Ford Mondeo Mk3 fuel pump swap, ARGH

[Felly Magic]

Well the Mondongo of doom has been laid up for a month as it disgraced it's self by shitting it's fuel pump, and ended up being flatbed recovered from Bury St Eds, Ford do fit an 'inspection' hole under the rear seat base, but this is conveniently offset and about half the size of the actual pump head. To remove it properly, you have to drop half the rear suspension, exhaust & fuel tank, so I did what any good shiter would do, borrowed a power nibbler that fits into a drill (also borrowed), and cut slots around the hole and bent the tin back, then managed to get the retaining ring off after much swearing, then the fuel feed & return pipes I simply broke off the old housing retaining bits, as by then I was getting pissed off, got the old pump unit out fairly easily, but the replacement pump I accidentally broke the sender unit when it got caught on something, so I had to take the sender from the old pump, the wiring needed to be cut, so I soldered the old connector for the sender to the wiring on the replacement, then the new pump I struggled to get to fit, just couldn't get the orientation right because of all the wiring and feed pipes constantly getting in the way, so I stripped down the replacement pump so just the outer housing was free, and that locked in place fine, so was a matter of just sliding all the gubbins in, and click. Then the fun started with the retaining ring and pump top, that bastard would not screw back in or the pump head sit down, so had a brainwave, cover the threads in petroleum jelly, and it worked, used a screwdriver and hammer to make the ring as tight as I could, then fitted the feed and return pipes and multiplug connector, then turned the ignition on, heard a bzzzd, click from the pump. Car would not fire though, and the battery died, so had to jump start it, eventually with lots of coughing and spluttering, the 1.8 Duratec fired, boy was I relieved, I then bent the metal back over the hole, put the rubber bung on, and covered the cuts in the floor and the bung with lots of Duct tape, then mopped up the spilled fuel. I then did an autopsy on the old pump, the plug for the pump motor feed clearly had been arcing, and destroyed one of the contacts, so that explains the dead pump, tested the pump on a 12v feed and it works, so I've kept it as a spare for that 'you never know' moment. Total time to do the repair, including the trips to Whip Street Motors in Ipswich, and Homebase for some solder (£11 bastard quid a roll, fecksakes!) just under 5 hours, which I don't think is bad for someone with mobility issues, sadly no photoez as I was too busy, had a bit of help from the FiL, but he's got bad arthur now, the bulk of the work was done by me, and the satisfaction of fixing the car, well, chuffed is an understatement. The big green bastard lives on, all for the cost of £36, which surprisingly my neighbour, and MiL paid for. I'd call that true bangernomics!

[Cavcraft]

Had the same with the Focus, utter pain in the arse of a job.

[fordperv]

Yep ive also done a focus I didn't think it was too bad of a job though, a short time with a slitting disc to make the hatch, I even welded flanges to the flap I removed so I could screw it back on

[sierraman]

Didn’t think it was bad a job, done a few now. Beats dropping the tank any day.

 

Best way to seal up after I found was to sikaflex a sheet of steel over it with a hole in the middle for the pump 12v supply.

[lisbon_road]

Well done for sure, but don't envy anyone doing that.  

 

On a Sierra, there is no hole so you have to drop the tank regardless - would be difficult to make a hole as you wouldn't be sure exactly where to put it.  I suppose in fairness, it isn't that difficult to drop the tank though the fixings generally need to be replaced.

[Captain Furious]

Also had a fuel pump fail on my ST220, saw that Ford had helpfully made the hole under the seat way too small, filed it under 'too difficult' and got a garage to do it. It was/is fairly nice and I didn't want to butcher it

 

Also helpful was that Ford had made the fuel pump,for the ST220 different to every other Mondeo and therefore it is main dealer only and costs £500....Good times

 

Well done for sticking with it, sounds like a right bollock ache

[Felly Magic]

I would love to give the person at Ford who designed that bit of the car a frigging good kicking. Deliberately designed so it is a garage job. That nibbler attachment was brilliant. Cut through like butter. Job done now. Tax it again on Thursday, then back on the road. There is nowt like the buzz of fixing your car

[tooSavvy]

110% out-of-the-box thinking.....

 

.... peel the fucker back!!

 

 

TopTipz

 

 

TS

[Felly Magic]

Saw Eric The Fairmont Wanker do that to a Ford Contour, aka a mk2 Mondeo, he used a cutting wheel IIRC, I used a fancy nibbler instead, that was a good bit of kit, car has repayed us by the expansion tank leaking AGAIN, this was a brand new genuine Ford part fitted last March, fucking useless, tempted to take it off, and ram it up the head of Ford UK's arse sideways! Substandard parts, looks like it has split at the seam on this one

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Sounds like you'll need to find out who Ford's UK boss actually is, before you have any realistic chance of ramming your expansion bottle up his arse

[sierraman]

Get another from breakers should be a fiver or so

[Parky]

Sounds like you'll need to find out who Ford's UK boss actually is, before you have any realistic chance of ramming your expansion bottle up his arse

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00235446/officers

 

There are a number of directors listed here, although I would suggest an angry letter would be a better initial approach. Expansion tank insertion can always follow later

[fiatdaft]

Eh ? An angry letter etc ? Why not just take it back with the receipt and get a new one under parts warranty.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Felly Magic]

It's longer than 12 months, and Ford parts are barely guaranteed past the parts dept door these days