Timing musings.

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JonnyP

New member
Joined
Mar 4, 2013
Messages
55
Location
Cornwall
I do not know when the cam belt was last done on my car. I have read that if the guy in the garage does not know what he is doing when putting on a new timing belt (variable cam timing) it could lead to poor performance and fuel consumption.
I am wondering if my car has had the belt done by such a guy as I am sure my car is under performing. Unless I am doing about 3.5 to 4k rpm, my car is sluggish. Its not good on hills either. Also I am only getting about 300 miles per tank which doesn't seem much, though I just did a 1000 mile round trip and at a constant 55 to 60 mph I got 400 miles out of a tank.
I have tried getting in touch with the old owner to ask about the cam belt, but drew a blank.

I am now going to save up to get the cam belt changed, for my own peace of mind, but does it really have to go to a specialist..? My local garage chap looked up my car on his computer and said its no problem to change the belt and no special tools needed. Should I go with him or go to Ford or someone on the recommended list..?

Any thoughts..?
 
Hi
I've had a good look at technical info on this and according to Ford Info a crank pulley puller and a crank pulley holder are the minimum requirements for special tools. The VCT isn't the problem, it's the lack of keyways on the crankshaft and camshafts. There's also lots of horror stories out there about belt tensioners being set up incorrectly so if I was you I would go to someone who definitely knows what they're doing as a mistimed or slipping belt will wreck your engine.
Barry
 
Agreed. If he's said 'there's no special tools needed', he probably hasnt done one of these before and you should go somewhere else.
The timing tools are absolutely essential to time the engine properly. Without these, your pissing in the wind.
I think most places charge around the 250 mark for a belt replacement.
And 300 miles to a tank actually isnt too bad.
 
In my opinion you may have two problems

1) Your possible performance problem
2) Your cam belt may have never been changed and has slipped, or has been done badly

which may not be related although they could be.

I would start with buying a cheap OBD 2 scanner and scanning the car for faults, and buying a cheap compression tester and making sure you haven't got a compression problem before spending £300-£400 on a cambelt change

And if you dont use a recommended garage or somewhere experienced with these engines you could actually make your problem worse
 
Thanks for the help guys :0)
I will get me one of those scanners, looks like it would work on me girlfriends focus too.
 
As above, I took mine to a Ford dealer (friend of owner which is helpful) and even they made a mess of it first time :!:

Between putting belt on and firing it up the belt jumped, result....non starting.....complete strip down to check for damage and refit belt again......5 days in total before they solved the problem of a non-starting Puma. (nice thing is, it was their fault so cost me nothing extra)

Trust me your local garage chap will run out of swear words long before he has your belt changed :grin:
 
zinc2000 said:
Trust me your local garage chap will run out of swear words long before he has your belt changed :grin:

His computer (snap on I think) told him it would take 2 1/2 hours, no special tools needed. He said to allow 3 hours. Thats £105 for labour and he reckoned £50 to £100 for parts.
There is a recommended garage in Cornwall on the list, so if needs be, I will use them. My local Ford garage is now an Aldi

ps.. I like your sig :grin:
 
The Ford bulletin I've used for info says you need a crank pulley holder and a crank pulley puller as well as a bolt in TDC pin and a camshaft locking tool. You could in theory manage without the TDC pin by locating TDC with a dial guage and you could use a flat steel plate to lock the cams but you are still left with the problem of taking off the crank pulley without damaging it and not losing TDC when you do so as there is no keyway on any of the pulleys. I raised this on the Westfield site (which is pretty good) and one of the guys on there said be careful removing the crank pully as "it's made out of chocolate!". There is also a well defined procedure for activating the cam belt tensioner which if not done correctly will result in the belt becoming slack and possibly ruining your engine. So if the guy you've consulted says no special tools are needed I would say go to someone else who has worked on this engine before. £205 sounds too good to be true!
Barry
 
tuonokid said:
The Ford bulletin I've used for info says you need a crank pulley holder and a crank pulley puller as well as a bolt in TDC pin and a camshaft locking tool. You could in theory manage without the TDC pin by locating TDC with a dial guage and you could use a flat steel plate to lock the cams but you are still left with the problem of taking off the crank pulley without damaging it and not losing TDC when you do so as there is no keyway on any of the pulleys. I raised this on the Westfield site (which is pretty good) and one of the guys on there said be careful removing the crank pully as "it's made out of chocolate!". There is also a well defined procedure for activating the cam belt tensioner which if not done correctly will result in the belt becoming slack and possibly ruining your engine. So if the guy you've consulted says no special tools are needed I would say go to someone else who has worked on this engine before. £205 sounds too good to be true!
Barry

Cheers for that :0)
 

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