial PAS fluid change

[egg]

Apparently Hagerty want to see a MK3 Mondeo at this year's FoTU, interesting as some examples aren't even* 20 years old yet.

https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/10-cars-were-hoping-to-see-at-this-years-fotu/

[JakeT]

The newest mk3 Mondy would be on an ‘07. That’s newer than my daily! Not to mention there’s definitely still giffer owned ones with low mileage out there. I could get a mk2 maybe?

[adw1977]

They are definitely rather thin on the ground, though.  I've owned three of them in the past so I tend to notice them and I'm not noticing them very often!

[sierraman]

I’ve had a few of them. You still see some of the ST ones about but the cooking ones are getting thin on the ground. I’d be surprised if any TDDI are left, minicabbed to death no doubt! 

[stuboy]

On 15/03/2025 at 19:09, JakeT said:

The newest mk3 Mondy would be on an ‘07. That’s newer than my daily! Not to mention there’s definitely still giffer owned ones with low mileage out there. I could get a mk2 maybe?

my 07 engine failed as was the mazda lump not the zetec................ 

[egg]

On 11/06/2018 at 16:21, egg said:

Following the PAS fluid change on the Mazda, I thought I'd do the same on the Base. This needed it more, and steering does seem a bit smoother. However, my siphoning technique (thanks Chrisfix) wasn't quite as effective at getting the old stuff out on this car.

 

Almost seven years later, thought I'd siphon off some more PAS fluid. Was a bit low actually, now steering silent as a fish etc.

[AnnoyingPentium]

Great work. This truly is an excellent car.

[egg]

Bit of damp in the engine bay, wonder if same as happened last time I did this, new fluid is causing PAS pressure switch that runs over the engine to spray/leak. And yes I did bleed it with turning lock to lock with the cap off.

[warren t claim]

3 hours ago, egg said:

Bit of damp in the engine bay, wonder if same as happened last time I did this, new fluid is causing PAS pressure switch that runs over the engine to spray/leak. And yes I did bleed it with turning lock to lock with the cap off.

I take it this is an age related issue caused by perished PAS pipes as none of mine ever suffered that problem?

[egg]

15 hours ago, warren t claim said:

I take it this is an age related issue caused by perished PAS pipes as none of mine ever suffered that problem?

Think so Warren, it's been on my list to change the rusty pipes along the subframe since I've had the thing, too.

[egg]

Trying one of these 'umbrella' style shades to keep the UV damage down this summer. Sick of the other sort falling off.

[AnnoyingPentium]

1 hour ago, egg said:

Trying one of these 'umbrella' style shades to keep the UV damage down this summer. Sick of the other sort falling off.

I might invest in one of these for the Vectra, as the interior is relatively unfaded still.

[egg]

23 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

I might invest in one of these for the Vectra, as the interior is relatively unfaded still.

The one I got - this style has a 'short' handle with a bend in it, so doesn't scratch the dashboard (theory). Probably available direct from China more cheaply, mebbe.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145134908470

[beko1987]

Someone at work has one of those, I saw it in his Kia today!

Seems a decent idea, then easy to fold away after

[egg]

13 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Seems a decent idea, then easy to fold away after

yes the folding might be tricky, as it's a bit vague, but will give it a go this sunny season.

[egg]

There's at least one left on the Isle of Man.

[egg]

[MantaGTE85]

It's that Java Blue 2.0 GLX again. Awesome video seeing it in action.

[egg]

On Crimewatch, the fake G reg plate makes my brain hurt.

https://www.imcdb.org/v001451028.html

[N19]

On 13/04/2025 at 22:12, egg said:

On Crimewatch, the fake G reg plate makes my brain hurt.

https://www.imcdb.org/v001451028.html

For a while, Crimewatch used obviously out of date range registration numbers where the reg was irrelevant. There are a few more jarring examples as I recall. 

[warren t claim]

To the great many of you, it'll come as a depressing disappointment to discover that I've yet to finish wringing the sponge on my Mondeo Mk1&2 tales and as I'm home and opened my first can of Carlsberg typing fluid, I thought I'd share with you The Tale Of The T Reg 1.8 LX TD.

Part 1.

As the one or two Warren Watchers who've followed my Mondeo taxi anecdotes both on this thread and my taxi thread will already know, I sourced the vast majority of my Mondeo taxi rental fleet via a long gone online salvage auction. To save any new readers from having to trawl back through the threads, what I'd do is buy Cat C or D examples that have suffered both front and back damage for between £250 and £500 and get them hammered straight for anywhere in the £1500 bracket.

