1.7 Variable valve noise

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Crash

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Sep 20, 2009
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Hi, I'm a newbe in desparte need of some advice.
I have a 2000 reg 1.7 zetec puma which has recently started making a noise from around the cambelt area like the noise you get from a collapsed bearing. I removed the aux. belt and started the car the noise was still there. I then removed the cambelt cover and started the engine, the sound seems to be coming from the inlet cam pully (the variable valve one) so I removed the belt. There is slight play in the pully, about 2 decres. As you rock it foward the pully moves away from the engine by about 1mm and moves back when you rotate the pully back.

Is this normal? Has anyone suffered from this before? Do I need a new pully?

Is there any information on how to time the thing up as well?

I have the tool to lock the cams up but i'm struggling with crank lock, I have found a blanking bolt under the PAS pump braket with a 10mm head which seems to go to the crank but can't lock it.
 
This is over my level of knowledge. Not sure too many people have played with that part of the engine as it's notoriously difficult to time if you don't know what you're doing etc.

A message to C.B.Autos on here might help as he can change the cambelts and is a competent mechanic.
 
With the cams locked you must slacken off the cam pullys and rotate the bottom end by hand (spark plugs removed) untill you think you are at tdc on pot 1.
Then rotate the engine back a couple of degrees and insert the timing pin.
Rotate the crank foreward again untill you feel the crank touch the pin and then tighten the cam pullies.
Remove the pin, rotate everything by hand a few times and re-insert the timing pin to double check that when the pin is holding pot 1 at tdc you can re-insert the locking plate into the cams (with a bit of a tap).
Hold your breath, check the tensioner and fire her up!

I have not done this on the 1.7 but have on the 1.8 zetec and as far as i can see on my TIS manual it is the same method for timing it up.

Hope this helps :eek:k:
 
^^ That's exactly what Chris did on mine :eek:k:
 
Yes, this is the correct method of timing up the 1.7, i did mine about 2 months back. The 10mm bolt you were talking about is where you insert the timing pin. As for the movement in the variable cam, is it loose movement, or quite tight, because it is supposed to have movement, thats why its variable, however, if its only moving 2 degrees, it is supposed to move more then that, as far as i can remember mine was about 30 degrees (could be wrong).Have you checked that it isnt the timing belt rubbing on anything, or is it not that sort of noise?
 
Crash said:
Hi, I'm a newbe in desparte need of some advice.
I have a 2000 reg 1.7 zetec puma which has recently started making a noise from around the cambelt area like the noise you get from a collapsed bearing. I removed the aux. belt and started the car the noise was still there. I then removed the cambelt cover and started the engine, the sound seems to be coming from the inlet cam pully (the variable valve one) so I removed the belt. There is slight play in the pully, about 2 decres. As you rock it foward the pully moves away from the engine by about 1mm and moves back when you rotate the pully back.


the cam moves independantly from the pulley in an anticlockwise direction but as far as I know there shouldn't be any movement away from/ towards the engine - I am prepared to be corrected though



Is there any information on how to time the thing up as well?

I have the tool to lock the cams up but i'm struggling with crank lock, I have found a blanking bolt under the PAS pump braket with a 10mm head which seems to go to the crank but can't lock it.


to time it up you need a timing pin that goes into the blanking bolt you've found, when the crank is rotated clockwise and touches the pin this gives you top dead centre and the cam locking tool (5mm thick bar unless you've got something different :? ) should pop easily into the cutouts at the end of the cams.

there is no real way to lock the crank, the crank timing pin is nowhere near strong enough to take it. It's either a case of getting an air impact wrench on the bolt or popping the starter motor off and locking the ring gear off with a spanner ( make sure you tie a length of string to the end of the spanner, just in case it slips and you end up losing it down the hole.... err never happened to me, honest :roll: :lol: )

dunno if any of this helps?? :)
 
Hey,

I am still quite a newbie when it comes to the puma engine, however I am halfway through a top end strip down and rebuild at the moment.

The answer to the movement is yes, there should be movement (around about 30 or so degrees in the anticlockwise direction).

As for those bad noises, i have asked for some help on another thread just recently and was told that the cam followers, if in the wrong places will still work, however they will make unwanted noise. It doesn't sound like this is the case exactly but could be to do with the same thing.

Can you describe what sort of a noise you are hearing? I know that is a poor question but the more detail the better :)

L1
 

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