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ZETEC Timing Belt Replacement

421K views 274 replies 82 participants last post by  amc49 
#1 · (Edited)
How-To-ZETEC Timing Belt Replacement

ZETEC Timing Belt Replacement

I am putting this together for the weekend mechanic who has some skills and tools or believes they can do something with outside help such as this procedure. It contains pics, notes, and tools used. I will do my best to stay within the requested limit of 15 pics but may stray over some. Keep in mind this is what worked for me, your mileage may vary.

A bit of an intro. It’s a 2002 ZX5 and my DD with 155k, and sees 100 miles per day. Throw in several long road trips and you arrive at my mileage. Barring any major repairs that just won’t make it cost effective, this car will be around for several more years. So far I have changed the oil every 5-7k miles, replaced the front brakes at 100k, end links at 145k, and at least 3 batteries and 1 alternator. Somehow the timing belt replacement was missed, old age maybe (mine). I was hoping it would last until November’ish when temps cool down out here in the desert. I have been reading up on the change out, printed a procedure from the net, linked here, and ordered the bar and timing pin kit last March.

So anyway the wife is driving down the road about 65’ish when it looses (in only a wife’s description) all the power. I was in Vegas [headbang] , she called, and I told her to either call AAA or drive it home. She was 3 miles from the house and drove it at 25mph which turned out to be about all it would do. I get home the next day (Monday) at 1000 (military time), change cloths and hit the garage. I wanted to take it for a short spin around the block to get a feel for what’s going on. Upon starting it up the engine visible shook pretty good. Took it around the block and could tell it had lost power and just did not have the exhaust sound I am used to hearing after 155k miles. Still didn’t really have an idea yet so hooked up the laptop into the PCM and immediately saw the timing jumping from 25 to 35 degrees and moved with the engine. That’s when the light came on, timing belt. Crap. [bigcry] [bigcry]

I have a garage, air compressor, 2 hydraulic jacks, 6 jack stands, blocks of wood, and lots of metric tools, pneumatic tools, a refrigerator, stereo and a partridge in a pear tree. So I’m set to go.

As for my mechanical skills. I can tear down an engine to parade rest but have never put one back together. I have replaced brakes, rotors, wheel bearings, cylinder head gaskets. Swapped out a carburetor on my CJ7 to a chevy throttle body fuel injection. So I have some skills.

New parts:
Timing belt kit from NAPA, contains the belt, idler pulley and tensioner
Water pump
Serp belt tensioner
Serp belt idler pulley bearing, no one in town had the assemble but found the bearing.
2-O2 sensors
P-side motor mount
Oil and filter

Labor was free but still, all told about 17 hours. In the end the timing belt had slipped and jumped on the crank pulley 2 teeth or 36 degrees of timing. I did not see the importance of installing the timing pin. So I had to take it all apart twice.

Here are some links of interest.
http://www.aa1car.com/library/2004/eb90428.htm
http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/...ation/Ford%20Manual%20Files/Cam%20Timing.html This is the write up I followed
http://www.handsontools.com/OTC-648...or-20L-Zetec-Engines_p_38-6302.html?iorb=4764
http://www.focushacks.com/index.php?modid=56
 
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#160 ·
lol nicely said amc49.... a TAD harsh, but you def got the point across haha!

One thing I WILL add is that not only is changing the belt good becaucse its a good thing to do. Your car litterally FEELS like a brand new car! Timing is now perfectly aligned and its responsive like it used to be!

It's like having a 60yr old girl friend and suddenly turning her into a 25yr old babe. They both get the job done.... but one is just SOO much more worth the experience! ;) haha!!!
 
