Originally posted by Ray:
Tour, I am not that familiar with the Zetec, but I am assuming that the WP is driven on a pulley by the timing belt. If the belt were to break, as suspected, would there be an overheating condition, or not?



There was no mension of a water pump or overheating. I don't know where this came from.

They were suspecting perhaps a fuel pump, but I've never heard of a fuel pump going out in that manner in these cars. They usually slowly die, & you get plenty of warning before they fail completely.

I think the belt began to shred & one of the cams or the crank gear skipped a tooth or two & caused the car to run poorly for a while before the belt failed.

Another possibility that comes to mind as even MORE likely than the belt itself is a tensioner pulley. Those tend to fail in the Zetec engines, so you should make a small investment in a tensioner pulley along with the belt to avoid a future problem.

Must be that jumbly-wumbly thing happening again.