Back in 2004 whilst doing my daily perusal, I came upon a Cat D 1.8 TD LX hatch in silver with damage that amounted to only the NS doors which both looked like they'd been scraped by a fork lift truck. After making further enquiries with the salvage yard I was told that it runs and drives perfectly and even has half a tank of diesel. I decided to push the boat out and pay more than I normally would on the assumption that the B pillar hasn't been bent, something the people in the yard couldn't confirm or deny as both NS doors wouldn't open. I lob a cheeky £800 bid on and after some spirited late bidding win the auction with a final bid of £1150. 

Rather than stump up delivery costs from the Midlands or pay my bodywork man to collect it on the back of his petrol Mercedes recovery truck, I take a chance and travel down on public transport and drive it back. When I get there the first thing that grabs my attention is the fact that the car had been cleared out of all the last owners stuff. Almost every other Mondeo I bought via that salvage auction still contained the possessions of the previous owner, usually because they were carted away in an ambulance after their RTA, never to see their Mondeo again.  Anyway, this Mk2 starts and drives like a 60000 mile Mondeo should. I'm really keen to force the NS doors open to inspect for B pillar damage, but mindful that even if I could prise a door open to see there's a better than average chance that it might not close again and I had a long drive home.

The drive home was as uneventful as I wished for with only some draughts and a little more wind noise present to remind me that the car was damaged. Once back at the garage, my repairman and I use the winch on his recovery truck to assist our opening of the NSF door. Bingo Brucie Bonus! No A pillar damage. Basically, all it needs is two replacement doors. To keep costs down I try to source a couple of used doors in the correct shade of silver. I could find a pair of silver Mk1 doors but declined as they're subtly different meaning I had to phone that super expensive 0906 nationwide scrapyard enquiry line that used to be advertised in Auto Trader. Two scrappies came up trumps. One in Manchester and the other further away in Leeds. Althoug the both wanted £400 I decide to buy from the Leeds breakers yard even though it was further away as the doors he had for sale were from an LX not a Ghia which the scrappy in Manchester was selling. The last thing I wanted was to have to retrofit a keep fit window to the Ghia door. I borrow a Corsa Combo van from the owner of the motorcycle training school I also worked for at the time and collect the doors.

Part 2 to follow.

[High Jetter]

0906!

[warren t claim]

On 15/04/2025 at 21:23, warren t claim said:

To the great many of you, it'll come as a depressing disappointment to discover that I've yet to finish wringing the sponge on my Mondeo Mk1&2 tales and as I'm home and opened my first can of Carlsberg typing fluid, I thought I'd share with you The Tale Of The T Reg 1.8 LX TD.

Part 1.

As the one or two Warren Watchers who've followed my Mondeo taxi anecdotes both on this thread and my taxi thread will already know, I sourced the vast majority of my Mondeo taxi rental fleet via a long gone online salvage auction. To save any new readers from having to trawl back through the threads, what I'd do is buy Cat C or D examples that have suffered both front and back damage for between £250 and £500 and get them hammered straight for anywhere in the £1500 bracket.

Back in 2004 whilst doing my daily perusal, I came upon a Cat D 1.8 TD LX hatch in silver with damage that amounted to only the NS doors which both looked like they'd been scraped by a fork lift truck. After making further enquiries with the salvage yard I was told that it runs and drives perfectly and even has half a tank of diesel. I decided to push the boat out and pay more than I normally would on the assumption that the B pillar hasn't been bent, something the people in the yard couldn't confirm or deny as both NS doors wouldn't open. I lob a cheeky £800 bid on and after some spirited late bidding win the auction with a final bid of £1150. 

Rather than stump up delivery costs from the Midlands or pay my bodywork man to collect it on the back of his petrol Mercedes recovery truck, I take a chance and travel down on public transport and drive it back. When I get there the first thing that grabs my attention is the fact that the car had been cleared out of all the last owners stuff. Almost every other Mondeo I bought via that salvage auction still contained the possessions of the previous owner, usually because they were carted away in an ambulance after their RTA, never to see their Mondeo again.  Anyway, this Mk2 starts and drives like a 60000 mile Mondeo should. I'm really keen to force the NS doors open to inspect for B pillar damage, but mindful that even if I could prise a door open to see there's a better than average chance that it might not close again and I had a long drive home.