#164 ·
Help please

Hello Everyone,
I know this is a bit long but I will start from the beginning. Approx 3 months ago I was having a bad idle issue, where my car idle would drop off completely anytime it was a standstill (was fine while moving) It never actually stalled but came very close a few times. My CEL was on as well and because I live in Canada I had to get my bi-annual emmisions testing done before I could reinsure. I took the car to a local mechanic and he was really good. I turned out to be the pcv hose, he replaced it and did a complete once-over and it seemed fine. Fast-Forward 3 months and its time to replace the timing belt (195000kms im Canadian lol [8]) I have a friend who is very mechanically inclined and we decide to work on it together to save some $$. I ordered a new gates timing belt component kit (belt, idler pulley and tensioner), waterpump, valve cover gasket, serpentine belt and timing bar and pin kit. We followed all of the instructions to the dot and had no issues with installing all the parts. After looking at the spark plugs they seemed a bit warn out so I replaced those as well. We got it all back together and started the car. I started first try but after a min it started hesitating and having power hops up and down. Started researching it and realized on of the spark plug boots was pretty damaged. We replaced all the spark plug wires (because it seemed to be misfiring on a cylinder) it started again no problem and after about 2 mins it started hopping again, this time the rpms were falling quite drastically. Did some research and OBD reader said cylinder 1 and 4 misfire. Because these 2 cylinders align on the ignition coil it made sense. Hooked up a multimeter and tested resistance. Sure enough 1 and 4 weren't right. Soooooo [vommit] replaced the ignistion coil.
Started like a dream no issues with idle seemed perfect. Went on test drive 5 minutes in engine stalls after going around corner at very slow speeds. Starts fine no large engine rattling, just severe idle issues at standstill. In your opinion is this timing belt, ignition or possible related to previous issue I had 3 months ago. [???:)][???:)][???:)]
Im sorry this was so long, but any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
#165 ·
Did you loosen both camshaft pulley's when replacing belt? Lhc-Focus doesn't release the cam pullys in this write-up, however, not everyone is so lucky and if your timing/tension is slightly out your idle will be effected at the very least. That said your ignition repairs did allow the engine/idle to perform well for at least 5 mins so there may still be a weak point in the ignition system.

One thing to try initially is ressetting the ecu by disconnecting the battery for about 30 mins then re-connect battery and start car up (dont touch the throttle). Allow the engine to sit at idle for about 15 mins.....then if idle eventually settles try driving the car for a few miles. This basically teaches the car new running values. There are several methods of doing this and mine is probably one of many but it is a tried & tested method.

Good luck.
 
#168 ·
Very good write up.

I did this job myself and it took about 7 hours with the cam locking tool and the crank tdc pin. I also changed the accessory drive belt and tensioner, the engine mount, the radiator, thermostat, tappet cover gasket and cooling fan. (The fan mounting was damaged in an accident and then subsequently damaged the radiator but the insurance would fix it.. a whole other story)

I had never attempted a cam belt change before on any engine, let alone a twin cam unit. Luckily my neighbor used to own a workshop and he gave me some pointers on how to loosen the Crank bolt (put a breaker bar on it and crank the starter) etc.

I followed the FSM instructions and loosened the cam gears to change the belt. Had to figure out how to put 100+ Nm of torque into the cam bolts without breaking the camshafts. I ran out of nerve at about 90 http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile_strongman.gif. It seems to be holding up well after 2 years.

The car seemed a bit more responsive after the belt change. Maybe the new belt fixed the cam timing that was off by a few degrees due to the old belt being stretched?

I also had a rough idle after I put everything together but that was the plug wires not seated properly in the coil pack. Had that problem before so I knew how to fix it.

Otherwise, the job is not too difficult but like the OP stated, take your time, follow the steps and use the correct tools and you won't have any problems.
 
#169 ·
Nightmare after replacing the belt!

Hey everyone,

My cousin (an auto-mechanic professionally employed) and my self attempted a timing belt job on a 2002 focus ZX3 2.0L DOHC last weekend. All seemed to go smooth until the test drive. The engine would surge / stall / miss on load. If you lightly put on the gas it wouldn't miss or anything strange... half way down and things start going weird.

The Speedometer jumps all over the place... all the way up to 140MPH and back down again. Eventually it comes back to the speed you are actually traveling. The dash makes clicking noises and randomly the door open light will come on for a few seconds. We started looking for the source of the problem.

My cousin felt it must be related to the ignition somewhere so we replaced the spark plugs and wires... and guess what? It started to purr like a kitten again! But this is not the end of my woes...

The following evening I drove the car to his house to watch the walking dead... all ways good and fine until I left... When I pulled away and got onto the road ALL OF THE SYMPTOMS HAD COME BACK!

I can't figure it out. He can't figure it out. Autozone employees can't figure it out. Did we damage something on the harness while we had the engine off the side mount and on the jack/moving it up & down to get at the serpentine belt?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is my daily driver and my most favorite car ever... so needless to say I'm hurting.


Thanks!

-Seth
 
#171 ·
I'd be stopping that cousin from working on the car. Replacing plugs and wires is not an acceptable option for the problems you describe, in short, he does not know what he is doing. Like other guy says, you must have yielded some major harness wiring in there somewhere, the reason why a seasoned mechanic goes out of his way to not stress old wiring.
 
