Mondeo - braking problem

Imposter

Car: 2000 Ford Mondeo TD
Problem: When braking (much more noticable when braking at speed and/or braking hard) there is a lot of vibration in the brake pedal and also in the steering column.

I've gone back to the garage where I bought it and they (VW and Audi garage) couldn't see anything that was obviously wrong. I've got to go back and talk to the sales guy I bought the car from next week and he will decide whether they will send it to a Ford garage to be checked out (Still under guarantee).

The mechanic was suggesting to me that the vibration could be caused by the ABS kicking in but I can't believe that it should be vibrating so much. He tried to suggest that this may be normal for Ford's. Again I can't believe this is the case.

Has anyone had this problem before or got any ideas that may be of help?

mike65

Is the feeling through is brake pedal of pulsing or juddering? ABS often feels like a pulse. One check you can make is to jack up the front end and spin the wheels. You may have a warped disk.

Mike.

Imposter

mike65 wrote:

Is the feeling through is brake pedal of pulsing or juddering? ABS often feels like a pulse. One check you can make is to jack up the front end and spin the wheels. You may have a warped disk.

Mike.

Pulsing or juddering! Hmm... I dunno, i suppose pulsing but it's uncomfortable - seems to be too strong to be normal. ABS shouldn't be kicking in under normal braking, such as coming up to a stop sign or a traffic light, should it? Also how does that explain the steering column?

The mechanics jacked it up and seem to think that it's ok.

jayok

I had this problem a few years ago, had the same symptoms your described, though not with a Mondeo.

I'm with Mike65 here and basically, it turned out that the front discs for the brakes were warped. As such when braking the force wasn't applied evenly and they whole car juddered when stopping. The garage replace the front discs and pad and the problem went away.

I generally only noticed this as high speed (say braking from 70mph at the time on the motorway). However, at slow speeds around a car park if I braked gently I could actually *feel* the warp as with contast light pressure the car came to a juddered stop. You could test this easily.

There are more mechanically minded people here, but that's my 2c.

mondeoman

yeah brake discs warping on mondeos is VERY common its caused by the wheel's been overtightened(with air gun etc),you will have to replace the discs(& pads)and make sure you tourque the wheel nuts to the correct amount (84/85 neutons).
have a look here might help you out -http://www.btinternet.com/~madmole/Reference/knownproblems.html#Brake%20disks%20warping.
ABS NO WAY!

Imposter

Thanks for the info mondeoman.
Should that not have been easy to see when the mechanic jacked up the car?

mondeoman

hi Imposter.
you would think it would be easy to spot,but if they did not know it was a common problem (non Ford Garage)then they were probably looking for something else is ABS problem etc.
I had the same problem on a '94 TD mondeo,I know what it's like,
new discs + pads should sort it out m8;)
Best of luck with it.

AMurphy

First figure our if it is the ABS of a warped rotor.
A warped rotor will vary in frequency with the speed and typically once per wheel rotation.

ABS will rattle on, irrespective of the wheel speed and a much higher rate than once per revolution.

If it is the ABS, first off I'd suggest checking if the wheel speed sensors are correctly set distance from the toothed ring. Then check the ring itself for the possibility of broken teeth, then check the wiring loon for loose or corroded connectors.

Also check the rotors for great rust spots, if it were stopped for a ling time and wet, it may bevelop big rust spots behind the pads, these cause the brakes to pulse.