2004 Ford Mondeo ST220 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Reversing lights stopped working. New switch fitted under warranty.

I am "Mondeo Man". I've previously had a MK1 - 1.8 LX, MK2 2.0 Zetec and MK3 - 2.5 Ghia X. So I've seen it all and have done many miles in the Mondeo family.

The ST220 is by far the best of the bunch.

It is very fast when you need it and yet can also be civilised and relaxed.

The V6 is very refined and does not make very much of a noise below 3,000 rpm, but develops a lovely growl as the 24 valves cut in at 3,500 rpm.

The only gripe I have with the interior is the fact that the Recaro Seats seem to have too many adjustments on them, making it awkward to find a comfortable position, after another driver has altered it. Also, I have no idea why ford decided to give the passenger the same electrically adjusted seat - my passengers are constantly adjusting it, which I find annoying.

The Mondeo is a big car and therefore is not designed to be "ragged" everywhere. The handling is good, but you do know it is a heavy car on the windy country lanes. It likes the open roads and is particularly at home on the fast A-roads and the motorways. It is a monster on the motorways and I have found the cruise control is an excellent way of keeping one's license!

The dealers are acceptable, providing you do not have a problem too complicated for them! I am talking from previous experience with my other Mondeos.

Fuel consumption is around 27 mpg, but most of my journeys are local, so it is not too bad for a big engine.

The 6-speed box is a gem and easily takes block changing when not wishing to make too much progress. When driving round coutry lanes, the car can easily be left in 4th gear to as low as 20 mph and it will pull away happily, up to around 100 mph if required. Driving through 30 Zones, I always put the car in 5th gear. This is the first car I have driven with such in gear flexibility. Smaller turbo engines cannot compete for driver freindliness.

In my opinion, the Mondeo is the best value for money family sized car on the market. It just depends if you can live with the blue oval. However, the Mondeo is not as common as the 3 series BMW! Car reviews state that the ST220 is expensive to run - it's not! My 2.0 Zetec, used to return around 32 mpg, which is not exactly amazing. The ST220 will drink like a jet if you contiuously boot it, but why do you need to?!

I think me and this Mondeo will have a long and happy relationship - providing it stays as reliable as it has been!

All 24v would be working from the word go, not from 3.5k rpm up.

Incorrect. As with the earlier 2.5 duratec the unit is effectively a 16v engine until the secondaries open at around 3,500 rpm.

Eh..how can a 24v unit work as a 16v unit, please care to explain, I am an illiterate automoile engineer.

I,ve just brought an st220 estate, the ride is fantastic especially as it sits on 18" wheel rims, the engine is just silky smooth and normal cruising is just effortless, but really goes when you feed it the berries. mpg, mine is returning 23.5 average, but had it up to 32 mpg on a run which is reasonable for a 3.0 litre engine overall build quality seems superb, anyway ford motor company deserve a 10/10 for this model.

Basically I think it is 18 valves that are in operation below 3.5k revs, the others are held closed by a vacuum on the engine and an 'imrc' unit on the upper inlet manifold which is connected with the ecu and allows the valves to be opened at 3500 rpm.

Spot on, same as the 2.5 Duratec, the IMRC (inlet manifold runner control) is a motorised unit that opens up at around the 3500 rpm to open the other 6 valves.That's why its pretty good on fuel as can totter around on 18 valves until you accelerate harder.

Nice one I like a bit of technical aggresiveness... I'm right.. your wrong ;o)

My understanding of this engine (2.5 version at least) is that all the valves continue in normal operations, but that the short secondary intake runners do not open up until ~3500rpm or so. This is both to optimize intake harmonics at a higher frequency/higher rpms while letting more air in, or conversely to optimize engine harmonics for low rpms otherwise. I'm not sure if the second set of intake valves are fed exclusively by the (closed at low rpm) secondary intake runners or not, but this would make sense. At lower rpm/load I believe it is desirable to maintain some restriction to keep air flow velocity up for better fuel mixing. If this is the case then even though all the valves are still opening, half of them would be air starved--so same basic premise. It just seems simpler than mucking about with the cam shafts and valves themselves. When the mechanism controlling this fails and the secondaries get stuck closed (as appears to have happened on my 2001 mercury cougar) the car is fairly drivable, though less inclined to violate traffic laws, but also seems less efficient at highway speeds (loss of 3-4mpg) and tends to run rich by my olfactory observations and seems to be backfiring some after easing off of full throttle (hope to fix this soon).

I think some people are a bit confused by the comments on the "valves". All of the inlet valves work all the time. The valves the IMRC controls are the throttle valves. I think there are 2 per cylinder. Below 3,500 RPM only one is open per cylinder; as the engine reaches 3500 rpm the IMRC starts to open the other 6 inlet throttle valves, thus feeding more fuel and air to the engine.

Jeez! it's a 24 v, where the control unit keeps 12 shut then on 3500 opens the other 12 that will result in 24v working together.

How can a car be 24 v where its only two valves per cylinder???

Right, lets get this sorted.

All 24 valves (4 inlet and 4 exhaust per cylinder) work all the time together.

The IMRC is the inlet manifold runner control unit.

This lets the inlet manifold work as a normal inlet manifold would below 3500 rpm thus helping the torque values of the engine and helping fuel economy, then above 3500 the IMRC unit rotates a secondary part of the inlet manifold changing the air flow pattern inside, thus producing the induction noise and increasing the full potential of the engine.

It works in exactly the same way as the ST170 Focus.

I have a 2.5 V6 2000 Cougar with a drop of performance in acceleration, the rev's seem to stick whilst changing gears. I've had the engine checked with 1518 code being identified, which is the IMRC bank 2??

Is it easy to change the IMRC?

Is this definitely the fault?

How much?

Is this a garage job or can a novice do it?

Any help is appreciated.

On the Duratech 24v V6 engine there are 2 inlets and 2 exhaust valves per cylinder - (that's (2+2) x6=24. Forget the exhaust valves, these are not important. Concentrate on the 12 inlet valves. All 12 of them are operated by the camshafts - 2 in each cylinder opening at the very same moment each time the cyclinder is on its inlet stroke. The biggest valve is fed via the manifold, but there is a secondary route for more air to enter the cylinder via the secondary throttle valves operated by the IMRC above 3.5K revs OR on rapid depression of the throttle.

Hope it sorts you lot out - even if it's a year late.

Guys you are all wrong. Only the 2.5 V6 has IMRC and primary and secondary intakes. The 3.0 V6 doesn't bother with such nonsense and has a single fixed inlet.

The cam profile is tuned for a kick at around 3750rpm though, and you certainly feel and hear this on the 3.0 V6.

Look guys, there is noooo way a 24v engine only operates 16valves until 3500 rpm, this is not a Honda vtec with an extra cam, the cams on the Mondeo ALL operate together and are attached to the crank with a chain... ie not variable timing... come on lads...