Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Maintenance timing chain

Why does the duratec have a timing chain and a belt? I belive there is a chain inside covered up somehow and then if i get on the side i can see the belt. What is the belt for. It just seems wierd to me but then again im used to the old pushrod engines

The Duratec (V6) uses a timing chain.

The Zetec (4cyl) uses a timing belt.

hmm. what are you talking about, is there a belt inside the engine that your supposed to change? i guess i dont know what a "timing" belt is.

There are two belts on the Duratec, and a timing chain. One belt runs off of one of the cams and drives the water pump. The other belt runs off of the crank and drives the p/s, alternator, and a/c.

Your timing chain is covered by the timing cover....the accessory belt (AC, Alternator, P/S) sits over the timing cover....the timing chain never has to be changed. I have also never heard of anyone having to change it unless there was a flaw in it already (like some minor 3 liter instances)


Lupe

sorry i should have specified more. I'm not talking about the serpintine belt. If you look on the side where the starter is there are 2 belts (little ones) what area they for. they are on each head

I think if you look more closely you will find that there is only one, and it is on the front head. It drives the water pump.

I also think there is some confusion between drive belts and timing belts. Timing belts drive the cams which must be kept in proper relationship to the crank so they are notched and have notched pulleys and thus are called "timing" belts since they keep the cam in "time" with the crank. Drive belts or accessory belts drive the accessories such as the alternator, air conditioning compressor, power steering pump, and water pump. Most drive belts today are of the "serpentine" variety because of how they drive multiple items and "snake" around. Serpintine belts are also wider and have multiple "V"s where the old "V" belts only had one large "V".

Did I succeed in confusing you more?

so correct me if im wrong. The water pump is on the drivers side of the engine? and i guess that belt it ran off of the cams somehow. I also read somewhere that a belt or chain should be replaced every 60,000 miles and while you do that you might as well change the water pump because you have to take it off to get to it. Is that the timing chain?

Yes, the water pump is on the driver's side of Duratec Contour/Mystique models (well, US models). The water pump is driven by a pulley on the end of one of the front-bank camshafts. If you take the plastic engine cover off, you'll see the camshaft pulley, the water pump pulley and another pulley that's actually a spring tensioner.

The 60,000 mile replacement you've read about applies only to belts. Many, though not all, cars with timing belts also use the belt to run the water pump. Since the majority of the cost in replacing the timing belt is labor, it's often a good idea to replace the water pump (which is fairly cheap) while it's apart. Of course, this doesn't apply to water pumps that don't run off of the timing belt.

In general, timing chains are only used to run the cams, not other engine accessories.

Timing chains usually last for the life of the engine (though this can depend on the engine type). For example, the timing chain in my pushrod Mustang GT is still original at 207K miles; no problems. However, at the other end of the spectrum, timing chains on some older Porsche 911 engines (I hope to get one of these air-cooled, boxer-layout, flat 6 cylinder models some day) recommend servicing the chains every 60K miles (the plastic chain guides wear).