Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting wierd performance issue...

Problem 1: The timing gears on the 2.0 aren't gears they are cog pulleys, they generally don't chip because a belt is used to keep everything timed correctly. Each pulley has a specific position it has to be in before the belt is installed or the cams will be out of time.

Problem 2: The shop that dosen't seem to understand exactly how to repair these engines. The most common cause of timing belts becoming damaged is pulley alignment or pulley wear, if the shop used a mediocre way of holding the cam pulleys they could have damaged the surface or worse yet warped them which would cause the belt to walk on the pulleys and rub against the cover. There is also a guide that goes between the crank timing pulley and the balancer to keep the belt from walking off of the lower pulley. It is not necessary to replace all the pulleys with a timing belt change unless the pulleys are damaged. The spring in the tensioner should be replaced every time the timing belt is removed. All of the pulleys should be replaceable the cam pulleys usually bolt on. If you are going to the dealer to get it repaired bring your invoices from the other shop so they can see what was replaced. Good luck.

I really hate shady repair facilities, they give the repair industry a bad reputation.

I have an update. Today, when coming home from school, I noticed a "hickup" if you will. I went to a lower speed road, and went up to about 15 miles per hour, and shifted into 3rd gear. Once the clutch was out and I was holding arround 17 or 18 MPH, I pushed down the gas about half way. The engine started to buck, almost like a Misfire, but stronger. The car picked up only a little speed while this bucking occured, over the course from 17 MPH to about 22 the car bucked about 3-4 times. I repeated this process about 4 or 5 times, and caught it only to do it about 3 out of the five times. It normally was the worst when going from about 15-17 Miles per hour, and quit at arround 21-23 MPH. Does this information help at all in determining the problem?

Hey, It would really help if I could get extra advice.

Bucking and loss of power at low RPM's are frequently related to timing. Check the static timing. You will need to remove the valve cover. There are pictures floating around here for setting timing, or get a book. Fuel issues crop up under load or at higher RPM's.

Well if it is a timing issue, which its starting to get to be a 90% chance that it is, then im leavign it alone, and letting Auto tech deal with it, they have to fix it free, I have a warrenty on the Timing belt install job they did for me. Thats what I love about mechanic shops.

Instead of paying labor, you could of bought a timing light, and done the job correctly yourself...

Then if you ever had any problems, you could advance / retard it yourself.

Yes, and you are talking to a guy that has never done work on a car himself. Im taking a car care class next year in school so I can get a little ahead.

Based on your above description, first action would be to check the plug wires & plugs. These cars are funny about that stuff.

Take a real close look at the plugs, there were a few CEGers whose Zetec engines were actually breaking the plug insulators because of the mis-firing. The best solution seemed to be Motorcraft plugs & wires.

Best of luck.

well, I just did the plugs and wires, as well as the coil. I put autolite plugs in.

Update:
Today I was driving arround, and the problem got worse, now when I punch on the gas in any gear, at a low RPM. the engine just feels like junk, its rumbles like a mother, and the acceleration rate doesnt change at all, even starting from first gear is sometimes hard for it.... I got no acceleration whatso ever, right down to the floor is like normal driving and the engine just rumbles and feels like a crapload of missfires at once.