It's now been about 1K miles since I changed the wet belts on my fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost. After researching the job I nearly didn’t tackle it, but now it's done I wanted to share some useful stuff.  I’ve changed cam belts on every car I've owned and a few for friends and family so I think I can call myself an experienced DIYer.  

In a Fiesta it's not easy, the main difficulty is space and access to everything. At the heart of it's just another timing belt. Thankfully for this one I had the use of my classic car friend's ramp; without it I think it would have been seriously tricky. There are too many negative comments about this engine. Wet belts and keyless crank pulley are fine. This isn’t Fords first keyless engine, the predecessor Zetec engine was keyless, so they knew what they were doing. In my case at 11 years old and 62k miles, the as found visible condition of both belts was good and the oil pick up was perfectly clear, so no concerns for future reliability. 

Cam setting tool kits are widely available, I paid £72 for mine. The torque multiplier isn’t necessary if the engine is still secure in the vehicle so there are no problems resisting the forces required to remove and refit the crank bolt. Roughly plan for 500-600Nm, realistically that equates to a ¾" drive 6-point socket and a 3-foot scaffold pole. With an engine on a bench, resisting these forces would be very difficult, hence reduce the external force applied with a torque multiplier. 

Over and above my normal tool selection I needed the following. Timing tool set. Deep 10mm box key to remove extended cam cover bolts as even my long socket was too short. Nut splitter to remove the nuts on the exhaust front pipe to centre joint. 10mm screwed rod, roughly 100-150mm long with nuts and washers. ¾" drive torque wrench. 

There are two widths of cam belt fitted to EcoBoost engines. The wider belt is 18.5mm kit part number 2121996, and the narrower belt kit is 16mm kit part number 2122062. No idea how to know in advance which is required. The kits don’t include the oil pump belt or the crank bolt. In addition to the other standard parts I would recommend the cam belt cover to block cooling water seal part number 1816352 and the water pump plastic inlet manifold O rings part numbers 5198199 and 5198200. 

The top starter motor bolt is also a gearbox fixing bolt and the thread is in the starter motor. So, when fitting the flywheel locking tool use the 10mm screwed rod and nuts in the top-hole location.  Original starter motor bolt is fine for the lower bolt as the thread is in the block. 

Supporting the engine. Unless you have some clever engine support you can't have the sump off and the timing belt cover mounting off as the same time. So, remove the sump and the plastic belt cover, ease the belt off the oil pump pulley, clean the sump joint faces and loosely refit the sump. Support the engine under the sump remove the timing belt cover, clean the joint faces, change the belts, loosely refit cam belt cover and engine mount. Remove the sump, ease the belt onto the oil pump pulley, refit plastic cover, final clean, apply sealant and refit sump. Support the engine under the sump, remove the cam belt cover, final clean, fit new water seal, apply sealant and refit cam belt cover and engine mount. Obviously, you need to fill all the gaps and other steps, 

There are no air bleed points in the cooling system so in addition to the usual methods note the following. The top of the radiator is a high point, the way to vent the air at this point is to, only just, ease the top hose off, and only at the hose 12 O’clock position, until coolant is visible. Do this with the engine cold, the expansion cap off and the reservoir at maximum. 

It's a good engine, try driving one of the alternative non-turbo Fiesta’s and there's no question.  

I think you're going to be getting lots of requests for wet belt replacements 😁. How long did it take you?

2 hours ago, MechEng said:

It's now been about 1K miles since I changed the wet belts on my fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost. After researching the job I nearly didn’t tackle it, but now it's done I wanted to share some useful stuff.  I’ve changed cam belts on every car I've owned and a few for friends and family so I think I can call myself an experienced DIYer.  

In a Fiesta it's not easy, the main difficulty is space and access to everything. At the heart of it's just another timing belt. Thankfully for this one I had the use of my classic car friend's ramp; without it I think it would have been seriously tricky. There are too many negative comments about this engine. Wet belts and keyless crank pulley are fine. This isn’t Fords first keyless engine, the predecessor Zetec engine was keyless, so they knew what they were doing. In my case at 11 years old and 62k miles, the as found visible condition of both belts was good and the oil pick up was perfectly clear, so no concerns for future reliability. 

