43 replies to this topic

[STick220]

I thought I'd set up a little diary for my recently purchased ST220, here’s a link to how and why I bought it:
http://www.stdrivers...44-hello-again/

I don't have huge plans for modifications; I only do a small annual mileage so I don’t spend enough time in it to get much benefit from major performance upgrades – I’m afraid the car’s main role in life is as the fastest dogs kennel in the east lol. My main plan is to clean & tidy it up as best as I can, maybe do some OEM+ type of modifications and generally make the car last as long as possible!

This thread probably won’t be updated very regularly as I have another big project on the go in the form of renovating our home.

So to start with I’ll add some pictures taken by its previous owner when he listed it for sale.

A couple of exterior shots




A couple of interior shots




I'm sure the dogs will enjoy the rear seat audio lol


My first job will be the interior clean up as it smells like an ashtray and the upholstery looks dirty.

[STick220]

One very small modification that I have already made is to activate the automatic central locking so the doors & tailgate lock as soon as vehicle speeds reach 7km/h. I think most people on here with Mondeos have done this one, but here's how to do it just in case anyone is interested:

• Turn the ignition to II, that's the one when the dash lights come on.
• Push and pull the top part of the drivers interior door handle three times.
• Turn the ignition back to position I.
• Push and pull the top part of the drivers door handle another three times.
• Turn the igniton to position II again, this time you should hear a short bleep to say the car has gone into programming mode.
• Push and pull the top part of the drivers door handle just once this time, you should hear a short bleep followed by a long bleep.
• Turn the igniton off, you should hear a final short bleep.
• You're done!

It even locks the car if you go fast enough in reverse

[clansman]

One very small modification that I have already made is to activate the automatic central locking so the doors & tailgate lock as soon as vehicle speeds reach 7km/h. I think most people on here with Mondeos have done this one, but here's how to do it just in case anyone is interested:

• Turn the ignition to II, that's the one when the dash lights come on.
• Push and pull the top part of the drivers interior door handle three times.
• Turn the ignition back to position I.
• Push and pull the top part of the drivers door handle another three times.
• Turn the igniton to position II again, this time you should hear a short bleep to say the car has gone into programming mode.
• Push and pull the top part of the drivers door handle just once this time, you should hear a short bleep followed by a long bleep.
• Turn the igniton off, you should hear a final short bleep.
• You're done!

It even locks the car if you go fast enough in reverse

Was just thinking about this yesterday so cheers for putting the steps up , had a quick look on talkford etc but didn't find it. I am thinking of trying it on the Mk 4.5 but not sure if it works with the keyless entry etc.......heading back to read the manual............again

[mtutt20]

One very small modification that I have already made is to activate the automatic central locking so the doors & tailgate lock as soon as vehicle speeds reach 7km/h. I think most people on here with Mondeos have done this one, but here's how to do it just in case anyone is interested:

• Turn the ignition to II, that's the one when the dash lights come on.
• Push and pull the top part of the drivers interior door handle three times.
• Turn the ignition back to position I.
• Push and pull the top part of the drivers door handle another three times.
• Turn the igniton to position II again, this time you should hear a short bleep to say the car has gone into programming mode.
• Push and pull the top part of the drivers door handle just once this time, you should hear a short bleep followed by a long bleep.
• Turn the igniton off, you should hear a final short bleep.
• You're done!

It even locks the car if you go fast enough in reverse

Thanks for this guide, followed it yesterday and worked perfectly.

Wanted this feature on my car for ages.

[STick220]

Would this work on an early ST220 do you think?

Yes I think it should work, the info I was reading said all Mondeos built from model year 2001.25 are fitted with the generic electronic module (GEM for short!) which is the thing that control this function

[STick220]

So today I got the chance to set about cleaning up the interior. It's taken me the best part of eight hours but I'm more than pleased with the results I knew it was grubby inside but I didn't realise just how bad it was. The main objective as I mentioned above was to get rid of the stale cigarette smell, it's much fresher now, the smell of the leather cleaner has overpowered everything lol. I just hope the smell is cigarettes doesn't make an unwelcome re-appearanceafter a while - fingers crossed it's gone for ever!

I'm not really one for buying really expensive car cleaning products, I don't think I'm skilful enough to use them properly lol, but here's what I used:

• Some cheap Flash all purpose cleaner.
• Tesco's own brand glass cleaner from the kitchen cupboard.
• Dr Leather (strange choice of name!) leather cleaner. The dearest product I used but highly recommended by me after today
• Lidl's own brand matt-finish dashboard wipes. Been in the cupboard for ages and I'm pleased with them.

The process I used was

• A very thorough going over of everything with the Dyson. This took over 2.5 hours alone I used a small paint brush to help get the dust out of the nooks and crannies. It took ages to bash all of the dust from the carpet mats.
  
