What problems have you had with your Mondeo?

[ICF67]

My biggest problem with my 2 mondeos were BLOODY Skippy attacked me both times

[bundybear75]

Originally Posted by ICF67

My biggest problem with my 2 mondeos were BLOODY Skippy attacked me both times

I've hit 4 now in mine. Luckily no major damage. A few 50c coin size dents almost like hail damage, and the grill is held in by cable ties. One of the buggers even ended up on the bonnet. Frightened the poo out of me🤣

Hit one square in the pug a few weeks ago. Did a stack of damage. Turns out the panels are plastic🙄

[aussiblue]

For anyone with Mondeo mk5 inner cv joint, bearing issues this will be of interest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W1X2KZ7aXo and https://www.amazon.com.au/FEBEST-Tri...492785&sr=8-16

[AlanM]

Originally Posted by aussiblue

For anyone with Mondeo mk5 inner cv joint, bearing issues this will be of interest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W1X2KZ7aXo and https://www.amazon.com.au/FEBEST-Tri...492785&sr=8-16

Alan Howett is great. Heaps of experience and knowledge, and good at passing it on.

[AlanM]

On new years day, started the car (2011 TDCI Wagon) and it sounded awful, running on 3 cylinders, and after a few moments there was smoke coming out from under the bonnet!

A quick look found a broken injector clamp. Pretty amazing as these are very solid looking appear to be cast steel of some kind.

Anyway because it was new year, and finding a replacement would take too long, we mig welded it back together.

A few days later we drove from Sydney to Queensland, no problems.

A few days after that, it happened again. No surprise, half expected the cast steel to not weld well. So a quick look, and the welded clamp was fine, another one had broken!

A bit of forum and YouTube searching found this wasn't rare, and the specified torque is very low, so these clamps seem to be very fragile.

I didn't fancy having this happen regularly, so bought a lump of 12mm steel bar, spent a few hours with a drill press and a grinder and made 4 of my own. Had to bend them in a 20 tonne press to get the right shape. These won't break.

So far, a couple of thousand more kms and all good.

[NX74205]

Just wondering if anyone can tell me how many batteries they have gone through? The car is just shy of 7 years old and I've just replaced my battery for the second time (i.e., it's on its third battery), so I'm wondering whether something's draining the battery or whether that's considered normal.

[DougalXR6]

My 2015 Trend Ecoboost hatch is just over 7 years old and still on the original factory fitted Varta battery.
The car has done 56000 Km and there is no indication of the battery slowing down.
For the past three years I have been charging it with my Ctek charger once a month as the car only does about 3000 Km a year now.

[whitelion65]

2011 MC TDcI, 190,000km.
On its third battery.

[AlanM]

Originally Posted by NX74205

Just wondering if anyone can tell me how many batteries they have gone through? The car is just shy of 7 years old and I've just replaced my battery for the second time (i.e., it's on its third battery), so I'm wondering whether something's draining the battery or whether that's considered normal.

If you don't use the car regularly, lead acid batteries do self discharge. For maximum life, if not frequently used, some form of trickle charging as mentioned would definitely help.

[rondeo]

Battery issues are not unusual with Mondeos, if posts on European forums are any indication.
My suspicion is it's related to the Ford smart charge battery management system, not sure why...

Anyhow, these are my scientifically unvalidated practices:

I Use the Ford specified silver calcium type battery. Ford dealers in AUS do not supply this type in my experience. They are Century Yuasa batteries. Century Yuasa claim that their batteries can cope with the extra charging current silver calcium batteries can handle. Who knows. They are cheaper though...

Having learned from fellow poster Mondaveo how to reset the battery management system, I have since done that religiously once so far, whereas before I knew not how. Blessed are the button presses and the counting of the seconds.

One thing maybe worth knowing is the smart charge system aims to keep the battery at 80% state of charge, not 100%. The reason for that is beyond the scope of this post. The 80% policy means the battery will self discharge sooner, and the battery (according to this hypothesis) may suffer by being stored at a low state of charge, since it is quicker to go from 80% to 50% than from !00% to 50%.

[AlanM]

Originally Posted by rondeo

Battery issues are not unusual with Mondeos, if posts on European forums are any indication.
My suspicion is it's related to the Ford smart charge battery management system, not sure why...

Anyhow, these are my scientifically unvalidated practices:

I Use the Ford specified silver calcium type battery. Ford dealers in AUS do not supply this type in my experience. The are Century Yuasa batteries. Century Yuasa claim that their batteries can cope with the extra charging current silver calcium batteries can handle. Who knows. They are cheaper though...

Having learned from fellow poster Mondaveo how to reset the battery management system, I have done that religiously, whereas before I knew not how. Blessed are the button presses and the counting of the seconds.

One thing maybe worth knowing is the smart charge system aims to keep the battery at 80% state of charge, not 100%. The reason for that is beyond the scope of this post. The 80% policy means the battery will self discharge sooner, and the battery (according to this hypothesis) may suffer by being stored at a low state of charge, since it is quicker to go from 80% to 50% than from !00% to 50%.

