Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Maintenance Timing belt running offcenter?????? Hitting cover

Also here are the pics of mine.
Here are the pics

This is after the engine was turned off, so im assuming thats how it runs. I noticed it seems to wobble a bit while idling. From the intake (tensioner cam) to the exhaust the belt goes from the inside out. Its really strange, not a lot but a little bit of movement in and out. The belt edges worry me the most. Some up close pics of the belt show this wear. Remember this belt is about 100km old about 2 hrs of driving.





Tensioner pulley on the left


Tensioner up close


belt wear on exterior face


Let me know if these pics will suffice, does it look of for now? Tension is a little under standards but the car runs well with this setup.

any other suggestions? Does the belt look too worn to be used?

Please let me know, im looking into a new bolt for the tensioner in case thats why its running offcenter.

If you do this job get the belt kit it will have new rollers as well I think it was 130-160 but well worth it

I bought all new parts about 1 month ago, then it stripped the belt. So i bought a new belt since the other parts were replaced with the old belt. The tension was too high in the tensioner.

So im going to look into the covers and fire up the engine with my friend. Im pretty sure the bottom cover is hitting the belt.

This belt (pics) is about 100km old, so 2 hrs of driving or less. IT shouldnt be in this shape. Ill get a new a belt (yet again) and see how it turns out.

Thanks for your help.

I had a similar problem after replacing the tensioner. Seems like I had to loosen,reseat and retorque the tensioner a couple of times and it appeared to run straight at that point. Those parts must be torqued.

Only my 2 cents..

MacB

Good point, i will set the torque on it. I had it just tight. I torqued all of the other parts in the system, just not the tensioner.

I still need some advice, i got everything pulled off and installed a new belt. It seems like the alloy cover was hitting the belt and it caused that side damage.

Now i installed the belt fired it up and it works great, got the tension set, torque on the tensioner.

BUt its still running close to the outside. It doesnt move anymore tho, before it used to move slightly from the intake to the exhaust cam on a cycle (in and out), not it runs to the outside but all the time.

I tried pusing the tensioner on that yellow pastic and the belt quickly moved towards the motor (which is what i wanted) its very strange how quickly it does it. I was just touching with my finger. Then i did the same thing on the bottom side of the idler and the belt moved out more.

So i dont know what to do, should i just leave it the way it is or use some spacers on that yellow plastic to keep it pushed in from the top? Does that sound like a good idea.

If anyone is in the GTA (Mississauga) area, i am willing to work with you on a price to get my contour fixed. I need a mechanic who has done this before to get it to run safely. Please let me know, PM or email at camunteanu@gmail.com

Thanks,
Ciprian

Just to update everyone the offcenter problem was caused by the tensioner bolt torque setting, it needs to be torqued otherwise it will not run offcenter.

I just need some advise in terms of the tensioner setting.

This is what i did originally
1. installed the belt at TDC, then tensioned the tensioner to the 4 o clock position.
2. Increased tension untill the little index marker lined up with the mark on the tensioner (approx at 2.65 oclock position)

Then i went on the high way and the tensioner index was way off, like really tense and the belt was tight and hot. So i did the following,

While the belt was hot right after getting off the highway, i stopped the car and readjusted the tensioner to the index point.

Now it gets to the index marker even when hot (running on high way) but when the car starts up the belt tensioner shows the belt is loose. I dont know, what do u guys think? Is it ok this way? Im guessing too much slack may be bad as well but i dont want the belt getting frayed again. The car has almost 200km now and the belt still looks like new at this setting. I kept the top cover off as well to check up on it every so often. It should be ok without the cover right?

Thanks for all the help.
Ciprian

Just today after running the belt for almost 300km the check engine light came on.

i got an error of p1381 : Camshaft position timing over advanced (bank 1).

any ideas