Zetec Timing Chain Rattling

its a belt. you can either make the cover higher or take it off altogether.

I wouldn't worry about slippage, think about how open the serpetine belt is without real teeth. Tensioner will have to be replaced if the belt is really loose but if it's just a little don't worry bout it.

or you could readjust the belt tensioner, which would fix the problem alltogether, because what happened is the belt streched itself out, because ford for some reason decided not to give us an automatic tensioner

Shimmed the timing belt cover last night and all is fine. While I had the cover off I inspected the belt, which appeared to be in excellant shape, and exhibited proper tension.

Originally posted by RussL:
Shimmed the timing belt cover last night and all is fine. While I had the cover off I inspected the belt, which appeared to be in excellant shape, and exhibited proper tension.

Glad it worked for you. You may still notice a little noise when it gets really cold this winter. I think I read somewhere that the cover on the later model zetecs was redesigned to provide a little more clearance.
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First new car 1964 GTO (I'm a lot older than you guys)
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My first car was a 57 chevy.....but it wasn't new. I got it in 1967 from a police auction. It had been confiscated for running moonshine. It had a 283 V-8, but it wouldn't hold a candle to these zetecs.

Originally posted by Obsidian:
just take the cover off. It's two 8mm bolts and its cake to remove

Yes for a pre98. My 98+ cover broke and still wouldn't come off then.

Didn't I read somewhere that the tensioner is plastic and sometimes breaks causing the belt problem?

By the way...

Originally posted by bentleywarren:

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First new car 1964 GTO (I'm a lot older than you guys)
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My first car was a 57 chevy.....but it wasn't new. I got it in 1967 from a police auction. It had been confiscated for running moonshine. It had a 283 V-8, but it wouldn't hold a candle to these zetecs.

You're not a lot older than all of us...my first new car was a 1971 Fiat 850 Spider convertible.

Back when I first bought my car I had a sound comming from the timming belt. I removed the belt to find that the belt was riding on the edge of the pully. Took it to Ford and they found the tinsionor to be desentagrating(sp) so they replaced it and been good ever since.

please tell me you have replaced that belt? those chunks missing are usually a good sign of needing a new one...

I'm on that boat, Mine is getting hairline cracks

and why is my intake cam gear shaking when turning?

ummmm i didnt hear you say that...do de do de do.

anyway, try tightening the gear. is your belt loose? if so, tighten the tensioner.

I took the top cover off the other night and ran the car for a few minutes till it warmed up. Funny thing is that it seems the belt is hitting the bottom part of the belt cover too. Also the belt isn't exactly ligned up straight on the gears. What i mean is it isn't in the center forming a nice parellel line with the engine. It's closer to the center on the back gear and on the edge of the front. Thats a bad thing right?

Hey does $32 sound about right for a timing belt? Thats what they quoted me at kragen. And $72 for a O2 sensor.

-Rob

thats a bout right. your tnsioner needs tightneed if your belt is loose. but replace it first as it may have streched.

I replaced my belt @ 105K, I was amazed that the original belt was in pretty good shape except for the plastic ribs on the outter edges on the belt from hitting the timing covers.

Replaced my belt at 90K.

Belt looked damn good.

Mine looked good when I replaced it. Heres a pic...

Originally posted by luvinmycontour:
please tell me you have replaced that belt? those chunks missing are usually a good sign of needing a new one...

Oh yea Ford did all under warenty no cost to me.

Two things the timing belt has a replacement interval of about 200000kms seriously and please anybody driving there car on the street leave your cam gear cover on it's there for a reason.I know 200000 seems like a lot and not everybody will make it that far but that is the interval.

Originally posted by fasti4contour:
Two things the timing belt has a replacement interval of about 200000kms seriously and please anybody driving there car on the street leave your cam gear cover on it's there for a reason.I know 200000 seems like a lot and not everybody will make it that far but that is the interval.

could you name that reason...cause mine has been off for over 3 weeks now...no probs...hector, how long has yours been off???

Originally posted by luvinmycontour:

Originally posted by fasti4contour:
Two things the timing belt has a replacement interval of about 200000kms seriously and please anybody driving there car on the street leave your cam gear cover on it's there for a reason.I know 200000 seems like a lot and not everybody will make it that far but that is the interval.

could you name that reason...cause mine has been off for over 3 weeks now...no probs...hector, how long has yours been off???

Since June.

Originally posted by fasti4contour:
Two things the timing belt has a replacement interval of about 200000kms seriously and please anybody driving there car on the street leave your cam gear cover on it's there for a reason.I know 200000 seems like a lot and not everybody will make it that far but that is the interval.

Lessee...200,000 km = 124,274.2 miles according to my conversion program.

I guess at only 98,500 miles I've got a ways to go.

sorry to drudge up such an old post but..

i've been hearing this rattling but it didn't start til winter was over (about a week and a half ago). is it a good idea to take off the cover or are there gonna be problems if i leave it off?

