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Post by remmington on Jun 10, 2021 6:51:39 GMT 1
Mondeo went out this evening - all fixed with new EPAS, and surprisingly didn't need all the CAN faults clearing on the other modules (again) following the disconnection of the CAN communication connector on the old unit (to move the car around under its own steam). I'll try and strip the old unit down this week - depends on the workload from the middle of the week onwards.....
Well done - you got there - did it take long? - how may workshop hours to put your finger on it - three ish? |
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Post by valhalla on Jun 10, 2021 16:20:19 GMT 1
Well done - you got there - did it take long? - how may workshop hours to put your finger on it - three ish?Not this time.... it would have been nice to get this one in three, but I lost a lot of time with conflicting wiring diagrams from A/D versus the Ford OEM.
The A/D ones are universal for these Mondeos, but that means that many features are not there, and you waste time (I did...) chasing things down that did not need chasing down - connectors that don't go anywhere, hidden behind trim that isn't where it is shown on the diagrams!!
The Ford OEM diagrams are hard work, but the only way in the end. They are accurate and give the precise information that was needed for this specific model of Mondeo. Alas, what makes them hard work is that I'm accessing them through ALLDATA, which means they cannot be properly displayed across the whole screen, therefore you spend a lot of time (I did....) zooming in and out to get what you need. Fortunately I had printed these off at a few zoom-levels, and that helped considerably, but my girlfriend (Ms. Thunberg) would be wetting her knickers over the cost to the planet of irresponsible "printing-out". 
I reckon 5.5hours diagnostic for this one - but that includes the electrical cleaning-up of the fusebox and associated area, which was a red-herring in this case, but needed doing just the same. Biggest drag on time was interior trim removal to access the modules needed for disconnection and cleaning. Everywhere I went to diagnose, all the surrounding electrical equipment was washed-down and dried with switch-cleaner, as there was dried salt everywhere - lives near the sea!
The labour to fit the EPAS was down as 1.7hours to cover all the wheelarch/undertray/nose-cone repairs and improvement on the way (rusted fixings) and headlamp removal (with a sidelamp bulb replacement on the way) to get the PAS reservoir level correct.
It would be quicker next time, but that is hindsight for you.....it's why these forums exist as well!
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Post by valhalla on Jun 20, 2021 23:50:15 GMT 1
I have the photos, which I can post or send separately - they speak a far better story than below, but I don't want to fill the site up with pictures if Rhubarb is struggling here;
The bottom plate was removed off the EPAS this morning. The main cause of failure was lots of white corrosion salts sitting in and around the main circuitboard, but worse than that is the fact that TRW (OEM manufacturer) has bonded the board itself down to the alloy substrate that forms the bottom hydraulic motor seal to the main casing. Water ingress around the sides of the two connectors on the top face of that housing had caused corrosion growths to worm between the circuitboard and the alloy plate, and I believe the CANbus went for a burton because the salts were bridging the tracks into the front end of the CANbus controller chip.
This unit would be very difficult to repair, for whatever reason; the terminals into the motor windings are heavy-duty soldered to the controller IC for that function, so the amount of heat required to separate these would more-or-less write-off the electronics in the EPAS, and this is a necessary part of the unit to separate if you want any access at all to the motor. Worse than that, the start-capacitor has its contacts spot-welded to the board contact-plates, so you would stand little chance of getting any of that apart.
I reckon this must be why I could find no companies out there in the UK that repair these..... 
This one is junk, anyway.....