The drive home was as uneventful as I wished for with only some draughts and a little more wind noise present to remind me that the car was damaged. Once back at the garage, my repairman and I use the winch on his recovery truck to assist our opening of the NSF door. Bingo Brucie Bonus! No A pillar damage. Basically, all it needs is two replacement doors. To keep costs down I try to source a couple of used doors in the correct shade of silver. I could find a pair of silver Mk1 doors but declined as they're subtly different meaning I had to phone that super expensive 0906 nationwide scrapyard enquiry line that used to be advertised in Auto Trader. Two scrappies came up trumps. One in Manchester and the other further away in Leeds. Althoug the both wanted £400 I decide to buy from the Leeds breakers yard even though it was further away as the doors he had for sale were from an LX not a Ghia which the scrappy in Manchester was selling. The last thing I wanted was to have to retrofit a keep fit window to the Ghia door. I borrow a Corsa Combo van from the owner of the motorcycle training school I also worked for at the time and collect the doors.

Part 2 to follow.

Part 2 as promised.

Doors swapped and all the legal formalities completed it was time to find a home for this beauty. Due to the high quality and youthfulness of this Mk2 I planned to sell it as a weekly settle buy for £4500 with a fresh 12 month taxi plate. My first port of call was advertising it on the taxi office notice board. To look pro I took an instant camera pic and offered it for sale for either £4000 cash or as a settle buy at £100 pw over 45 weeks. Within an hour the manager of the taxi firm asked me to come into the office to put a proposal to me about said Mk2. 

Even though the manager was a sound bloke who I held in high regard I knew that he was aware of his powers and influences so I knew whatever deal he had on the table would involve a financial bung in his direction. He told me that we had a new driver who wanted a decent car to start with. What we agreed to do was offer the driver my Mondeo on the deal that he can rent it at £80 a week for four weeks to make sure he's happy with the job and if he is then he'll start paying me £100 for 45 weeks. The manager would trouser the £80 a week for the first four weeks as his kickback. This seemed fair enough to me and Steve, the new driver happily agreed to this deal oblivious to the behind the scenes wheeling and dealing.

Steve seems like a decent bloke who wanted to take the job seriously. He'd just been made redundant and came to us for two reasons. The first was that we offered an affordable insurance scheme and the second was that our dataheads had a panic button which enabled him to sell the idea of working for us to his worried wife. I get Ray, our set fitting expert, to wire in the datahead, radio and both the GPS and radio aerials to his usual high standard before delivering the car to Steve. I knock on his door and Steve and Mrs Steve both come out to see the car. They're both very impressed, especially when they get in and experience air conditioning for the first time!

Part 3 to follow... 

[warren t claim]

Part 3 will contain sex and a violent end to a Mk2.

[High Jetter]

9 hours ago, warren t claim said:

Part 2 as promised.

Doors swapped and all the legal formalities completed it was time to find a home for this beauty. Due to the high quality and youthfulness of this Mk2 I planned to sell it as a weekly settle buy for £4500 with a fresh 12 month taxi plate. My first port of call was advertising it on the taxi office notice board. To look pro I took an instant camera pic and offered it for sale for either £4000 cash or as a settle buy at £100 pw over 45 weeks. Within an hour the manager of the taxi firm asked me to come into the office to put a proposal to me about said Mk2. 

Even though the manager was a sound bloke who I held in high regard I knew that he was aware of his powers and influences so I knew whatever deal he had on the table would involve a financial bung in his direction. He told me that we had a new driver who wanted a decent car to start with. What we agreed to do was offer the driver my Mondeo on the deal that he can rent it at £80 a week for four weeks to make sure he's happy with the job and if he is then he'll start paying me £100 for 45 weeks. The manager would trouser the £80 a week for the first four weeks as his kickback. This seemed fair enough to me and Steve, the new driver happily agreed to this deal oblivious to the behind the scenes wheeling and dealing.

Steve seems like a decent bloke who wanted to take the job seriously. He'd just been made redundant and came to us for two reasons. The first was that we offered an affordable insurance scheme and the second was that our dataheads had a panic button which enabled him to sell the idea of working for us to his worried wife. I get Ray, our set fitting expert, to wire in the datahead, radio and both the GPS and radio aerials to his usual high standard before delivering the car to Steve. I knock on his door and Steve and Mrs Steve both come out to see the car. They're both very impressed, especially when they get in and experience air conditioning for the first time!

Part 3 to follow... 

Tease! 🤣

[warren t claim]

Part 3.

Saturday morning. 10am.

I was between regular partners at the time and holding open auditions for my next Claim_Bird which is where Eileen comes into the story. Eileen was a cute 5'5" lady with dark blonde hair with a rack as big as her personality. We'd met the previous weekend and had chatted and texted throughout the week. When I told her about my side hustle as a bike instructor she told me that she had never been on the back of a bike so I agreed to take her out for a date combined with a pilly run the following Friday. 

