Inlet Manifold Fault - Duratec

Background

The 1.8 and 2.0 Duratec-HE petrol engines fitted to Mk3 Mondeos have swirl plates (also called tumble flaps) fitted in the inlet tracts to modify the incoming airflow under certain conditions for allegedly improved smoothness, economy and emissions.

However, the flaps in early vehicles (built up to late 2002) are susceptible to falling apart and getting ingested by the engine. This frequently causes engine damage and has caused several vehicles to be written off. Sometimes this is preceded for a long time by an audible rattle, other times failure is sudden and catastrophic.

Affected vehicles

The exact date of introduction of the revised manifold - which appears to have cured the issue - is not exactly known. The closest we can say at the moment is that a 2.0 litre car built on 28 August 2002 had the old manifold, and a 1.8 litre car built on 4 December 2002 had the revised one.

How can I tell if I'm affected?

The easiest way to establish if your car is affected is to measure the diameter of the oil separator pipe. This seems to have been changed at the same time as the revised manifold was introduced. If the pipe is ½" outside diameter, you have the old manifold; if it's ¾", you have the new one.