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Post by remmington on Jun 21, 2021 7:07:41 GMT 1
I have the photos, which I can post or send separately - they speak a far better story than below, but I don't want to fill the site up with pictures if Rhubarb is struggling here; The bottom plate was removed off the EPAS this morning. The main cause of failure was lots of white corrosion salts sitting in and around the main circuitboard, but worse than that is the fact that TRW (OEM manufacturer) has bonded the board itself down to the alloy substrate that forms the bottom hydraulic motor seal to the main casing. Water ingress around the sides of the two connectors on the top face of that housing had caused corrosion growths to worm between the circuitboard and the alloy plate, and I believe the CANbus went for a burton because the salts were bridging the tracks into the front end of the CANbus controller chip. This unit would be very difficult to repair, for whatever reason; the terminals into the motor windings are heavy-duty soldered to the controller IC for that function, so the amount of heat required to separate these would more-or-less write-off the electronics in the EPAS, and this is a necessary part of the unit to separate if you want any access at all to the motor. Worse than that, the start-capacitor has its contacts spot-welded to the board contact-plates, so you would stand little chance of getting any of that apart. I reckon this must be why I could find no companies out there in the UK that repair these..... This one is junk, anyway.....
My understanding is we as forum have space for data but not loads of it.
It is matter of posting photos - then clearing them up deleting them after a while (housekeeping!!!).
Rhubarb can you confirm the position on this? |
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Post by rhyds on Jun 21, 2021 7:19:48 GMT 1
There's also the option of using a site like imgur (I'll write a guide up) or making a shared gallery in Google Photos/dropbox etc.
However, I can't see an issue with posting up a few photos as long as the file sizes aren't too big.
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Post by Rhubarb on Jun 21, 2021 7:50:06 GMT 1
No problem, post up what you need to |
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Post by valhalla on Jun 21, 2021 10:47:38 GMT 1
No problem, post up what you need to Well, I won't post the pictures of Mrs. Valhalla....  
Shown below is the overview shot of the teardown with the bottom cover filled with corrosion salts, and the main pump-body and circuit board upside-down.
I have then shown the circuit board the correct way up, as you would see the connectors in the car, which themselves poke up through the main pump body to the outside world - it's the grommets here that have failed, not the connector pins within.
Note on the second photo that the hydraulic oil sits over this plate, and only the presence of a small grommet around the motor-winding pins prevents CHF from ingressing in the the base of the pump and around the circuits.......
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Post by valhalla on Oct 1, 2021 23:04:16 GMT 1
No new EPAS units on the shelf with any of the main factors, and the Ford price seems to start at around £850 + VAT + del.
I spoke with the customer this evening, and we have agreed to go with a short-warranty (3month) secondhand unit from a dismantlers-yard that specialises in Fords. The same part number is used across the S-Max and Galaxy range of cars, so plenty of choice for good, used units. It comes in at around £200, but that is a considerable saving on the £550 minimum new price I have found when searching this evening.
The good thing is that I can strip the old electronics down, once the replacement part is fitted, and see why they have failed. I have a sneaking suspicion that there has been an old mouse-nest above the EPAS, such that although it looks OK around the connectors, it has rotted through somewhere obscure and drenched the innards.  And guess what? Yes, just outside the 3month warranty, and whilst the wretched thing is in for a load of injector diagnosis and repair work.......Yes, F*** has decided that it's going to seize its EPAS motor whilst parked, awaiting the latest new injectors, such that when I came to move it into the workshop, the Inst Pack warning message comes up "Power Steering Malfunction", and there is clearly no steering assistance....
The 80A fuse was blown, and even though the EPAS main terminals looked like the input resistance was moderate (i.e. not a dead-short), they are, in-fact, behaving just like a dead-short with 12v applied across them. So that was a short lifetime on the first 80A MIDI I fitted!
I utterly fail to understand how this has happened - it is a different sort of fault to before, different outcome, but frankly these things should not just fail with standing? So that's another EPAS that needs to be sourced now......
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Post by valhalla on Oct 28, 2021 23:49:16 GMT 1
A new, genuine TRW exchange unit from Germany has sorted this out now. I will probably just use the unit coming off the car (the replacement 2ndhand EPAS) as the exchange for the core return - I don't think the stripped unit I photographed is going to suffice.....
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