Cam setting tool kits are widely available, I paid £72 for mine. The torque multiplier isn’t necessary if the engine is still secure in the vehicle so there are no problems resisting the forces required to remove and refit the crank bolt. Roughly plan for 500-600Nm, realistically that equates to a ¾" drive 6-point socket and a 3-foot scaffold pole. With an engine on a bench, resisting these forces would be very difficult, hence reduce the external force applied with a torque multiplier. 

Over and above my normal tool selection I needed the following. Timing tool set. Deep 10mm box key to remove extended cam cover bolts as even my long socket was too short. Nut splitter to remove the nuts on the exhaust front pipe to centre joint. 10mm screwed rod, roughly 100-150mm long with nuts and washers. ¾" drive torque wrench. 

There are two widths of cam belt fitted to EcoBoost engines. The wider belt is 18.5mm kit part number 2121996, and the narrower belt kit is 16mm kit part number 2122062. No idea how to know in advance which is required. The kits don’t include the oil pump belt or the crank bolt. In addition to the other standard parts I would recommend the cam belt cover to block cooling water seal part number 1816352 and the water pump plastic inlet manifold O rings part numbers 5198199 and 5198200. 

The top starter motor bolt is also a gearbox fixing bolt and the thread is in the starter motor. So, when fitting the flywheel locking tool use the 10mm screwed rod and nuts in the top-hole location.  Original starter motor bolt is fine for the lower bolt as the thread is in the block. 

Supporting the engine. Unless you have some clever engine support you can't have the sump off and the timing belt cover mounting off as the same time. So, remove the sump and the plastic belt cover, ease the belt off the oil pump pulley, clean the sump joint faces and loosely refit the sump. Support the engine under the sump remove the timing belt cover, clean the joint faces, change the belts, loosely refit cam belt cover and engine mount. Remove the sump, ease the belt onto the oil pump pulley, refit plastic cover, final clean, apply sealant and refit sump. Support the engine under the sump, remove the cam belt cover, final clean, fit new water seal, apply sealant and refit cam belt cover and engine mount. Obviously, you need to fill all the gaps and other steps, 

There are no air bleed points in the cooling system so in addition to the usual methods note the following. The top of the radiator is a high point, the way to vent the air at this point is to, only just, ease the top hose off, and only at the hose 12 O’clock position, until coolant is visible. Do this with the engine cold, the expansion cap off and the reservoir at maximum. 

It's a good engine, try driving one of the alternative non-turbo Fiesta’s and there's no question.  

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience 

1 hour ago, Mark with a Fiesta said:

I think you're going to be getting lots of requests for wet belt replacements 😁. How long did it take you?

Took me 8 days part time, probably about 35 hours.

27 minutes ago, MechEng said:

probably about 35 hours.

I hope you don't charge Ford labor rates (£120 per hour) that would have cost £4200 🤣

Great write-up Grant - thanks for sharing. I think these sorts of posts are particularly helpful for others contemplating doing the job as not only do they provide useful information and advice but also helps put things into perspective as to how big, but nevertheless achievable, the job is. Goog on you for being so honest about the amount of time taken. I bet you'd do it in a fraction of that if you were to ever do another as for us DIYers it's the learning curve that seems to take the majority of time up.

A couple of comments to add, made in the spirit of adding further to your tips/comments for the benefit of others:

- Crank Pulley Washer - You didn't mention fitting a diamond-encrusted washer (part code 1870533) between the crank pulley and belt sprocket. This isn't fitted in the factory but is recommended for a belt change.

- Belt Widths - Ford moved from the wider belt to narrower following issues of premature belt wear on the edges due to oil-induced swelling (measuring belt width happens to be the approved method of determining wet belt health in a Puretech engine). There is a general correlation therefore with engine age and the size fitted, but as you say there doesn't appear to be a clear way of determining this in advance - most likely given the variations caused by different engines being made in different factories and perhaps destined for different vehicles too. The logic behind the discrepancies isn't clear, but it might simply be if Ford has already bought a million belts they'd try and use them up if they can!

