Thank God this is a non-interference engine

Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives

Last Tuesday, I left work for home at about 4 AM. As I turned onto the highway, I felt a slight hesitation, but then the engine ran fine. The only thing I noticed was that it was louder than usual under the hood. I figured I had possibly gotten an air leak in the CTA, so I would check that out when I got home. About 20 miles or so into the trip, I pull off the highway into my subdivision. As soon as I got to the Stop sign, the CEL came on. I wasn't far from the house, so I continued on, barely feathering the gas. (In my heart of hearts, I suppose I'm ready to be out of this car, but I digress...)At every stop sign thereafter, the car would die, but would restart and I could continue on. As I pulled up to the house, I could hear a racket coming from the engine bay. I shut it down and made plans to call my mechanic first thing in the AM. The car would not start when I went out at 8 AM, so I had it towed to the mechanic's garage, about 1.5 miles away.
Turns out, the timing belt had sheered off a considerable amount, but had not snapped. Replaced the belt and tensioner for $350 (suprised at the low cost!).
I figure that it ran okay on the highway, but not in subdivision due to VCT. That is my best guess...

Since the timing belt replacement however, the car is quite sluggish (moreso than usual...this thing has always been a bit of a turd) from a stop. Any ideas?

Sorry for the long post. Just happy the engine wasn't toast! (Somewhat....I'd love to get into a Jetta or Mazda 6 right about now!)

Originally posted by t-red2000se:
Last Tuesday, I left work for home at about 4 AM. As I turned onto the highway, I felt a slight hesitation, but then the engine ran fine. The only thing I noticed was that it was louder than usual under the hood. I figured I had possibly gotten an air leak in the CTA, so I would check that out when I got home. About 20 miles or so into the trip, I pull off the highway into my subdivision. As soon as I got to the Stop sign, the CEL came on. I wasn't far from the house, so I continued on, barely feathering the gas. (In my heart of hearts, I suppose I'm ready to be out of this car, but I digress...)At every stop sign thereafter, the car would die, but would restart and I could continue on. As I pulled up to the house, I could hear a racket coming from the engine bay. I shut it down and made plans to call my mechanic first thing in the AM. The car would not start when I went out at 8 AM, so I had it towed to the mechanic's garage, about 1.5 miles away.
Turns out, the timing belt had sheered off a considerable amount, but had not snapped. Replaced the belt and tensioner for $350 (suprised at the low cost!).
I figure that it ran okay on the highway, but not in subdivision due to VCT. That is my best guess...

Since the timing belt replacement however, the car is quite sluggish (moreso than usual...this thing has always been a bit of a turd) from a stop. Any ideas?

Sorry for the long post. Just happy the engine wasn't toast! (Somewhat....I'd love to get into a Jetta or Mazda 6 right about now!)

Your timing is off. Probably a tooth off.

Are you getting a CEL? The VCT solenoid going out causes sluggishness too.

no, no CEL. Still sluggish, though...
BUMP!

Originally posted by t-red2000se:
no, no CEL. ...

Scan it, just in case there is an intermittent code.

Originally posted by Tony2005:

Originally posted by t-red2000se:
no, no CEL. ...

Scan it, just in case there is an intermittent code.

What he said. CHECK THE TIMING!

It can be a little bit off in timing and not trip the CEL. Common cause is when the tech did the job they didn't loosen the cam gears so they turn freely when tensioning the belt. Cams and Crank need to be locked, and cam gears loosen before installing the new belt. Tensioner and rollers should also be replaced at the same time. Gates has a great timing component kit.

Cam gears do not need to be loosened.

Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
Cam gears do not need to be loosened.

I have VCT timing on the ex and a adjustable camgear on the intake (not really need for my setup). I loosened the VCT bolt to cam but on the adjustable just loosened the adjustable plate. When after applying the tension the pointer on the intake adjustable gear was 3deg on the retard side... So if you don't want you locking tool to get jammed and you want the timing on the button yes you do need to loosen the gears..

JD

No you don't. Hold the cams.

Absolutely! The same thing happened to me. Going home, it seems a bunch of teeth were sheared off the timing belt without the belt itself snapping. After the mechanic replaced the belt, the car was a bit sluggish. It would start fine, but every so often with no consistency to it, the engine would spaz out on acceleration.

It turns out that the VCT compensates A LOT for a poorly timed engine, but it still needs to be done right. Have it checked!

Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
No you don't. Hold the cams.