• I suspected the headlining was the main culprit of harbouring the smell so I mixed up some all purpose cleaner with some warm water in a spray bottle, then sprayed a light mist into the lining then gently worked it in with a cloth. Finally I used a little handheld steam cleaner and moved it across the lining quite quickly so as not to damage it or make it too wet.
  
• Next I washed all plastic surfaces including the dash, centre console and kick panels with another solution of all purpose cleaner and warm water. The water turned black pretty quickly and took off the nasty sheen spray that the previous owner had applied.
  
• More all purpose cleaner mixed with warm water, this time for the carpet and carpet mats, including the boot. Finished off again with the steam cleaner. I think the carpet mats will benefit from this treatment again but they're loads better already.
  
• Cleaned all interior glass, the cloth turned yellow very quickly so plenty of nicotine was present.
  
• Next I cleaned the leather upholstery. This job took the longest but made the biggest improvement of all. I had to work the cleaner in with a soft nail brush to get the leather properly clean.
  
• Finally I treated all plastic surfaces with some matt-look trim dressing wipes.

Here's a few before and after pictures I took along the way. They're only taken on my phone and I'm not the greatest of photographers but hopefully you'll get the idea lol

Drivers seat before, the lighter marks are where I tested the cleaner on some black marks that I thought were burns. I can't believe how much lighter it came up!




Drivers seat after, it's starting to get dusk now so it looks darker here than it really is




Drivers door




Armrest

[STick220]

Trouble with smoke and the smell of it, it gets everywhere and I mean everywhere, the interior looked pretty minging until you've cleaned it and looks like all the hard work has paid off, I'd keep spraying the interior occasionally with some freshener just to keep on top of it as it will probably still linger for a while yet even though it's been cleaned but will die off eventually.

Thanks, I'll keep on top of the job now after my major cleanup. I just hope I've done enough to get rid of the smell from the headlining - I don't want to steam it again as I think too much of that treatment will wreck it.

Just think what that interior looked like and imagine all that $hit and more going in some smokers lungs, now thats enough to make you want to hurl, just don't get why people have to do it.

It's minging isn't it, I think if I was a smoker it would be enough to make me give up

Looks a nice motor though mate, and now in the hands of someone who'll look after it!

Top job.

Thanks very much

[STick220]

Tried the automatic locking thing but hasn't worked on mine so not sure if I've done something wrong, no bleeps at all...

Hmmm, not too sure - mine went first time. You are pushing and pulling the little bit at the top of the inside door handle - the bit that clicks inwards when you lock the car?

[STick220]

Yeah definitely the little switch just above the actual handle to open the door, pushed it to lock the doors and unlock three times with key in pos II, and followed rest of the sequence, but will try again tomorrow when it's light so I can be sure I'm getting the correct position with the key, can't see it too well in the dark lol

Sounds like you're doing it all correctly, position II is the one before the starter engages when all the red lights illuminate on the dash. Maybe it just doesn't work on the pre-facelift models, although I'm pretty certain it worked on my 2002 Focus ST170 (different car I know but they also had the GEM that controls this function amongst others). I know Ford deleted it again on later cars, my 2007 Focus ST didn't have it for example.

[STick220]

Thanks for the info mate, looks like it doesn't have the feature but was worth a try though!

Sorry it didn't work for your car, like you said it's always worth a try though

[FITZYNKAZ]

Thanks for the info mate, looks like it doesn't have the feature but was worth a try though!

they all do it iirc iv had y reg up to 56 plate lx zetec and 2 sts and the only one it did not work was on a ghia x and it was a dodgy drivers door lock

[STick220]

If it is supposed work then I'm gonna ask a daft question lol, does it matter how fast or slow you do the locking/unlocking or even the whole sequence as some things you have to do within a certain amount of seconds? but did mine at a reasonable pace I'd say about 0.5 secs between locked then unlocked then the key.

All my locks are working fine locking, unlocking, and deadlocking

I didn't leave any pause between the lock and unlock when I did mine, as soon as I felt the lock engage/disengage I pushed/pulled again. The gap between working the locks and turning the key was just the length of time it took me to move my hand naturally from the door handle to the ignition without rushing.

Just a thought as I was reading the instructions again that maybe the bit about pushing and pulling the top part of the lock three times could be mis-interpreted as only three movements of the handle when it should be six - it means three cycles of the lock like:

push > pull > push > pull > push > pull

[HighlandFordMan]

No trying to be funny here but all this effort you are putting in to rid the smells yet you stated this will be used primarily as a dog transporter?

That is the worst smell you can have in a car. And it lingers forever!!!!!!!!!!!! The only way to rid the smell of dog is to smoke 20 cubans per day in your car with the windows closed!