- Engine Support - I screwed a few pieces of wood together such that I could support the engine block (by its edges, clearing the oil pump) even when both the sump and engine cover were off. Looking back it probably wasn't necessary as many seemingly just support the engine on the driveshaft support bearing (noting that if you aren't using a torque multiplier this doesn't need removing).

- Coolant Pump Cover Seal - The design of this part (new code 1816352) has been modified from the original by no longer including the protruding locating tab. This tab sits in a small cutout in the engine cover but in doing so opens up the risk of external oil leakage finding its way down to the seal causing it to swell and potentially leak. Newer engine covers no longer have the tab recess and old covers should ideally have it filled in with a dab of sealant when using the new seal to remove the risk of allowing oil to enter.

I agree it is indeed a good engine and performs well, and if looked after (and by that I simply mean regular oil changes!) I see no reason it shouldn't last as long as anyone can reasonably expect a small-car engine to.

38 minutes ago, MJNewton said:

Great write-up Grant - thanks for sharing. I think these sorts of posts are particularly helpful for others contemplating doing the job as not only do they provide useful information and advice but also helps put things into perspective as to how big, but nevertheless achievable, the job is. Goog on you for being so honest about the amount of time taken. I bet you'd do it in a fraction of that if you were to ever do another as for us DIYers it's the learning curve that seems to take the majority of time up.

A couple of comments to add, made in the spirit of adding further to your tips/comments for the benefit of others:

- Crank Pulley Washer - You didn't mention fitting a diamond-encrusted washer (part code 1870533) between the crank pulley and belt sprocket. This isn't fitted in the factory but is recommended for a belt change.

- Belt Widths - Ford moved from the wider belt to narrower following issues of premature belt wear on the edges due to oil-induced swelling (measuring belt width happens to be the approved method of determining wet belt health in a Puretech engine). There is a general correlation therefore with engine age and the size fitted, but as you say there doesn't appear to be a clear way of determining this in advance - most likely given the variations caused by different engines being made in different factories and perhaps destined for different vehicles too. The logic behind the discrepancies isn't clear, but it might simply be if Ford has already bought a million belts they'd try and use them up if they can!

- Engine Support - I screwed a few pieces of wood together such that I could support the engine block (by its edges, clearing the oil pump) even when both the sump and engine cover were off. Looking back it probably wasn't necessary as many seemingly just support the engine on the driveshaft support bearing (noting that if you aren't using a torque multiplier this doesn't need removing).

- Coolant Pump Cover Seal - The design of this part (new code 1816352) has been modified from the original by no longer including the protruding locating tab. This tab sits in a small cutout in the engine cover but in doing so opens up the risk of external oil leakage finding its way down to the seal causing it to swell and potentially leak. Newer engine covers no longer have the tab recess and old covers should ideally have it filled in with a dab of sealant when using the new seal to remove the risk of allowing oil to enter.

I agree it is indeed a good engine and performs well, and if looked after (and by that I simply mean regular oil changes!) I see no reason it shouldn't last as long as anyone can reasonably expect a small-car engine to.

That's fantastic extra information,I'm waiting on my mechanic to give me a date that he can do mine,

I'll pass on this to him in a in  nice way,slip it into conversation 

On 6/30/2024 at 5:15 PM, MechEng said:

The torque multiplier isn’t necessary if the engine is still secure in the vehicle so there are no problems resisting the forces required to remove and refit the crank bolt. Roughly plan for 500-600Nm, realistically that equates to a ¾" drive 6-point socket and a 3-foot scaffold pole. With an engine on a bench, resisting these forces would be very difficult, hence reduce the external force applied with a torque multiplier. 

One of my mates bought a Focus with the 1.0L Ecoboom.  He just used a half inch drive Milwaukee impact gun to do the crank bolt up. 😂

He does work in the motor trade, albeit HGV's & heavy recovery.

On 6/30/2024 at 5:15 PM, MechEng said:

It's now been about 1K miles since I changed the wet belts on my fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost. After researching the job I nearly didn’t tackle it, but now it's done I wanted to share some useful stuff.  I’ve changed cam belts on every car I've owned and a few for friends and family so I think I can call myself an experienced DIYer.  