Targeting 80% SOC sounds like a BMS set up for lithium batteries. (LiFePO4)
Lead acid batteries like to be charged to 100% as much of the time as possible. Sounds like Ford wants to sell plenty of replacement batteries.

[rondeo]

Or they wanted to meet fuel efficiency standards, ie the alternator is not working so much.

[AlanM]

Originally Posted by rondeo

Or they wanted to meet fuel efficiency standards, ie the alternator is not working so much.

Yeah, sounds probable. Sacrifice lead acid batteries to appease the CO2 gods.

I wonder how much harder an alternator would work maintaining 14v compared to 13v though?

[rondeo]

If you want always 13.8 volts, you can disconnect the single LIN control wire. That's the default failure mode of the regulator.
The smart charge system is continuously variable from 11.9 volts (ie not charging usually) to 14,9 volts (higher than old school).
If the system is working you will see the charging voltage go between those limits, depending on engine load and temperature.
Going downhill sends the charging system voltage up, high temps sends it down. I have a voltmeter plugged into the cigar lighter, so I can see it.
Maybe it's not just about fuel efficiency though, maybe they genuinely thought about battery life as well. Dunno, it's complicated.
Not mention @Mondaveo battery management system reset, when renewing battery.

[AlanM]

Originally Posted by rondeo

If you want always 13.8 volts, you can disconnect the single LIN control wire. That's the default failure mode of the regulator.
The smart charge system is continuously variable from 11.9 volts (ie not charging usually) to 14,9 volts (higher than old school).
If the system is working you will see the charging voltage go between those limits, depending on engine load and temperature.
Going downhill sends the charging system voltage up, high temps sends it down. I have a voltmeter plugged into the cigar lighter, so I can see it.
Maybe it's not just about fuel efficiency though, maybe they genuinely thought about battery life as well. Dunno, it's complicated.
Not mention @Mondaveo battery management system reset, when renewing battery.

Generally speaking though, with lead acid, any time the battery isn't 100% sulphation can occur. And the best way to maximise lifespan is to minimise cycle depths.

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by rondeo

Not mention @Mondaveo battery management system reset, when renewing battery.

I didn't know about this. Just watched some videos on YouTube on how to do it. Can this only be done immediately after the battery is installed, or can I still do this a week after?

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by rondeo

Not mention @Mondaveo battery management system reset, when renewing battery.

I didn't know about this. Just watched some videos on YouTube on how to do it. Can this only be done immediately after the battery is installed, or can I still do this a week after?

[rondeo]

I reset mine 12 months after installing a new battery because up till then I didn't know how to do it. That was around 18 months ago and it appears to be working OK.
Prior to that the battery age showing in Forscan was the same as the age of the vehicle. BMS reset set that to 0, so now the module thinks the battery is just 12 months younger than it is, which is better than 10 years or so I guess. Don't know exactly how the BMS charging strategy is related to battery age. I did think at the time that the charging voltage behaved more like I expected smart charge to. I don't know if MD reset is different to my MC.

[NZ XR6]

The BMS is there to save fuel. I am not sure how it can charge to 80% if it is varying the voltage depending on engine load?

The OE battery lasted 4 years, and the replacement Century is over 8 years old and still starts the car easily. I have never had a car battery last anywhere near as long before.

There is a battery place in Auckland that sells the Varta silver calcium batteries, but they are not cheap!

Sent from my SM-S906E using Tapatalk

[rondeo]

The connection between engine load and charging voltage depends on the battery state of charge, temperature and age.
It's not strictly tied to engine load alone.

[AlanM]

Originally Posted by NZ XR6

The BMS is there to save fuel. I am not sure how it can charge to 80% if it is varying the voltage depending on engine load?

The OE battery lasted 4 years, and the replacement Century is over 8 years old and still starts the car easily. I have never had a car battery last anywhere near as long before.

There is a battery place in Auckland that sells the Varta silver calcium batteries, but they are not cheap!

Sent from my SM-S906E using Tapatalk

I don't know how the BMS estimates the SOC, given that there's no input for battery capacity nor a temperature sensor. Voltage isn't a great indicator of SOC. Every time I hook up FORscan it says the battery is at 80%. I'm doubtful to say the least.

Proper battery monitors have inputs for battery capacity, temperature sensors and measure all current in and out through a shunt.

They'll generally self calibrate at 100% charge based on charge current, Voltage and battery capacity.

[rondeo]

It's attached to the negative battery terminal, like these:
https://www.bosch-mobility-solutions...attery-sensor/

Easy to miss because you need to remove the air filter box to see it.

[NZ XR6]

Originally Posted by rondeo

It's attached to the negative battery terminal, like these:
https://www.bosch-mobility-solutions...attery-sensor/

Easy to miss because you need to remove the air filter box to see it.

And I thought it just measured voltage! There is some interesting tech in these cars.

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