Friday arrives and I drive to the bike school in my 3.0 V6 Omega Elite taxi to do a 2 hour DAS lesson and when that's over I ponder over what bike to take home for our date. After careful consideration, I ride home on our RF900 as it has the biggest seat and a top box. The top box wouldn't just allay her fears about sliding off the back, it also meant I could stuff a ladies' sized tassled leather jacket, dubbed the "Joey Tempest Jacket" that we had hanging around the office for her to wear along with a small helmet and gloves inside. 

The plan was for Eileen to meet me at my flat, and when I return home she's already waiting for me in her white Nissan 100NX (remember those? And yes, Eileen is a hairdresser!) We retire to my flat for her to get changed and a mere hour later we go out on our ride/date. 

Date over we return to my flat complete with a bottle of her choice, Archers peach schnapps IIRC, and after a few drinks she requests a go on W.T.Cs recently pierced plodder. Happy to oblige we retire to my bedroom and enjoy some rumpy pumpy. As I'm sure you're all desperate to know, Eileen's position of choice was on top holding hands while insisting on keeping eye contact. A challenge when you consider her top class pair of charlies as I'm sure you'll all agree. Deed done and we fall asleep shortly after Eileen had nipped to my en suite with some wet wipes to purge herself of Warren's baby gravy.

The following morning I'm woken up by the sound of my Nokia ringing. Feeling somewhat dazed as I'm alone in bed I start to wonder whether last night actually happened. Just then, Eileen walks into the bedroom carrying a tray with two cups of coffee and a plate of toast on it. More interestingly she's totally nude other than the unzipped Joey Tempest jacket. She makes it obvious that she's after a morning portion when breakfast is over and I wasn't in a mood to refuse either.

I check my phone to see who'd phoned me and when I saw it was the office my heart sank as I instinctively knew they would be phoning to tell me that one of my cars had been in a crash. I'm not psychic but previous driver RTAs have always been told to me by the office. This is because in the event of an accident the first thing the driver does is to radio the operator and the office always tells the driver that they'll break the news to me.

I phoned the office to be informed that Steve has had a bump and needs help. At this point my face drops even faster than my erection. The office tell me that Steve's OK and by the sounds of it he wasn't at fault. That's just as well as he only held third party insurance. I explain to Eileen that I have to go and to make herself at home. It's just as well that I'd gone through the flat with a fine tooth comb earlier that week to remove any traces of the lady I'd entertained the previous week.

I hop in my E30 320i and arrive at the crash site within 20 minutes of the RTA. In fact, I even arrive before the police. I'm greeted to the sight of my crashed Mk2 and an early Renner Espace on its side along with several onlookers. The Espace driver admits that he's at fault by running a red light and confesses to also being both pissed and uninsured. Fucking fantastic! I inspect my Mondeo and it isn't good news. The entire front end from the A pillar forwards has been bent about 15 degrees to the left! As you know at the time I spent a lot of my time looking at crashed Mondeo's on the salvage site but I'd never seen one with that sort of damage before. 

At that moment the traffic police arrive at the scene. What surprises all of us, and causes a few to make sarcastic comments, is that he hasn't even got his blues and twos on! Plod parks his Omega estate up and walks over to join us. At this point traffic plod and myself look at each other and realise that we knew each other at school. To be honest even back then it was pretty obvious that a career in Traffic would suit him. As 17 year olds we'd go out in his dad's 1974 Range Rover fitted with a Volvo SD bin lorry engine and he was always a careful driver to the point where he'd never cross his hands on the wheel, quite a feat considering the Range Rover had no PAS fitted to accommodate the engine swap.

After he puts the pissed and uninsured Espace pilot in the rear of his Omega estate we both walk around the crash scene. Upon noticing the fucked exhaust on the Espace currently resting on its driver's side he tells me that at least he'll be able to do him for the back box! We push it back on four wheels to clear the junction. Moving to my Mk2 we try and push it but it is jammed into first gear. I jump in, push the clutch and turn the key and believe it or not, not only does it actually start, it also moves under its own power! Unfortunately, there's no steering so it will have to be recovered on a flat bed.

Part 4 to follow.

[Sir Snipes]

Ngl I thought the "sex" was going to be with Mrs Steve. Or Steve, y'know I don't judge (I do judge) and he'd crashed the car in an hilarious* attempt at revenge.