You know i covered this in another post, only problem is they PM back that loosening the cam gears was the trick and fixed there problem... Anytime I've tried to not loosen the gears the locking tool gets jammed in the end of the cams because the belt tension tries (though it can't) to turn the cams, which inturns puts pressure on the locking tool and then it doesn't slide out... Any other method and your engine is off timing, by 2-3deg which isn't even a full tooth.. Skipping this step is lazy.

Originally posted by jd28:

Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
No you don't. Hold the cams.

You know i covered this in another post, only problem is they PM back that loosening the cam gears was the trick and fixed there problem... Anytime I've tried to not loosen the gears the locking tool gets jammed in the end of the cams because the belt tension tries (though it can't) to turn the cams, which inturns puts pressure on the locking tool and then it doesn't slide out... Any other method and your engine is off timing, by 2-3deg which isn't even a full tooth..

You mean.. like on this thread/post.

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=zetecmaint&Number=1031060&Forum=zetecmaint&Words=timing%20belt&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=1&Limit=25&Old=3months&Main=1027411&Search=true#Post1031060

Again, you do NOT have to loosen the cam gear bolts.
Hold the cams some way. I do not mean just the bar in the back, that is stupid just to use that and could break the cams. I wouldn't recommend the way I did it either (so I won't say what it was in this post), but it worked. Ford sells a tool for doing it or you can make your own relatively easily.

In any case, loosening the cam gear bolts is unneeded and potentially could cause problems as well. Just do what you are supposed to do and use a tool or something to hold everything from moving.

And of course I'm talking non-vct here. I have no idea if vct requires something to be done different. VCT sucks and if you have it, you should swap a non-vct engine in.

Ok your way is the right way... boo hoo I have a vct engine idiot states I should swap it boo hoo.

JD

Yeap. Throw it in garbage. It's junk.

Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
Yeap. Throw it in garbage. It's junk.

I really hope you don't work on cars for a living.. As far as pulling the VCT for a non VCT, well what little HP gain you would get wouldn't be worth it. What would be worth it is going right for the 2.5L V6. Up against that both our engine fall in your junk listing.

JD28

PS I still think your an idiot. Nothing is more correct then a service manual, and it doesn't use your method, no wood used.

Originally posted by sk8token:
OK, I finished the car over the weekend and wanted to post for anyone interested and maybe future searchers.

Loosening the camshaft sprocket bolts was the trick. For some reason, when I put in the new timing components, nothing would line up unless I left some slack at the top between the two pullies. Of course it didn't like this and ran rough, and there was slack, so I loosened the camshaft sprocket bolts and allowed the sprockets to freewheel while I tensioned the belt.

Worked perfectly. Nice even tension and the engine runs smooth and crisp as ever. Thanks for all of your suggestions/help.

Funny how it solved his problem... Hey it's a 96 zetec... Hmmm guess thats means it's a non-vct...Stop trying to justify why you did yours wrong and stop giving out incorrect unbias information to users, your going to help someone alright, drive around off timing. idiot.

Originally posted by jd28:

I really hope you don't work on cars for a living.. As far as pulling the VCT for a non VCT, well what little HP gain you would get wouldn't be worth it. What would be worth it is going right for the 2.5L V6. Up against that both our engine fall in your junk listing.

JD28

PS I still think your an idiot. Nothing is more correct then a service manual, and it doesn't use your method, no wood used.

Welll uh oh I do work on cars for a living. Sorta. Oil changes and tires mainly. There would be NO hp gain. And you're right, both non-vct and vct zetecs should be in the junk listing. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd throw mine away.

PS Love you too. You're right nothing is more correct than a service manual. And what da ya know, I have the 1996 Ford Service manual right here. And guess what? It says NOTHING about loosening the cam gear bolts. No the wood I used is not the correct way, but it worked. I do not recommend it. I recommend Ford tool or equivelant part number : T74P-6256-B

Originally posted by jd28:

Funny how it solved his problem... Hey it's a 96 zetec... Hmmm guess thats means it's a non-vct...Stop trying to justify why you did yours wrong and stop giving out incorrect unbias information to users, your going to help someone alright, drive around off timing. idiot.

Not funny at all. He didn't use the Ford tool or equivalant so that was the only way to fix it. So yeah, he screwed up and had to fix it because he didn't do it the right way the first time. I'm not justifying anything. I'm telling people the way FORD says to do it. Which works. Worked for me and many many others. Gosh idiot. The liger is pretty much my favorite animal.

Thread past its prime... closed.