Arghhhh!! After precisely one years faithful service, my Mondeo has failed to start. The starter isn't turning though the solenoid seems to be working fine.
I order a recon starter motor and it came through today. Two bleedin' hours later, in the road, raining, I finally manage to get the top two bolts off the starter. As always, seems a straightforward job but I ended up removing the air intake trunking, plenum chamber, coil pack & HT leads, tieing the hoses leading to the heater matrix to one side, bending the metal EGR plumbing out of the way and using all sorts of contortionist positions in order to fit the damn wrench over the bolts - luckily they weren't seized but the lack of space meant I ended up having to use self locking pliers on the end of the ratchet wrench in order to turn the bloody thing at an awkward angle.
After finally removing the two screws I had enough and came inside, with all the miscellaneous pieces of Zetec lying on the drivers seat and under the bonnet.
Theres one more screw, apparently, underneath, and I'm not sure I want to start working on this one lest it gives me the trouble of the first two.
Firstly I have to lift the car up, and having only ramps (which of course, I cant drive the car onto) means I need to buy myself a jack & axle stands. Now this isn't a problem as I've always intended on buying one. But then lets say the screw comes off without hassle, how will I re-tighten the new starter from the top?
The funny thing is, I know a mechanic who charges peanuts, and would probably come round and do this job for twenty quid or thereabouts. But I prefer to do jobs like this myself. Am I mad?
At this point I'm not sure even why I'm writing all this, probably just to vent my frustration, but has anyone replaced a Mondeo starter and is there any easier way to do it?
The car is currently on 291,000 miles and I refuse to let it go for the sake of a dodgy starter!!
I order a recon starter motor and it came through today. Two bleedin' hours later, in the road, raining, I finally manage to get the top two bolts off the starter. As always, seems a straightforward job but I ended up removing the air intake trunking, plenum chamber, coil pack & HT leads, tieing the hoses leading to the heater matrix to one side, bending the metal EGR plumbing out of the way and using all sorts of contortionist positions in order to fit the damn wrench over the bolts - luckily they weren't seized but the lack of space meant I ended up having to use self locking pliers on the end of the ratchet wrench in order to turn the bloody thing at an awkward angle.
After finally removing the two screws I had enough and came inside, with all the miscellaneous pieces of Zetec lying on the drivers seat and under the bonnet.
Theres one more screw, apparently, underneath, and I'm not sure I want to start working on this one lest it gives me the trouble of the first two.
Firstly I have to lift the car up, and having only ramps (which of course, I cant drive the car onto) means I need to buy myself a jack & axle stands. Now this isn't a problem as I've always intended on buying one. But then lets say the screw comes off without hassle, how will I re-tighten the new starter from the top?
The funny thing is, I know a mechanic who charges peanuts, and would probably come round and do this job for twenty quid or thereabouts. But I prefer to do jobs like this myself. Am I mad?
At this point I'm not sure even why I'm writing all this, probably just to vent my frustration, but has anyone replaced a Mondeo starter and is there any easier way to do it?
The car is currently on 291,000 miles and I refuse to let it go for the sake of a dodgy starter!!