Disintigrating wiring

I own a 1995 Mondeo GLX hatchback. It has done 172,000 km. I have owned it since new and it has been properly serviced throughout its life. However, I have been recently having trouble with the wiring breaking and have been advised by the mechanic that the wiring loom (and the wires) in the engine are disintigrating! I have been further advised by two sources that this is a fairly common problem in Mondeo's of this age, and that there has been at least one reported incident where a fire in the engine compartment has resulted. The mechanic has advised me that I am better off getting rid of the car. I'm not sure whether the mechanic is being unnecessarily alarmist. Has anyone encountered or heard about similar problems?

[murcod]

Try posting the question on www.fordmondeo.org forums and you'll probably get an answer (UK based forums.) Is the insulation breaking down or something- sounds very strange to me?!

Some mechanics don't like fault finding things and pluck crazy solutions out their head. :hihi: (eg. the wife's Excel was surging and they blamed the injectors and water in the fuel tank- ended up fixing it myself and it was the wiring to the knock sensor broken!!)

The only problem I've heard of with Mondeos is the positive battery cable wearing through on something in the engine bay- can't remember the exact details?