1.4 Zetec SE timing belt intervals

[V88Dicky]

Howdy Ford fans

My daily commuter car is a 1997 Fiesta 1.4 Ghia with the above engine. I've owned it for 18 months and its been fine all along, only needing a new exhaust and a couple of services so far (which I do myself).

Now, the job I'm doing at the moment makes sense to keep the car for another 18 months or so, so I thought I'd approach the task of changing the cam belt. The real advice I'm after is just for someone to confirm the change intervals of said belt. The manual says 100,000 miles or 10 years whichever is sooner. I've never seen intervals that long before, so was thinking of changing it next year when it reaches the 5 year point and about 40k miles since last change.

Any advice on this matter greatly appreciated

[neiljohnson]

100k or 10 is correct although we tend to advise doing it around the 70k or 7 year mark as we have seen a few fail before their time

[V88Dicky]

Thanks for the reply, means I needn't change it til 2013 or 110k miles, both are a long way off! :-)