Originally posted by TourDeForce:
Originally posted by svttour:
we dont have timing belts on our cars we have timing chains..



The belt is due for changing at about 140,000 miles according to the owners manual (I bought one for the ZX2 on Ebay - finally). Verify the mileage for that service interval in your own manual. I got flamed one time when I ASSUMED the timing belt service was due before 100K - which was my experience with other 4 bangers.

The tensioners do tend to go bad before then, but I have no experience with them. If you want more info, start with a search in the Zetec Maintenance forum and follow up with any questions you may have after you've done a little reading. Knowledge is power.



That's so surprising. I went ahead to verify, and actually the Owner's Guide & Maint. Schedule doesn't even mention the timing belt (it ends at 150k).
Actually you can download those in PDF from myford.fordvehicles.com (reqs free registration).

A mechanic friend of mine recently changed his job to a Ford dealer from an indep shop and he said he was shocked to see the number of Zetec contours with broken timing belts. He told me to replace at every 60k mi no later...

Tiv