Good job you have made though

[STick220]

No trying to be funny here but all this effort you are putting in to rid the smells yet you stated this will be used primarily as a dog transporter?

That is the worst smell you can have in a car. And it lingers forever!!!!!!!!!!!! The only way to rid the smell of dog is to smoke 20 cubans per day in your car with the windows closed!

Good job you have made though

Lol good point that. I prefer the smell of my dogs to the smell of some other stinky person's cigarettes! No offence meant to any smokers on here but it's just one of those smells I really don't like - I was a happy bunny when the smoking ban took effect in pubs and clubs etc!

To be honest I've never had a huge problem with dog smells in any of my previous cars; I keep well on top of the cleaning and always use a boot liner and several blankets which go in the wash regularly. One dog travels in a large crate (due to a previous incident involving seatbelts - don't ask!) so never comes into contact with the car so to speak, and the other is getting quite an old boy now so he doesn't go out on longer runs in the car; I'm not sure how well his bladder will hold up on a lengthy trip - now that would be an awful smell in the car!

[STick220]

Tried it again earlier, flicked the lock as quick as I could, found that the lock itself does resist a bit but did it as quick as I could and still nothing.....

I must be doing something wrong.....

As for your interior you can get some nice interior fresh sprays which should keep on top of any smells, and only take a few seconds to spray into the car.

Maybe there's some kind of fault on your car stopping it from functioning, not sure what though if everything else locking-wise if working fine. It sounds like you're getting the sequence right, don't worry about trying to do it really fast though - just let the locks work at their own pace.

Just a thought - You could try doing it from the passenger side front interior door handle, just incase there's a problem with the driver's side lock.

[-Ben-]

Lovely car, really like the estates. Being a silver car owner myself with half leathers I was wondering how the light grey leather would look with the silver paint scheme - very nice. Thanks for the info regarding auto-locking too

[STick220]

The previous owner had fitted a stone protection foil to the leading edge of the bonnet. This is good as I have a 90,000 mile car with very few chips on the bonnet but not so good as the foil was starting to turn yellow and peel with age, so I decided it was time for it to go last week

Here it it with the foil still fitted, not too noticeable from a distance


Get a bit closer an it's not so good where it's peeling and water/dirt has got underneath it


I wasn't too keen on using my heat gun on the paint if I could get away without it, so I've been waiting until the summer sunshine has finally appeared for long enough to heat it up for me lol. It came off more easily than I was expecting in the end and largely in one piece.

Here it is after about 20 minutes of peeling


This left me with one half of the bonnet which was more shiney than the other so I decided I'd give it a going over! I used my Halfords Clay Kit to remove the contamination, T-Cut by hand to reduce the light scratches and brighten it up and finally a couple of coats of Meguiars Gold Class for some protection and to make it shine.

This is what the clay looked like after I used it on the bonnet, hate to think what it'll be like after the whole car!


Finally, an after shot of the bonnet


After this I did the roof with the same method, no pictures worth posting of this though. I'm pleased with the improvement overall, although as per usual my iPhone pictures do it no justice! Now I just need to make time to do the rest of the car!

I really want to get some protection onto the paint before the winter months as there is very little beading when it rains, and there is quite a lot of tar to remove from the lower panels too. Hopefully I can make a start on this over the next couple of weeks.

[ST220Paul]

Good job! Looks like it's come up really nicely. Don't mention tar on cars. If I get any more on the wings of mine I'm going to start selling it back to the council!

[clansman]

I've been looking into that sort of protection for mine seems to be a vast range in prices for having it done and of course 3M will not sell you the "kit" for your car direct !!!

Interested to know how the condition of the bonnet was before you took it off , any signs of "attack" from stones etc ?

[STick220]

I've been looking into that sort of protection for mine seems to be a vast range in prices for having it done and of course 3M will not sell you the "kit" for your car direct !!!

Interested to know how the condition of the bonnet was before you took it off , any signs of "attack" from stones etc ?

I was surprised to find that the bit I peeled off is a genuine Ford accessory, finis number is 1149925 if anyone who has a mk3 Mondeo is interested - bit pricey at £38 though! There isn't one listed by Ford for the mk4 though.

From looking at the previous owners invoices it looks like the foil was fitted at around 6,000 miles when he bought the car so it had been used 'unprotected' first so to speak. The part of the bonnet that was covered looks pretty much spot on condition-wise; there was one area that looked to have been hit hard by a stone - the foil was pierced and water had got underneath, yet when I peeled it of the paint was unmarked. There are a few chips further back beyond the foil so if I was thinking of fitting it again I'd be inclined to cover the whole bonnet rather than stopping half way. Mine was looking rather tired which was why I took it off, it had been on for six years though. All in, I have to conclude that it is a pretty durable product and probably worth-while if you're doing quite a high mileage, especially at motorway speeds.