1998 Ford Mondeo ST24 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Rear anti-sway bar mount broke, needed replacing.

Water pump plastic impeller completely failed and caused over-heating.

General problems with over-heating caused problems for the inlet manifold runner control (IMRC).

Seat stitching is coming apart on the drivers seat.

Both rear door handles started sticking open.

The killer rust in places around the rear door, boot.

Bloody eats tyres!

The ST24 is a fantastic car for the money without a doubt.

Half leather interior, electrics all-round, air-con, CD player & changer with steering wheel stick control, sunroof, ABS, power-steering, TCS, spacious with nice little touches like the door handle lights and a powerful V6 engine!

There's not many cars that can come even close to matching all those great features.

The more common problems aren't impossible to fix either. The water pump has a plastic impeller as standard. Over time this degrades and can even come off completely as it did in my car which causes it to over heat. This can cause serious damage so get it looked at. I bought a metal impeller water pump from Autocraft for around £100 which has fixed that perfectly.

The V6 also suffers from a lot of under bonnet heat which can affect air induction kits and worse still cause your IMRC (Inlet Manifold Runner Control) to become faulty or totally break down which is around £130 for the electrical component. The symptoms usually consist of a lack of power at higher revs (3999rpm+) and increased engine noise. The IMRC is the small silver box that is underneath the plastic cover which reads "Duratec" on it. This unit also has a cable coming out of it and that is what opens the secondaries in the throttle body. This cable can fray so check that because they're not available from Ford I hear unless you purchase the complete box (IMRC).

I have removed the plastic cover from my V6 and the under bonnet sound proofing and this I believe has greatly helped the under bonnet temperatures. There is a lot more room for free flowing air over the upper inlets now and the IMRC box seems to be back to normal now.

The other annoying thing that's pretty common is the sticking rear door handles. I just lifted mine up and sprayed almost a third of a can of WD40 into the tiny cracks underneath the handles. I worked them back and fourth almost a hundred times each, but they still stuck. I gave up, but a couple of days later when I opened the rear passenger door the handle worked fine, so that's fixed for now.

This is the first Ford I've owned and I think it's great. My previous cars weren't this powerful, but the best I had was a Porsche tuned Seat Ibiza and it's hardly fair to compare a 1.5 litre to a 2.5l V6.The V6 can easily beat cars of a similar size like the Saab 95T, Jaguar S-types (3litre!),Honda Accords, Renault Laguna V6, Vectra V6 and ALL those crappy TDCi drivers as I've done it. I've had 141mph (on a test track for legal reasons) topend, but I had another 1500rpm left at least. This car will do 150mph for definite and that's fast in anyone's book.

Long live the Mondeo! Check out these sites for good advice, pics etc: Mondeo Enthusiasts Group, Allan's Mondeo ST24 and a wicked American site called the Contour Enthusiasts Group. (Contour is the Americans version of the Mondeo)

Top speed 150 no chance, a saab 9-3 turbo is much faster, I've owned both so I should know.

Vectra cdti 150 will eat you for breakfast and it's a diesel.

Ofcourse the ST24 can do 150mph. I drove it at 141mph, there was 1500 rpm left, it was still accelerating and I ran out of road and had to begin breaking before the end of the short test track (on a flat too). I've travelled at 120-130mph at ease in the ST24 all the time and just because you didn't do it in your ST24 that doesn't mean it isn't possible. After all every car is slightly different and so too are there drivers. My ST24 has an air induction kit and motor-sport grade ignition system, but that's it so its more or less standard. Anyway I've heard those Saab's are good. Is it true second gear is good for 70mph?.

So far every cdti car that I've come across has tried to race me, they lose every time. Quick in low revs, but the V6 thrashes all. Haven't come up against a Vectra cdti 150 yet to be honest, but if the 150 stands for 150bhp then you haven't a chance against my 170bhp V6.

My mondeo st24 has restricted power over 3999rpm it also yerks now and again round town is it linked to imrc module.

The symptoms that I have been told relate to a problem with the IMRC box (also known as the Engine Air Shut off Control), are lack of torque at 4000rpm onwards, no boost of acceleration and an increase in engine noise. My car (ST24) does this occasionally. My garage did a diagnostic on it, but that showed nothing. The printed circuit board in the box is prown to all the heat soak, but that should show up as a fault code if theres something wrong with that I'm assured. I've checked my cable which opens the secondary inlets and that was intact and I watched it working. If you get someone to rev the engine over 4000rpm and look at the lower right hand corner of the throttle body you should see a cable much like you'd find on a bikes brakes opening the secondarys (needed a torch because its hidden away, just trace the cable coming out of the box which is under the black plastic cover with V6 on it). If its not working every time you drive and the cables intacked then you might have to bite the bullet and get a new box. I was quoted £146 the other day for the box and cable not including labour. Mine does it intermittently so I'm putting up with it, if I turn off the engine sometimes it goes back to working again. Regardless of load, heat or anything. Also found out that the USA version was subject to a major recall to have the under-bonnet wiring replaced for free and the warranty extended to 10 years!! This did not happen on the UK or European Mondeos. Supposed to be the Fuel injection wiring harness that's worst, but also the wires to the IMRC could be a problem and that could be causeing you driving problems. It's a real pain this problem and mines not sorted yet, can't find anyone local with good enough knowledge of the V6 engine. Try www.fordmondeo.org/workshop for info on similar problems maybe, hope I've helped in some way.