#173 ·
I recently replaced the timing belt on my 01 ZX3 Zetec. I used a breaker bar/starter bump to loosen the harmonic balancer bolt. How do you keep the engine from turning when tightening it back up on the re-install? I have a cheapie plastic strap wrench, but that would only hold the balancer to about 55 ft lbs of torque before it started to give. Any other tips or suggestions?
 
#174 ·
Roper Doper son.

Pull Any sparkplug and push a piece of rope down into the head( about 8-10"), not allowing all of it to enter. As the piston rises in the cylinder, it will interfere with the top of the head, thus stopping the engine to rotate. And NO, it WILL NOT cause damage to the engine. Been using this method for freakin' years and had fantastic results. Others sell expensive parts for holding the rotating engines, I think out of the box. Simple S%$T>
 
#175 ·
Think a little further............that method works great but I have seen the extremely rare instance where the piston locked at the outer edge first at squish or quench area to weirdly crack off a piece of piston edge at ring land...........the piece blew backwards through intake and into another cylinder to break THAT piston up, the motor threw a rod on the next startup after the work was performed. The cylinder that was locked with rope was unharmed except piston and the piece left matching marks on the piston that lost its' rod. You don't see that every day.........

I use the old timing belt for both damper and cam sprockets as a tool. Pull belt tight around whatever and then sink visegrips into the belt then load grips sideways to take up belt looseness and lock it down. Use belt backwards on damper for more bite in grooves. You can cut belt into smaller pieces to make more than one strap, when it tears out at visegrip teeth get another.
 
#177 ·
Roperdoper

I"m a fan of this method, when done with reasonable care I've yet to see an issue.

"Fraid that like anything else, if there's a way to screw it up - someone will manage it!

Got a special piece of rope handy in the toolbox for this very trick!

(originally learned it for small engine repair, particularly easy on 2-cycle engines...)

Pick a cyl. that's nearing TDC compression stroke, run in the cord, then bring it up by hand 'till it snugs up & you can feel if it's working as desired. BEFORE putting any torque to anything.... No worries then Mate!
 
#178 ·
Other Ideas:

1. Remove starter motor and lock ring gear.

2. Make a forked holding tool to hold/wedge pulley whilst you tighten bolt. Pulley is held on shaft nose by a keyway on 1.8/2.0's so pulley wont move if you lock it.

3. Get someone to hold footbrake on hard and/or put front wheel back on and lower the car slightly on to blocks of wood and chock front wheel (assuming of course that you already have passenger side motor mount back on).

I've always removed the starter motor at the begininning of changing timing belts and as soon as I've found TDC the ring gear is locked....this way whatever I do to the engine the crankshaft doesnt move and the balancer bolt can be removed and refitted with ease.
 
#181 ·
Help

Hello all, I'm new to this site, trying to find where I can ask this.. Okay here is my problem, I have a 2009 ford focus SES, standard, all the accessories and what not, anyway I just bought this car less then a month ago. What happened was I was racing.. And accidentally shifted from 3rd to second, at a high speed.. My car lost power and stalled, found out one cylinder wasn't working( the second one in from the drivers side). Had unplugged it looked at it plugged it back in and the car still ran the same, then I unplugged it again and the cylinder was working its a different one now that isn't, it's the first one on the drivers side that isn't working now, would it be the distributor? New wires? Spark plugs?? Please help, thank you all, really appreciated!
 
#182 ·
I'll be the first to welcome you to FF. FYI your car doesn't have a distributor, your engine is a direct coil on plug type. Your issue may be a little more complex than just a bad coil though, but more info is needed. I would suggest looking through the Stickied Threads I'm not sure of technical knowledge, but you can measure resistance of each coil with a multimeter to confirm they are all within spec. If you don't have access to a multimeter you can swap coils out from a known firing cylinder and test it that way. However, like I said your issue could be more involved, so I would suggest starting a new thread under the "General Technical Chat Forum." Be sure to include as much info as possible like if CEL is on, and if it is what code(s) is it throwing, what method(s) or how did you come to the conclusion that a particular cylinder isn't firing, etc. There are several intelligent, fellow focus owners on here more than willing to help once you start a thread. Good luck, TJ.
 
#185 ·
I like these instructions, much better than the Haynes/Chilton or factory manual. My Focus is about ready for its second timing belt at 152000 miles. Had a local mechanic do the first TB replacement. I thought the Zeetech engine on my 2001 ZX3 was an interference engine. From the author's coments it sounds like it isn't.
 
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