In a Fiesta it's not easy, the main difficulty is space and access to everything. At the heart of it's just another timing belt. Thankfully for this one I had the use of my classic car friend's ramp; without it I think it would have been seriously tricky. There are too many negative comments about this engine. Wet belts and keyless crank pulley are fine. This isn’t Fords first keyless engine, the predecessor Zetec engine was keyless, so they knew what they were doing. In my case at 11 years old and 62k miles, the as found visible condition of both belts was good and the oil pick up was perfectly clear, so no concerns for future reliability. 

Cam setting tool kits are widely available, I paid £72 for mine. The torque multiplier isn’t necessary if the engine is still secure in the vehicle so there are no problems resisting the forces required to remove and refit the crank bolt. Roughly plan for 500-600Nm, realistically that equates to a ¾" drive 6-point socket and a 3-foot scaffold pole. With an engine on a bench, resisting these forces would be very difficult, hence reduce the external force applied with a torque multiplier. 

Over and above my normal tool selection I needed the following. Timing tool set. Deep 10mm box key to remove extended cam cover bolts as even my long socket was too short. Nut splitter to remove the nuts on the exhaust front pipe to centre joint. 10mm screwed rod, roughly 100-150mm long with nuts and washers. ¾" drive torque wrench. 

There are two widths of cam belt fitted to EcoBoost engines. The wider belt is 18.5mm kit part number 2121996, and the narrower belt kit is 16mm kit part number 2122062. No idea how to know in advance which is required. The kits don’t include the oil pump belt or the crank bolt. In addition to the other standard parts I would recommend the cam belt cover to block cooling water seal part number 1816352 and the water pump plastic inlet manifold O rings part numbers 5198199 and 5198200. 

The top starter motor bolt is also a gearbox fixing bolt and the thread is in the starter motor. So, when fitting the flywheel locking tool use the 10mm screwed rod and nuts in the top-hole location.  Original starter motor bolt is fine for the lower bolt as the thread is in the block. 

Supporting the engine. Unless you have some clever engine support you can't have the sump off and the timing belt cover mounting off as the same time. So, remove the sump and the plastic belt cover, ease the belt off the oil pump pulley, clean the sump joint faces and loosely refit the sump. Support the engine under the sump remove the timing belt cover, clean the joint faces, change the belts, loosely refit cam belt cover and engine mount. Remove the sump, ease the belt onto the oil pump pulley, refit plastic cover, final clean, apply sealant and refit sump. Support the engine under the sump, remove the cam belt cover, final clean, fit new water seal, apply sealant and refit cam belt cover and engine mount. Obviously, you need to fill all the gaps and other steps, 

There are no air bleed points in the cooling system so in addition to the usual methods note the following. The top of the radiator is a high point, the way to vent the air at this point is to, only just, ease the top hose off, and only at the hose 12 O’clock position, until coolant is visible. Do this with the engine cold, the expansion cap off and the reservoir at maximum. 

It's a good engine, try driving one of the alternative non-turbo Fiesta’s and there's no question.  

Just had wet belt changed on my 2016 Fiesta 70k miles by award winning YouTube featured mechanic Baz Meredith who did a meticulous job. Cost £1400 which Included parts + 14 hours labour. The removed belt and oil pick up looked brand new. (7 years of zero road tax paid for it, now it's £20 😱😄) Problems arise from poor maintenance and wrong oil. I've had this car 8 years and the only costs were a new exhaust, a battery and disc pads and of course the annual £50 oil/filter change which is easy. I get sick of the negative people quoting all these ridiculous prices who haven't a clue what they are talking about or just make stuff up. Baz has done hundreds of these belts and stated that these are great engines if they are maintained just like any other car. He had one in that had done 145,000 for it's first belt and the oil pick up and belt were just fine. I would never want to sell my Fiesta, what car can put a smile on your face like driving these great cars.👍

On 6/30/2024 at 8:35 PM, MechEng said:

Took me 8 days part time, probably about 35 hours.

 

On 6/30/2024 at 9:04 PM, unofix said:

I hope you don't charge Ford labor rates (£120 per hour) that would have cost £4200 🤣

Award winning Best Mechanic Baz Meredith (Google or YouTube his name) did my belt. £1,400. His meticulous work is second to none. I travelled a round trip of 220 miles so it would be done by him. It took him 14 hours to do a fantastic job.