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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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#215 ·
Wedge a breakover bar into the suspension/frame to hold bolt while you barely bump the starter, pull coil connector so motor does not start. Bolt comes loose instantly but make sure socket on it good or it'll take corners off bolt head.
 
#216 ·
Wedge a breaker bar into the suspension/frame to hold bolt while you barely bump the starter, pull coil connector so motor does not start. Bolt comes loose instantly but make sure socket on it good or it'll take corners off bolt head.
Already done that, it just made the starter drag.
 
#217 ·
Zetec Timing Belt Change - No Special Tools

No special tools except homemade balancer holder to help get the bolt loose. I just did my second Zetec engine timing belt change ( third actually ) without any of the special cam alignment tools or top center pin. After the first time I did one ( last year on a Contour ) I had to make a custom do-hicky wrench to hold the balancer by the holes drilled into it so I could put about 200 lbs of torque to it to get it loose. This time I made another wrench as I couldn't find the other but it only took about 40 lbs to get it. That is the hardest part of the job, you do that first as it is no use to take any more apart till you get that loose. Then you take the mount and all the covers off the front but not the valve cover. This last one I just did had no marks on the balancer or cam gears whatsoever so I used a long wire in the no. 1 spark plug hole ( use something that is definitely not going to break off ) to find top center. Make some kind of mark on the balancer that you can line up good again and then make some good marks in a line across the center line of the cam gears and put an extra mark on the ones in the center. Take the old belt and idler wheels off, put the new idler wheels on. Did I mention I did this three times? The second time was because we used the old wheels which didn't track and we had to get better idlers and do it again. Get new wheels. It may take a little time and a few cigarettes but you then carefully put the new belt on and get it in place with all the marks lining up. When you get the belt on the bottom pulley put the balancer on temporarily so you can line up the marks. The exhaust cam may give you a time but you can do it. When you think you have them to where they are all in the right place adjust the tensioner and tighten it. Then carefully turn the motor over by hand with a wrench and observe the marks every time you come around to top center. Go back and move things around if necessary and when you are confident all the marks are lining up the same as when you made them then recheck the tensioner and lock everything down. What you did was trade an old belt and wheels for a new belt and wheels and put everthing back like it was. You didn't have to take the valve cover off and you didn't need the custom alignment tools. Unless your stuff is really out of whack you shouldn't need any more than this.
 
#219 ·
Thanks so much for this tutorial! It made my event a couple weeks ago easier and less time consuming.

I knew the belt needed to be done, but I kept putting it off, and not buying the parts. Well, Friday the 13th on the way home from work at a stoplight the engine died and would not restart. I had 151k miles, and knew what had happened. Towed the car home on a dolly and set to work.

Here are some of my observations

1. The engine must be jacked WAY up for the upper bolts on the middle timing cover with serpentine idler pully to clear the frame. This part was the most difficult for me to remove. You have to loosten the pully first, then loosten the cover bolt, and have the engine jacked up enough for the whole thing to clear. Other parts and bolts require the engine to be lowered way down. I decided to replace all the easily replaceable pullys and parts while doing this, too much effort to much effort if something failed later.

2. The timing tools are helpful but not required (I did not have time to order them). A piece of 3/16 bar stock from Home depot and a few feeler gauges substitute for the cam bar, and TDC can be found with a long screwdriver in the spark plug hole of cyl 1. Just be sure you don't move the crank after locating it.

3, Loosening the cam sprockets is not required as long as they have not been moved from the factory setting. This is because there is a fixed distance between the crank and cam sprockets on the right side, and a fixed number of teeth fit in that distance. As long as there is no slack on the right side, the fixed number of teeth of the belt will cause the cams be be in perfect factory time with the crank. If you are a whole tooth off it will be obvious, and it is not possible to be "off by a whisker".

4. When you wrap the belt it just needs to be snug on the right side. If it seems like it is just a bit loose, check the position of the crank, it has moved a bit. You do not have to pull like crazy. You can't "stretch the belt" to get it to the next tooth if it is almost there. The crank needs to be adjusted slightly.

In total job took about 10-11hrs over a couple days. I could do it in half that now that I have done it.

Thanks FF[clap]
 
#220 ·
There you go, I don't commonly loosen sprockets either, it's actually death to do so if cam has VCT, you lose the cam to sprocket phasing only to have fits getting it right back where it was to begin with.

I made a TDC pin as well as the Home Depot cam tool. Pin cost maybe $3 and five minutes on the bench grinder after hacksawing to rough length.
 
