Timing Belt broke Friday, car running Sunday

[cbman]

Last week I started getting the P1383 code and my car started running crappy. It would idle a little rough and seemed to lose some acceleration. Well, I was out at a bar Friday and when I got in my car to start it, it wouldn't start. I was able to determine it was the timing belt when I pulled the plastic cover enough to see the cam pulleys, and when the engine was turing over the pulleys weren't moving at all.

So, I had it towed and started working on it Saturday and had it up and running Sunday. I probablly spent a total of 7 hours working on it and that includes taking breaks to warm up. The hardest part for me was getting the crank pulley off. The ford CD said to use the access hole on the bottom of the transaxle to lock the engine, but I just ended up using an impact wrench. When I took it off I could see that the belt wasn't completely broke, but some teeth on the belt were worn off completely.

I ran it for a while before I put the cover back on, and notice that it walked to the edge of the puleys. It looked like it might have even been rubbing against the timing belt cover plate. I didn't replace the idlers or the tensioner. Does replacing them help the walking issue? Could it still last a while on the edges of the pulleys?

[cbman]

I thought I should add that the car has 115k miles and I doubt the timing belt was ever replaced.

[Dec1000]

If you didn't get the tension set right, it can cause the belt to walk. Don't know if you had the cam pulleys loose when you set the tension. That is very important to have them loose. The timing with the VCT solenoid needs to be exact. If not, you will get the P1381 code or P1383 code.

[cbman]

I did set the tension with the cam pulleys loose. However, the tensioner "sight" wouldn't go all the way to the line mark. I maxed out the tensioner and the sight still wouldn't make it all the way there.

Anyway, the belt is definately RUBBING against the cover plate. I wonder how long it will last that way?

[starjammir]

LOL mine is rubbing on the plate too. Sucks, but im not worried about it as its still on the cams and such and runs good.