ford focus timing belt change

[chrispawlyn]

Hi
anyone one know how much it will cost for a timing belt change on a 03 1.6 focus zetec.Is it about 90000 miles that it needs changing
cheers Chris

[pk500]

you need a cambelt kit there about 80ish and about 2.5 hrs labour 100,000 mile or 10 years is recomended

Edited by pk500 on Wednesday 2nd April 20:22

[paul38]

i too am considering this for wifes 2000 focus, its 76k but mainly short start stops. I was intending getting the water pump changed while they are at it as i dont think they are that expensive. knowing my luck a few weeks after the timing belt was done the pump would go.

Dont forget about pullys and tensioners along with the belt

[pk500]

the pulley and tensioners come in the kit with the belt

[paul38]

oh ok, cheers

what do you think about the water pump, is it really worth doing if its not leaking?

and as for the belt,the cars 76K miles on it, would you think i'm being over cauious doing it so soon, i was going to leave it for a wile but everytime i hear a noise i think about it and was going to get it done to be on the safe side. At the minute the cars doing about 5K per year with potential to significantly increase in near future due to longer commute.

I know as with all these things its a bit of a gamble but another opinion would be appreachiated

cheers

paul

[Evilbat]

It's been recommended on the ffoc many times to change cambelt and tensioners before the warrantied 100,000 miles. The problem is, that Ford do not warranty the tensioner, only the belt, and tensioners have failed at 70,000 miles.

[paul38]

Cheers guys,

i booked the car in for the belt replacement. the mechanic was saying the water pump wasn't driven from the belt so decision made regarding the water pump, wait until it goes.

What he did go on to say was that he has seen quite a few focuses where the metal in the head has gone porous (spelling?) resulting in water coming up through the head and lying around the spark plugs causing an engine mis and using water. anyone ever heard of this??

Ours has a slight mis, but i often pulled the ht leads off and wd40'ed them thinking the leads were starting to break down. While its not using water, i changed the coolant when changing the thermostat seal and recently noticed the coolant a dirty colour instead of the blue color it started off

Hope this isn't an issue as it sounds expensive

cheers

paul

[Evilbat]

Haven't come across "porous" heads before. The head gasket may be a cause of water ingress into the spark plug wells, but usually it's more likely to end up mixed with oil into the cylinder head. You can check this by taking the cylinder head breather pipe off and seeing if there is a build up of a yellowish congealed cream around the pipe and the outlet.

Mis-fire may be the coil pack starting to go. I have it from a friend who works at a Ford dealership that the coil packs have caused ECU failure on some 1.6's when they have started to deteriorate.

Edited by Evilbat on Saturday 5th April 19:28