Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Help! Ford says Timing belt is loose T/F?

Ford told me today that my Timing belt was loose! I didn't think this possible. They have already hit my up 500 dollars for an alternator (stupid me for taking it to ford). They want 500 more for the timing belt.

Are they telling me the truth?

$500 is too much for a timing belt. I had the timing belt and some other service on my 96GL and it was only $350

So unless you mean $500 Canadian pesos, it seems a tad high.

Dunno if it is true or not, I'm not familiar with your original problem. Perhaps they are just recommending changing the belt since they do wear out.

Remind the service manager that much of the work is already done during the alternator replacement, so you don't want to pay for stacking the charges.

TB

Here are some picture of my timing belt which I think looks fine. What do you guys/gals think?

Timing belt pictures

Yes they want 500 American dollars... I called around last week and got estimates of around 300 to 350.. I just don't think it needs it..

Has it been done yet on your car? If your @135000 and it hasn't been done then there is no question that it should be. Just shop around for the best price. Remember this is cheap insurance. Also the recomended interval is around 60000miles/100000kms. :p

It bought the car when it had 69,000 miles on it.. I am not sure if it has been done. Looking at the pictures I realy don't think that the timing belt would look that good and have that many miles on it.

Something smells fishy... There is a belt tensioner that should keep the belt tight and maybe this is a problem. (?) Timing belts just don't stretch a whole lot so a new belt isn't going to be much "tighter". I'm not that familiar with the Zetec, but $500 sounds way out line, especially since the belt looks to be completely external. From your pics it doesn't look that bad, but you have to look at every inch carefully for cracks or "chunking" to know for sure. Might try a post in the Zetec forum and see how many DIY'ers have done it and how long it takes. I doubt the belt/part would cost more than $120 or so.