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timing belt ?'s

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foamerdave

CEG'er
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
54
OK i had a P1383 code went a head and did an oil change no luck there. took off the top cam cover and found a fraying belt that was walked out to the front of the cam gears. went out and got a new belt, tensioner, and idlers. i have read most of the threads here and got it down of how to do it and what is needed for the job but i do have one question how the heck do you loosen the cam gears. this is on a 98 2.0 with the VCT i took out the oil plug on the ext. side and saw no bolt to loosen. what am i missing. my other question is other then a toque wrench a 3/16 bar and the cam gear holder tool is the any thing other then general hand tools i will need thanks for your help Dave
 
When you take the oil plug out on the cam sprocket, there is a star looking bolt behind it. You can use a regular socket to loosen it. Don't remember the size used. Just keep trying different sizes until you find one that fits well. The cam gear holder you don't need. You can use a wrench to hold the cams. There are flat places on them for that. You can buy a kit for about $25 that has the cam bar and crank pin in it. The cam bar aligns your cams and the crank pin makes sure you are exactly at TDC. The timing needs to be exact. Don't know what kit you bought, but the gates kit is good. Has very good instructions. Some threads and manuels are dealing with the pre 98 Zetecs. If you PM me and give me your email I will send you some good instructions I have that has pictures.
 
I just finished changing my PCV valve and it was a P.I.T.A. I am now in the process of changing my timing belt and I also wanted to know what special tools I will need. My repair manual doesn't say if I will need a harmonic balancer puller, but I would think so. I also noticed that my belt is shredding EXACTLY like foamerdave's and I just wanted to know if there is any special part that will keep my new belt from doing this:shrug: . This is going to be my 4th new T-belt on this car since I bought it. (I bought it used with 38,000 mi. and it now has 160,000 miles. Appreciate the help guys.
 
shredding belts

shredding belts

Did you find a solution to your shredding belts. I have a 99 and it will shred a belt in < 1,500 miles at free way speeds, yet last forever in the city

Andrew
 
andreslobo said:
Did you find a solution to your shredding belts. I have a 99 and it will shred a belt in < 1,500 miles at free way speeds, yet last forever in the city

Andrew
Click to expand...
When you change your timing belt, did you check if the tensioner needed changing. And what about the sprockets? Those might be gone too.

Merry Christmas.
 
shedding cam belts

shedding cam belts

Yes
ALL parts were new and when that failed bought them from Ford for a princely sum.

Used the timing tools to set the timing and I set the tension correctly. Still shredded belts.

The only thing that provided some relief was to remove the bottom small idler, the belts last longer, but not long enough for road trips.

I suspect the VCT is the culprit, although I can detect any endplay, I suspect the very short bearing surface for the VcT is allowing the exhaust pulley to tilt, and causing the cam belt to walk off the edge of the cam and get chewed by the metal cambelt cover.

Andrew
 
Did you leave your cam sprockets loose when you set the tension? I can't stress how important it is to do that. If you didn't, your tension will not be right and your timing will be off and most likely get the P1383 or P1381 code and your belt will walk. Gates offers the whole kit with good instructions.
 
Yes

Yes

Adjusted EVERYTHING to spec. Something is wrong , not only with mine but several others on this list and other lists.

I have done EVERYTHING to spec and then some, still shredding, what I am looking for is someone who HAS had this problem and FIXED it, so for no luck.

Andrew
 
Did you ever get a resolution to the shredding issue? I am having the same issue on a 1998 Ztec 2.0 L. I am on my second timing belt, used the tools to adjust cams and timing, etc. I used Goodyear replacement idlers and tensioner instead of the Gates that everyone seems to recommend.

The first belt was shredding on the edge after 600 miles on the replacement belt. I noticed some wear and sharp edge on the vibration damper (the initial problem was the lower idler disintegrated, it could have caused the wear on the damper) when I took it apart for the second time. I turned the sharp edge off to a rounded edge to prevent this being a source of the shredding. There is a slight bevel to the face of the dampter where it mates to the crank gear, which it would seem should cause less wear to the belt edge.

The second belt now has 100+ miles on it and is getting "hairy" on the edge rather than being the typical sharp and smooth edge, so it appears to be wearing. The main problem seems to be that the belt is riding into the vibration damper and on the outside edge of the cam gears rather than centering on the gears. I am thinking of playing a bit with the tension with the upper timing cover off to see if this changes the position of the belt.

The car seems to runn fine, but I don't have high hopes for the second belt unless I can find a solution fast!!
 
Frank535 said:
Did you ever get a resolution to the shredding issue? I am having the same issue on a 1998 Ztec 2.0 L. I am on my second timing belt, used the tools to adjust cams and timing, etc. I used Goodyear replacement idlers and tensioner instead of the Gates that everyone seems to recommend.
......

The car seems to runn fine, but I don't have high hopes for the second belt unless I can find a solution fast!!
Click to expand...
Hmmm....................! ;)
 
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