Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Maintenance 96 Zetec - Maintenance help

Ok guys, it seems like ya'll have a lot of issues with the timing belts on the motors or just that they wear out alot. I've been doing alot of reading the last few days going back a few months. I noticed over the weekend on my beautiful neighborettes car that the timing belt was very sloppy which has started me on all this.

With that said, I want to make sure I have a good grasp on this. Today I searched abunch on the internet (BTW, did you know they have the internet on computers now? weird) and found a Gates kit from rockauto.com for $135 shipped and called Bill Jenkins for Cam and Crank seals plus a waterpump for around $85 plus whatever shipping is. I'm doing the waterpump as a result of reading here. The seals just because of the mileage, age and CYA for me in case something leaks after I'm done. I'm also getting the SPX OTC 6486 2.0 Zetec Cam kit from Carquest. Since she will be away from home for awhile I'm thinking I should probably do the plugs too while I'm in there, what do you think?

Now, as I understand it so far;

1)I need to support the engine
2)Remove motormount
3)Remove the timing cover
4)Remove and replace the waterpump(because the car has almost 115,00 on it
5)Find TDC on the #4 piston
6)Lock the cams
7)Loosen the sprockets
8)Remove timing belt and pullies (at this point it looks like I can replace the cam seals)
9)Replace the Crank seal
10)Reinstall the waterpump
11)Reinstall Timing Belt
12)Remove slack from timing belt by rotating cam sprockets with cam locked
13)Torque sprocket bolts
14)Remove Cam tool
15)Refill any antifreeze lost
16)Now I would probably replace the plugs
17)Cross fingers and crank



Have I missed anything? What else should I know? Oh yeah, the cam sprockets freewheel with the cams locked only? And is VCT only on the post 98's?

I will be picking up a Haynes manual in the morning for further review and I also plan to write up a blogish type report to include expenses and where purchased from. Also a time table of all events and have pictures taken of each step.

Thank you in advance for all of your wisdom and help. This will help put my mind at ease and hers when it all get's taken care of.

Mike

I think you've got it! Here's a trick that I learned somewhere............ Before you remove the old timing belt, set the crank at TDC with the cams aligned properly and mark the old belt with paint or whatever at the timing marks. Then after you remove the old belt transfer these marks to the new belt. With the marks on the new belt, you can be sure that the new belt is installed correctly. I did this mainly because I didn't have the alignment tool for the camshafts but it worked great
Good luck!

Is there anyone else that can chime in on this? I'm pretty sure that I have it all down but anything extra can't hurt. Like I said earlier, I didn't come across a good write up while searching here and some other places, so I will be making notes along the way and will post everything that I come across. Maybe even make a sticky for it.


Thanks Crandolph. I was thinking I'd do that too as an extra precaution. Mark the two cam gears and the crank pulley and the belts in the same spots, then when the new one goes on, ensure that all the marks line up even with the tool in place.

Not much going on here, is there?

Well, so all did not go according to plan. We got it all torn down and were stopped did in our tracks by the crankshaft pulley. That thing just would not budge so it is off to the dealer in the morning in hopes of getting it done. Once I got into it, it was alot easier than I thought it was going to be. In the end, she got a new serpentine belt, oil change, valve cover gasket, plugs and plug wires. I'm hoping that I really can get a new timing belt and waterpump done tomorrow before I leave.

Some pictures were taken but at this point, all useless without finished product.

You can't get the crank pully off? Bolt or pulling it off the car after the bolt it out?

How hard is it to change crank seals? I thought it was a rather elaborate process if I recall correctly. Maybe I'm wrong though, I've never done it, just read about it a while ago.
My car was a cleveland car, so because of rust I've have to replace dumb things like my oil pan and now maybe my radiator

you need air tool's to get the crank pulley off..

hand tools would NEVER loosen that.