Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Maintenance Post 98 Zetec Timing Belt How-to

Thanks Brapple for the hard work, but I thought that being you dealt mainly with pre-98 stuff (tensioner spring not a 98 thing etc), it can confuse some as to what to do.

Let us know what YOU did different, that isn't harder, and is not very painful...

1 Disconnect Battery.
2 Unbolt power steering tube (metal tube parallel to belt, held at engine lift 'eye' and beside exhaust manifold)



3 Remove right-hand {timing belt side} mount. (Use of support for engine, optional).
4 Use an offset box-end 13MM to loosen-only 3 waterpump pulley bolts
5 Remove valve cover including...
-Complete airfilter assembly
-Accelerator cable, held by a U-shaped clip...pull up
-Remove crankcase breather hose (hose that goes from filter to v.cover)
-Cruise cable (I couldn't, I think you have to break the plastic to do it) Didn't get in the way anyways.
-Remove Spark Plugs and Wires
-In stages, �½ or full turn increments, loosen v.cover bolts. Remove V.Cover.
-Place rags in Plug Holes (if I didn't I'd have the other half of a mouse nest in my cylinder!)
6 Remove Serp Belt
-Support right-side of car
-Remove the wheel and plastic covers in inner fender. If old belt to be re-used, mark the direction it went, so as to put it back on the right way.
-With a 13MM socket, turn the tensioner AWAY or counter-clockwise. If it doens't move it's clockwise.



7 Rotate crank pulley until the 2nd pair of (very small) notches align with the edge of the oil pan mark, and you're at TDC when the "Ford Service Tool 21-162" or a hunk of metal 0.20 Inch thick by 8 inches long and over 1 inch wide slides in the grooves at the other end of the camshafts. If one cam is slighty out, you can use a 1" wrench on the cam (the areas not round) to get the metal strip to fit.
- If the slots in the cams are way out rotate the crank 360 Degrees, should fit.



8 Remove Waterpump (WP) pulley and drivebelt Idler Pulley



9 Remove the Crankshaft Pulley. And don't think the metal holding the cams will suffice...
As you can see, the dealer or previous owner didn't, and broke my cam, and didn't replace it



Here's how I got it off.
-You need a metal tube to put over the socket (as a breaker bar)
- A Large Flat Screwdriver
- Maybe another person
Haynes said to get an assistant to put it in 5th and lay on the Brakes....didn't do anything for my car. So I did this



I've removed the flywheel dust cover. This is exactly where is rests against and hence allows you to do this job by yourself as I did. On Automatics, the only way that I know is remove the starter and wedge a screwdriver in the flywheel as I did.
-While you're at it, buy an aftermarket Pulley (aka Underdriven, you can use the same ones foci and cougars use, just make sure they have the key-slot in the centre)
10 Remove the other Timing Belt metal covers.
11 Loosen the Timing Belt Tensioner with a 10MM socket. Then rotate it with an Allen Key inserted in it, clockwise, to the slackest point possible.
12 Replace any worn or damages parts. Belt, Pulleys, Bolts, WP.
13 Place Crank pulley back on and see if your cams are aligned with your marks on the crank pulley. Then remove.
14 "Ford Service tool 15-030A" or a forked tool= steel strip 23.5 long and another 8 in with 3 bolts/nuts/washers with one bolt as the pivot point and the other 2 to rest inside the sprocket, if you need to loosen and retighten the camshaft pulleys (If the cams align but the sprocket doesn't and you need to move just the sprocket by unscrewing the nut holding the sprocket)



15 Install Belt. Start at Crank, then goto tensioner (which is loose). Belt Should slip on, but it WILL be almost a 2 man job. Just put the belt on squarely, not too much on either side, otherwise it won't "slip" on.
16 Tighten Tensioner Pulley with Allan Key and tighten the 10MM bolt.
17 Remove Cam Hold Tool and place Crank pulley on and rotate 2 full turns (720 Degrees) and returning to TDC using the pulley marks. The Cam Hold Tool should slip into place
-If only marginally off, use forked tool and adjust the position, with the tensioner taking up slack. Rotate the crank another 720 Deg. And check again.
-If off a lot, use forked tool and loosen the cam bolt, making sure you don't lose the position of the belt and sprocket. Using that 1" open wrench, gently turn the cam till it Does fit the Cam Hold Tool. Tighten the Camshaft bolt, making sure you don't lose the position of the belt and sprocket. Remove Cam Hold Tool and rotate 720 Degrees. It better work now.
18 Now all is well...
-place cam hold tool back in and tighten the timing belt tensioner bolt to 18 Ft-Lbs
-using forked tool to hold the position, checking the camshaft bolts torque Intake-50 Exhaust-88 Ft/Lbs(if necessary)
-Remove Cam hold tool and rotate another 720 Degrees and install cam lock one more time!
Now reassembly is in reverse.

All TQ Specs Taken from the Haynes Manual (in Ft/Lbs unless stated)
V.Cover Bolts- 62 In-Lbs
Timing Belt Idler Pulley Bolts- 38
Timing Belt Centre Metal Cover Bolts- 36
Timing Belt Tensioner Bolt- 18
Timing Belt Sprocket to Camshaft Bolts (step 17)
1998- Intake 50 Exhaust 88
1999/00- Intake 50 Exhaust 44 then 89
Waterpump bolts- 89-124 In/Lbs (can't get a TQ wrench in there anyways)
Serp Belt Idler Pulley
1998- 35
1999/00- 30
Crankshaft Pulley Bolt- 81-89
Right-Hand Mount
-Bracket-to-engine and mount nuts- 61-66
-Mount-to-body bolts- 82

Thanks, Cris'pus. This is excellent stuff.

We can only hope the moderators preserve this how-to by making it a FAQ or article. But based on past experience, this is what will happen:

1. The moderators will refuse or ignore any request to make the post a FAQ, article or sticky. If a lot of members ask for the info to be preserved, the moderators will be even more determined not to do so.

2. Cris'pus' post will fall into the archives, and eventually the photos will become red x's.

3. Other members (and newbies) will post questions about how to replace timing belts. Many will have tried to find information on the topic by searching in the forum archives, but they will find it difficult to weed through the tons of irrelevant information, and will be frustrated by the red x's.

4. The moderators and others will be annoyed by having to answer so many repeated questions about the topic. They will blame the members who ask the questions, even though the moderators have allowed excellent, comprehensive answers like Cris'pus' to fall into the obscure and difficult-to-use archives.

5. The modifications forums slowly become a bitter, boring grouchfest, with newer members asking for information that has already been covered many times, but which is now hard to access, and older members becoming bored and tired of answering the same questions again and again, without being able to quickly direct people to a handy article or FAQ.

6. The earth begins to rotate more slowly on its axis. Gravity becomes weaker and weaker. We all eventually drift away into the stratosphere; metallic objects (like Contours and Mystiques) are drawn toward the sun, where they are burned to cinders.





* Note: none of these comments are directed at Hector, but are generally about the way preservation-worthy info is handled by the CEG administration.*