I am the Lord of Hellfire, and I bring you.....

[bigstraight6]

An oil change on a Mundano diesel, what should've been a straightforward half hour job on this old shiter I picked up for my brother last weekend turned out to be a nightmare The idiot that had last changed the engine oil had done up the sump plug hellish tight, the correct size socket just rounded the blighter off, adjustable wrench no good, stilsons no good, cue a couple of hours with an angle grinder and the adjustable, and in the end a cold chisel and big hammer which finally shifted it But then came the horror of removing the oil filter, I have a chain wrench, socket strap, and a nifty 3 pronged ratchet for oil filter removel duties, and none were any use in the ridiculously tight space where the filter lives, being on the bulkhead side of the engine with steering and suspension gubbins all in the way. Cue screwdriver through the filter, and the neighbours sniggering behind the curtains thinking I was reinacting the black and white minstrel show All this in bitterly cold conditions....

[Richard]

Was that the 1.8TD? The oil filter is a bastard, especially if the oil change is well overdue. I tore a ligament in my thumb trying to remove the oil filter on my TD Escort and couldn't write properly for nearly two months. Subsequent filter changes were easier though messy with the restricted access. Check the timing belts, they are a weak point on that engine. It has two, one for the pump and one for the cam, both about half the width they need to be.

[bigstraight6]

Was that the 1.8TD? Check the timing belts, they are a weak point on that engine. It has two, one for the pump and one for the cam, both about half the width they need to be.

Yes it is, oh shit

[bigstraight6]

Well, after the sodding thing put me through so much grief yesterday I thought it only right to inflict it on you lot Actually, its not a bad old smoker really, 11 months mot, taxed until july, quite a bit of history, drives nicely and everything works, lets see if my car killing brother can try and look after this one

 

[Milford Cubicle]

I really dislike these '90s Fords, I think it's the generic Ford mass-produced plastic smell that does it.

[scrappylad]

That looks a nice clean car.Have I said this before? You should get your brother an old shitter to start with instead of him wrecking another seemingly good car!Pray that the service history has note of a recent cambelt change.

[STUNO]

I bet the bumpers a gone in a month

[CortinaDave]

mk1 mondeos are much better than mk2s.. seem a lot more solid and much less hassle.I've had loads... my dad is currently smoking around in a k plate 2.0 ghia i bought for 300 sods with 52 k on the clock a year ago. Just went through another ticket no bother too.

[r.welfare]

I spent this morning changing the oil on my wife's Fabia, which has similar access issues for the filter due to a/c pipes, manifolds and Rizla-paper clearance between engine block and rad' - I just can't get at it with my fancy pressed-steel thingy you put a socket extension on to (or indeed at all from the top); undertray has to come off to get at it from below, and then it's a ballache with a strap wrench - tighten, move about 10deg, loosen, tighten again. All the while burning my hand on the exhaust manifold. You can't even get in the gap with your hand to finish it by hand when it's loose.So I feel your pain. The last time I skewered a filter with a screwdriver though, it was on a 1.2 Nova belonging to a mate's significant other. I'd just serviced his 1.4 Sunny no bother, but the Nova was having none of it. Bent the screwdriver in half but the filter just didn't budge. In the end they had to call the AA out, but the car got broken into and the stereo nicked in the intervening period... That said, the Mond looks like a nice car. I have never owned or driven a 90's Ford, and can actually count the number of times I have been a passenger in a Mondeo on the fingers of one hand...

[Richard]

I changed the oil on my FIL's Courier today. I had similar issues with the sump plug, except I was the idiot who over tightened it the last time. Every time I change the oil on that thing I remember it needs a new sump plug but I actually remembered to buy one this time. It wouldn't come off even with vice grips so I had to clamp it as tight as possible with the vice grips, pull them in the unscrewing direction and batter them with the 2lb hammer. At least filter access is almost acceptable on the Courier once you remove the expansion tank.By contrast both our Citroens are a breeze to change the oil on, even though both have undertrays to remove. Simply put the suspension on high and slide a bucket under. The filter is on the front and there's plenty of room.

[wilko]

I had similar ford diesel related sump-plug shenanigans with an oil burning fiesta many years ago - IIRC, when it failed to yield to heat, a breaker bar & socket (rounded), mole grips (rounded more) and being filed down and attacked with an adjustable spanner, we ended up welding a small length of solid steel bar to it and utilising a lump hammer!Why Ford diesels I wonder?

[bigstraight6]

I had similar ford diesel related sump-plug shenanigans with an oil burning fiesta many years ago - IIRC, when it failed to yield to heat, a breaker bar & socket (rounded), mole grips (rounded more) and being filed down and attacked with an adjustable spanner, we ended up welding a small length of solid steel bar to it and utilising a lump hammer!Why Ford diesels I wonder?

Well, I've since found out from a mechanic that you must always replace the sump plug washer with the genuine Ford article which is aluminium and has a rubber dowty type washer built into it, when I eventually got the plug off there was the remains of a copper washer, so it sounds like good advice

[wilko]

I had similar ford diesel related sump-plug shenanigans with an oil burning fiesta many years ago - IIRC, when it failed to yield to heat, a breaker bar & socket (rounded), mole grips (rounded more) and being filed down and attacked with an adjustable spanner, we ended up welding a small length of solid steel bar to it and utilising a lump hammer!Why Ford diesels I wonder?

Well, I've since found out from a mechanic that you must always replace the sump plug washer with the genuine Ford article which is aluminium and has a rubber dowty type washer built into it, when I eventually got the plug off there was the remains of a copper washer, so it sounds like good advice

Ah - in that case, maybe a future buying guide for ford diesels will read:1/ lift bonnet2/ spot "halfords" on oil filter3/ turn and walk away!