Ford fiesta, failed timing belt.

[Tim]

Hello to one and all, a happy new year to you.

Can anyone out there give me some advice replacing the timing belt on my ford fiesta 1.8 diesel K reg which failed yesterday?

I'm told that its not as easy as working on a petrol engine. I've sucessfully changed a belt on a 1.6i rover, petrol, which was quite straight forward but no damage was done on that occasion and i was quite lucky.

However this is is a diesel which i know very little about and i don't know weather to replace the belt and try and start it or take the head off, inspect it ect. and then try.

I'm also having problems finding the timing marks.

What would be the best way of lining everything up?

Whould really appreciate any advice that can be offered.

Tim

[DTH]

Sorry Tim,

Can't comment specifically as I don't know the diesel lumps but if the timing belt has broken then the chances are you are going to have some mangled valves in there, esp. since diesels are significantly higher compression than petrol.

Best thing is to whip the head off and have a look. The next thing to do is make sure you keep up with the maintainance in the future