It doesn't do ANY bad to leave it on. So if you do have a belt hitting, shim it with washers. I had mine of for several months and the winter, but I think that wasn't a good Idea because my belt seems to have gotten worse and I think it's because of the road junk getting on it and the pulleys.

The main problem that I see with leaving the cover off is the potential safety issue of sticking your fingers or other body parts into the belt when the engine is running. I know, you shouldn't stick your fingers into any thing moving (or a lot of things that aren't moving), but accidents can happen.

Originally posted by LoCoZ:

Originally posted by luvinmycontour:

Originally posted by fasti4contour:
Two things the timing belt has a replacement interval of about 200000kms seriously and please anybody driving there car on the street leave your cam gear cover on it's there for a reason.I know 200000 seems like a lot and not everybody will make it that far but that is the interval.

could you name that reason...cause mine has been off for over 3 weeks now...no probs...hector, how long has yours been off???

Since June.

mine has been off for over 2 years

sooo ummmm what's the reason I should have it on again????

wow man, I had the exact same problem, except mine was at 101K miles and I have the 96 GL. If you pushed on the cover, or pulled at the edge the taddering noise would stop. Anyways, about 1K miles later my belt decided to break, so get it replaced as soon as possible. It actually broke the day I was going to take the car into Autotech and have it fixed

figures.

oh, and can anyone take an engine pic and maybe circle where this thing is, i'm barley ever near the engine, i want to make sure i'm messing with the right thing.

You want to know what cover we're talking about?

There's 4 bolts, 2 on each side (arrowed). Use washers to in essence push the cover farther away from the belt.

Originally posted by Cris'pus:
You want to know what cover we're talking about?

There's 4 bolts, 2 on each side (arrowed). Use washers to in essence push the cover farther away from the belt.

thanks.... hey that engine looks familiar...

I took my cover off to inspect when it first started ratling and noticed that there is a little ridge of plactic that is supposed to keep the cover in place but i could see that it had worn down. When i reinstalled the cover ( making sure what was left of the ridge was i place) the tapping stopped for about a week then came back so i shimmed it and no more problems since.

Originally posted by RussL:
Hi guys- Was going to do some simple fixes this weekend on my new 95 GLX (2.0L Zetec with 54,000 original miles). But ... had not noticed until yesterday a very bad rattling noise coming from the pulley side of the engine (does not go away). A little probing around pretty much determined that the timing chain is hitting the timing chain cover. Pressing down on the top of the cover actually makes the rattling noise go away as the chain, I guess, is then in smooth contact with the cover.

Searched the sight but only timing chain issues found were for the Duratec engine. Any thoughts? Does the Zetec chain need to be replaced at some specified mileage? Can I take the cover off and adjust something (a tensioner, a cam, etc.). Noise is real bad and I'm afraid to drive the car again before fixing. Car drives fine otherwise, although I think I've discovered that the Zetec sucks in overdrive. It�??s much more pleasurable to drive with the O/D locked-out.

The belt is probably loose.

If it was mine, I'd replace the belt, making sure to follow all steps, using all the right tools [3-piece set]...remembering to loosen the cam gears during the belt tightening process.

Hey... how hard is it going to be to replace the timing belt ive never done one. Mine broke 3 weeks ago i since have purchsed 2003 stang but i decided i want to fix the belt in the tour and drive it as my winter beater...

I dont wanna dump $$ in the car a i will only be driving it when it snows or is real icy out. Do I have to change the tensioner also i just want the car to run for 2 winters im not gonna put more than 6000 miles tops on it during that time....

Mine just started making a noise, and then only when the engine is cold. Stopped driving it in December with 151,000 original owner miles. My 13 year old son wants it. Think I'll cancel the insurance for a couple of years.

I had the same thing and spent $120 to get a new cover, which supposedly was "improved". If I knew more, I would have not bothered to fix it.

well I just looked up the details and I would recommend having a shop do this. It appears that you have to remove the engine mounts and there are some special tools required. Can someone else chime in on this. I havent performed this but am contemplating it and judging by the details I found on the service cd it doesn't look good.

I don't know what special tool is needed, but for my motor mount it was a socket, 5/8 I believe. If you don't remove the mount, it may break the cover (on post-98 like mine did

)

Changing the timing belt is not too hard. You just have to take your time and know what you're doing. And sometimes be inventive with ways to make things work without having proper tools.

Hey I had a sound comming from my timing belt. Pulled the cover and found that the belt was ridding on the edge, chewing it up. Ford found the tensionor pulley was comming apart. Good thing it was still under warranty at the time. But something to look into. At the tome it had about 33,000 miles on it. Here is a pic.

I have the same problem. I was told it was goimg to cost $600 to fix because they have to pull the engine. The only time my engine is comeing out is if a 3.0 goes in.

Woa wait a sec......When they did mine they had to change out the tesionor and the engine stayed id the car. They did it in a few hours.