You need to take in account that speedos read 10% fast at those speeds so even if you did get an indicated 150 reality is you will be doing around 135 which is why ford quote a top speed of 137 I believe with proper test equipment.

I've never heard of that with speedometers before. I ll have to look into that. It might explain why I managed 135+mph in a Rover 214Si (Mark 1,un-modified). If your the same guy with the Saab you never mentioned if that's good for 70mph in second gear. Whats the 0-60mph like on that?. I've done a 0-60 in 7.89 seconds with the traction control off.

The other thing about the ST24 that makes it a better car than a lot of the rest in its class is the handling. It goes round corners superbly and when on the limit the car is easy to read and easily correctable (so far!). The tyres on my car at the moment are Avon ZZ3's and I only mention this because these are fantastic tyres. Can't rate them highly enough. Amazing all-round, but especially on the limit.

Yes the Saab will do an indicated 70 in second. Saab 0-60 is 7.5 factory figure, but the power delivery is very aggressive from a standstill, if the road is not bone dry you have no chance. I agree that the mondeos handle well and drive real nice. I also found that it didn't use much more petrol than a 1.8 I once owned. If you try a sat nav that shows your speed you will see what I mean about speedos reading faster at high speeds, at about 108 on the Saab the satnav shows 100.

My work colleague seems to agree with you about the speedometer reading out, but he thinks its more like 3-5%. Either way theres not much in it and at those speeds its still quick, but I stand corrected.

Your Saab sounds good and I really want a turboed car next if possible. Whats the bhp and top end like on that if you know? I like improving my cars and I don't mean any of that Max Power crap or Fast Car rubbish. I like to improve stopping power, handling and above all performance. Its important to start with a fast car in the first place. The ST24's fantastic, but in rip-off-Britain all the parts are really expensive. The only other option is America where the upgrade parts are a lot cheaper, but then theres always unexpected costs like customs and if the parts are wrong that's a lot of hassle. I've looked in Britain and I can't fit a turbo because theres not enough room and I was quoted £7000 for a supercharger with engine mods (new cam profiles, crank etc) but that's not including the improvements I would want done to the braking and handling to cope with what would be a 300bhp V6!!

Have you looked at any modifications for the engine of the Saab? things like a larger turbo, twins or anything really. Its good to get an idea of how much extra bhp you might get per £. Cheers

For the question about hesitation over 3999 revs yes sounds like your imrc is dead, it can ve revived, or you could just go to fords and buy a new unit £120++++ and that dosent included fitment, you can check the forums out at www.fordmondeo.org to find more info,

Could you advise where I could buy a water pump with metal impeller for my ST24. I have searched google for autocraft, but couldn't find one that sells water pumps.

Thanks.

Luke.

This ones for you Luke or anyone who's after a Ford V6 Water pump with STEEL impeller blades. I got mine from Autocraft, Unit 11, Harnham Trading Estate, Salisbury, SP2 8NW. The telephone number is 01722 411118. It cost me £94 including post and packaging.

This was worth every penny. My ST24's original plastic impeller fell apart one day while I was driving. My car instantly began to overheat and if I hadn't stopped it would have caused some serious damage, maybe even mess my block up. When I looked at the old pump there wasn't even 1 blade left on the impeller so if this happens to you get a metal bladed impeller, it costs around the same price anyway and it won't become brittle because of the heat either. Hope this helps all.

Its the guy with the Saab again in response to your questions about mods, the car has 185bhp as standard, and can be chipped to 225bhp for about £400,then you can replace the exhaust, cats, cylinder head, bigger turbo, water injection etc depends how big your wallet is and how often you want to change the front tyres, I think you could take it to 240bhp with the chip and exhaust and I would stop there as it would be undrivable with anymore, by the way the insurance is only £375 fully comp 27 years old 5 years ncb.

The Saab sounds like a really good car. I'm the same age as you, with the same ncb bonus this year so maybe next year I'll think of buying a Saab. Sticking with the ST24 for now because I've got money invested in it and I'm still loving the V6 growl. It makes me want a V8 so much, but Gordon Brown "the clown" is ripping us off with higher taxes so much that I've got to think 2litres and a turbo to get the performance I'd like next time.

If you want to enjoy your Saab abit more than you can on the roads theres lots of Track days and Action days about. Castle Combe in Wiltshire is a fantastic track and there having an Action day on 21st April. You should come to it if you can, any car can go on the circuit for £30 as long as it is road worthy and MOTed. Its not a race and you can go as fast or slow as you like really. Its great fun and I can't rate this circuit highly enough. Its one of the fastest in Britain and has some really testing corners and great straights. Have you been on a circuit before or anyone else out there? What do you think of Castle Combe?

I am lucky enough to own a ST24, must say that it is truly fantastic to drive. Beats any boyracer at the light... the look on there sad little faces!!!

Only have had small problems with the car, don't we all!!!

But have one ongoing... the engine is making a 'humming' noise, it goes under acceleration, during a ford service they told me it's an air induction problem, anyone got any clues to fixing it? Ford say about £70 plus labour... if they can get the parts!!! And they will not say if it will cure the problem!!!

Other than that car is amazing, best I have owned so far!!!