#223 ·
Thanks @lhc_focus for the guide, it's very useful, I have successfully completed my first cambelt change!

One thing though. Hopefully you or someone else can advise on. You mention there were two idlers in your kit and you used the larger one, this was the same for me. However the larger pully is slightly too large, the belt was a pig to get on due to it (it's very tight all the way round so not because of the belt slipping during fitting). The idler rubs on the middle metal cover very slightly, not much but enough to leave a mark on the pully and has worn it down a fraction on the outer edge, I'm talking half a millimeter at most, you can't feel any inperfections but it is visible. But the main concern is that due to the larger idler, I think it's causing the timing to be slightly out, the car runs but is a bit stuttery on acceleration and I think the extra girth on the pully is causing it.

It also makes the belt very tight, it was very difficult to stretch it hard enough to get it on in the first place and I cannot tension it at all, I can't get the lines on the tensioner to align as the belt is too tight so I've left it on the slackest setting on the tensioner. The TDC pin and cam bar were inserted during fitting and everything remained in the right position so that can't be the problem.

I did try the smaller pully in the kit as well but that wouldn't tension either as there was too much slack in the belt.

I'll see if I can pick up the correct idler on ebay as all the local parts suppliers want to sell me the same kit I've already got which clearly isn't correct. In the meantime, how safe is it to drive as it is? I've poodled down to the village shop and back, acceleration is stuttery but speeds are normal once it gets up to speed. I don't want to risk damage but apart from the timing being slightly off it seems fine.
 
#225 ·
Thanks to this thread I did my timing belt yesterday. I've never done timing belt before. Total took about 4.5 hrs. I do a lot of maintenance myself so I can say im pretty good with tools and mechanical work. I did everything exactly as op posted here. I used crankshaft and camshaft locking tools. Using those you can not screw up!! However just in case I marked my old timing belt position in relation to cam and crank pulleys and transferee marks to new belt. All lined up no problem.
I wanted to unbolt camshaft pulleys before setting tensioner, but there is no way. Bolts are very tight and I had nothing to keep camshaft from spinning. I didn't wanna use locking tool to keep it from spinning.
Despite that, car runs perfectly fine, slightly smoother than before change. That could be due to new spark plugs I installed at the same time.

Old belt had some cracks in it, and I don't know if it was replaced before. It did not have ford logo on it, so I assume it was done already before. Car has 203k, I got it since 147k
 
#227 ·
@scoobiemario I screwed up a bit when doing mine and had to undo the camshaft pulleys to realign, best way I found to do it was use "mole grips" (may be called something different in the States) to hold the shaft in place, take the locking plate off the shafts while doing it just in case to avoid breakage. Worked well for me and got them aligned properly. Runs like a dream now. Mine's done 150k now, I've had it since 105k, replaced the belt about 5k ago and still going strong. Great motor :)
 
#228 ·
Camshafts have a hex for a wrench, hold there for loosening/tightening sprocket bolts (with timing bar removed). You can snug the bolts with the bar in place, but remove for final tightening & insert again later for a recheck.
 
#229 ·
I have a question, do you think this belt will last a few more thousand miles?



I inspected it real well and did not see and serious cracking, i did see some very tiny almost microscopic cracks, i just need to make it till its no longer 20F out and snowing and ice to do the job my self. I would even pay to have it done but here on long island - NYC this job could cost who knows.. $800? Hey, anyone in my area with a warm shop willing to do this for me? How much? :) LOL
 
#230 ·
I'm not the most experienced with these but I would think it looks perfectly fine for now. Mine was in considerably worse shapes with visible cracks all the way around it and it got me through 20k miles since I noticed it, who knows how long it was like it.

As soon as you are able to it's best to get it done though, especially in the cold weather could make it more likely to break but it looks in good enough condition at the moment so you should be fine.
 
#233 ·
That's more than double typical prices I've seen posted, how many repairs included in that? (water pump? complete serpentine including tensioner/idler?)

What's the shop rate up to in that area?
 
#236 ·
2 idler kit covers all possibilities, you'll only use the one that fits/matches (two sizes).

Order up the timing tool kit from Massive, not terribly expensive & definitely necessary to get it right.
 
#240 ·
Just used this thread to successfully change my timing belt on a 2001 focus wagon SE!

thank you!

BTW i would edit the thread to mention using a strap wrench of some sort to hold the crank pulley / harmonic balancer while loosening that big nut.

Also the white out marking trick worked for me rather than using the timing pin, one mark on each gear and belt, matched it to the new one, voila!
 
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