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FLYWHEEL BROKEN??? 2.0L DOHC 99 Contour SE

Trikeman72

New CEG'er
Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
21
Location
Adena Ohio
i searched for flywheel posts and didnt find anything related to my isue.....

wife started car made a horrible racket... she shut it off then it woudlnt start... i tried to start it later and it fired up but there was a rattling or clanky noise then motor stalled.. when i tried to restart i heard the whir of the starter... i thought the starter was bad so i removed and replaced it ( that sucketh btw in the freezin rain) did not fix problem..
easiest way to describe this is if you bench test a starter and when the bendix kicks gear out the noise it makes when its freespinning is the sound that it makes trying to turn over car.... since i do not hear any other sound like motor turning over freely etc... i was thinking it was the flywheel but do not know how to check it without pulling the flippin starter back off again.... or if this is even the problem...
motor has over 200K on it and i do have another motor in my garage for it with about 75K but if the flywheel is all thats bad i can get more life out of this one yet or something.. or better yet be able to milk a motor change until the motor actually blows up :) anyways id appreciate any feedback or ideas on this one...

thanks a lot for the help folks
 
when you changed the starter did you see any broken teeth on the flywheel?
honestly i didnt really look i was so sure the starter was the problem at the time... once i bench checked the starter i figured the timing belt was bad so i didnt pay attention.... hell not sure why i even put the dam thing back on now thati think about it :nonono: i was going to take it back off to check the flywheel but noticed a small plug like thing i was wondering if i took that out i could see it that way?? when i get in from work tonight im goin to take that plug out or starter off either way so i can check it ... will update
 
well after i took the starter back off again... flywheel looked fine... just for s&g's i took the timing belt top cover off and well horay for me the belt is fubar :nonono: i can get another timing belt for it cheap enough but im not sure a motor with 200K+ on it is worth it or not??????????

dont know if this is an interference motor or not so i dont know if there was any internal damage done when it broke and started back u p. it wasnt totally broke but least half of it was gone and the rest was loose so im not sure what to do with it now???

any ideas??
 
another thought... where it is only 30bux for a new belt do i need to buy the other components that are there as well like in the kit?? idler pulleys etc?? its either 30 bux or 120bux so ?????
 
here is your problem:

Timing belt failure is attributed to worn out tensioners and idler pulleys, get a gates timing kit for $130, includes 2 pulleys and 1 tensioner and the belt. Its worth it; follow the instructions on replacement down to the word, its imperative that you do exactly what it says.

Zetec is non interference, you will be fine. I have seen many a zetec motor go way past 200K miles, they live forever.
 
nevermind i found one :)

should be here in a couple days i am getting a chilton or haynes before i tackle this also...

thanks for the help i really appreciate it
 
Make sure your manual is up to date. Haynes for years did not show your type tensioner, they only show the early stuff which will not apply to yours at all. Focus manual will show your type for sure. Compare your actual tensioner to what's in the book. I haven't had a Gates kit, it may very well show you correct parts and method. Follow EXACTLY, like the man says.
 
Make sure your manual is up to date. Haynes for years did not show your type tensioner, they only show the early stuff which will not apply to yours at all. Focus manual will show your type for sure. Compare your actual tensioner to what's in the book. I haven't had a Gates kit, it may very well show you correct parts and method. Follow EXACTLY, like the man says.

the gates kit also is specified by build date, because there was 2 different 99 Zetec motors one had the water pump on the timing assembly and one had the water pump on the serpentine belt, a late 99 will have a serpentine belt driven water pump; those are the easier ones to work on and time.
 
um, all years the waterpump is driven by the sepentine belt. however the location of the water pump is different. its either behind the timing belt or off to the side.

it doesn't make any sense to run a water pump off a timing belt. its to important to risk if something happened to the water pump.
 
um, all years the waterpump is driven by the sepentine belt. however the location of the water pump is different. its either behind the timing belt or off to the side.

it doesn't make any sense to run a water pump off a timing belt. its to important to risk if something happened to the water pump.


You are correct, I remembered my facts wrong, early 99 and 98's had a different idler and tensioner design then later 99 and 2000's, the reason it was charged for later years was because of the fact that on the earlier zetecs you needed to pull the timing belt to get to the water pump...

For some stupid reason I thought the timing belt drove the water pump on the pre98's and early 98's but it turns out that I looked at the diagrams wrong, they relocated the water pump on the zetec in later years so it was easier to replace the water pump without having to pull the timing belt. That is what I was getting at.
 
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sorry for the dealay here.. been working around bad weather, killer hours at work and wife havin surgury so im tryin to get this thing goin this weekend... im ready to put the belt on once i get this last tensioner replaced but......

the problem i have now is i cannot get the bolt out of the tensioner that is under the exhaust camshaft gear. it is the largest one in the kit and has a torx bolt in it.

i broke the first T50 i put in it and the other i tried wants to push itself out of the bolt.

i cannot imagine having to have a cheater pipe on my rachet to get this bolt out when all of the others came out without problem.......:shrug:
does anyone know if this bolt has backwards threads?? im doing the lefty loosey thing but broke my bit is why i am asking.....

not sure how to get the frikin thing off to put the new one on /???? i was going to take a cut off wheel and cut away the plastic "roller" and bearing away leaving the metal center that dont turn with the bearing and the bolt on there and try using a pipe wrench to turn the whole thing but am afraid of breaking the bolt off.....

ideas?????????????
 
Me thinks you are going down the wrong path

Me thinks you are going down the wrong path

I think you are wasting time with a timing belt given the description of your symptoms When a timing belts jumps or shreds it is a pretty silent failure. And it won't exhibit behavior of making a loud noise, making the car not start and then healing itself and having the car start. Although your belt is shredded it is probably still in time. And until you have resolved the loud racket problem, replacing the belt is likely throwing money down a rat hole.

Does the engine turn over when you crank the starter? You need a couple of folks to check, have someone turn the engine over and the other to look at the serpentine belt. If it is rotating, then the starter, flywheel, and crank are spinning and your problem lies elsewhere.

If the serpentine belt is not turning, yet the starter motor is turning, it might be the bendix or the solenoind not engaging. OR depending on the type of ring gear on the flywheel, it might be broken and no longer attached to the flywheel, that would make an amazing racket.

Oh yes just remembered, a fubar ac compressor clutch would make one hell of a racket and stop the engine from starting. I bought a tour with a seized ac compressor AND a locked up ac clutch. It absolutely prevented the engine from starting, I was amazed. If that is the problem, and it is now winter a shorter serpentine will cut out the compressor and still power all of the other bits.
 
failing tensioners and timing belts that slap around usually make all kinds of loud racket.
 
Not that loud

Not that loud

I don't think that you could hear failing tensioners inside of the car, even if a bearing got loose and rattled around. A seized one might cause squealing, but that is not in the orginal problem statement.
 
at any rate i need to know if that bolt holding the tensioner on is right handed threads or not??
if i am going to cut away the bearing and plastic and try to free it that way i want to be positive i am going the right way with it ya know?

the starter checked good btw.. i did not notice anything bad on the flywheel but after i found the timing belt shreaded i figured i had the problem :)

how do i find out if there are right handed threads on that bolt when i cant see the head of it
 
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