Furlough project - Mondeo Mk2

[Austin of England]

During these Covid times I was furloughed from work for a few weeks, what to do with this spare time I had? Well my MK2 Mondeo was lurking at the end of the drive with a disintegrated clutch release bearing so I picked up a clutch kit at a reasonable price and thought why not have a go at fixing it. I think its a 4 or 5 spanner job in the Haynes manual and by all accounts its a pig of a job to do on your own on the drive - I do like a challenge

Triumphant pose at gearbox removal stage

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Its very messy in here, result of leaking thermostat housing and brake fluid from the release bearing

 

 

[Parky]

Did “Time Team” unearth that gearbox while digging up an old Tank or something???

[Jamie]

was gonna say, looks like someones been growing plants in that box'

[Austin of England]

Its what happens when you neglect a leaking thermostat housing and just top up the coolant instead as required instead of fixing the housing, some coolant got into the bell housing, the release bearing started leaking fluid and it all mixed together with 157,000 miles of clutch dust - lovely

[Parky]

Have to admit that pose of a man, his breaker bar, and his gearbox prey is truly inspirational!

I presume it’s a solid clutch in these?  What brand replacement have you got to go in?

[sutty2006]

I think they are dual mass? But an early style of dual mass that doesn’t fail all the time. Could be wrong though 

is it fixed yet? 

[Austin of England]

Its all back together now and to my amazement it all works fine, I think the job took me about 3 weeks, The bastard part of the job was one of the sub frame bolts, the rear drivers side one, I knew I was in trouble when I put the put the breaker bar on the socket and the head of the bolt broke off. the bolt was seized in the bush, I had to destroy the bush to enable me to remove the subframe, then cut a hole in the floor of the car to cut off the captive nut

[sierraman]

Never fitted a DMF on the Mk2 they’re all SMF. 

[Austin of England]

8 minutes ago, Parky said:

 

I presume it’s a solid clutch in these?  What brand replacement have you got to go in?

Its just a standard type clutch, its 2.0 petrol, not dual mass, I went with a Borg & Beck clutch kit

[egg]

Great work. Nice engine brace too!

[stuboy]

good to see mk2 being saved

[sierraman]

I hope you swapped the crank end seal, they’re rotten for those going and pissing oil all over the clutch. 

[Austin of England]

21 hours ago, sierraman said:

I hope you swapped the crank end seal, they’re rotten for those going and pissing oil all over the clutch. 

Ahh ....ermm ....hmmm .... didn't know about that, in my defence the flywheel face looked good and felt good with no scoring or wear lip and there was no sign of an  oil leak, so I went with the "it didn't look broke so I won't fix it and potentially break it" and left it well alone

[maxxo]

very nice indeed!

good to see some love for the MK2

is this a "duct tape edition"? or the super rare undamaged bumper model

[Austin of England]

13 minutes ago, maxxo said:

 

is this a "duct tape edition"? or the super rare undamaged bumper model

The rear bumper is undamaged, the front is cracked on the front drivers side corner, araldited back together, no duct tape yet

[maxxo]

4 minutes ago, Austin of England said:

The rear bumper is undamaged, the front is cracked on the front drivers side corner, araldited back together, no duct tape yet

that's absolutely lovely!

always loved the styling of the mk2

[sierraman]

2 minutes ago, Austin of England said:

The rear bumper is undamaged, the front is cracked on the front drivers side corner, araldited back together, no duct tape yet

That’s a shame I weighed one in last month with a clean I cracked silver bumper on it. 

[Austin of England]

The next major hurdle with this is the ABS. It is combined with traction control on this car and in the last year I was running the car before the MOT lapsed the sometimes the ABS light and the TCS light would not come on at start up and the red brake warning light would be on. You could drive a few miles then the ABS light would flash and the red light would go out and the ABS would be working again,

This got worse until  the brake warning light was on permanently and the ABS was dead. I have replaced the wheel sensors and toothed rings and its still the same, I have a feeling it could be the Electronic control unit that is bolted to the side of the pump, my options are to obtain a second hand one, but there are a few variants about and finding the correct one is proving difficult or I may have to send it away for fixing

[sierraman]

That’s the later Bosch pump not like on the mechatronics MK1, I’d just bypass it, take the pump out and change the master cylinder for the non ABS unit.