I’ve bought my Focus in the official Ford with 71k km (with a new engine as well). I wasn’t aware of the wet belt and its issues, however learning about it is well…

I’m an Uber driver so I do 300 km/day, I’m currently at 130k km and I’ve been doing oil changes every 15k Castrol Ford grade. I’ve also added Liqui Moly Ceratec as I suppose it should slow down the wear.

Obviously, I’m afraid this engine won’t last long with my line of work. 

One redditor advised me to convert it to a chain, I was like wtf o.o

Got a link to Lymmengineparts Timing Chain Kit with Gears for Ford 1.0 EcoBoost.

Does this actually work? What are the disadvantages? Why isn’t everyone doing this? o.o

 

Edited September 20, 2025Sep 20 by Kile14

Hi,

The chain kit is for the revised engines that were built with a chain.

It is not a retrofit kit and will not fit your car.

Thought it sounds too obvious to be possible..

Would cleaning the oil strainer and oil sump with each oil change interval solve all the issues the wet belt causes? 

I assume this shouldn’t be more than 2 hours work?

5 minutes ago, Kile14 said:

Would cleaning the oil strainer and oil sump with each oil change interval solve all the issues the wet belt causes? 

NO !!

If there are bits of belt in the strainer, then that proves the belt is falling apart.

Just now, Kile14 said:

Thought it sounds too obvious to be possible..

Would cleaning the oil strainer and oil sump with each oil change interval solve all the issues the wet belt causes? 

I assume this shouldn’t be more than 2 hours work?

No.  The belt will still strip or snap eventually and valves will hit pistons.

If the sump is removed and the strainer found to be full of belt fragments then the belt should be replaced immediately.

So it is more often that the belt snaps? I was under the impression the debris clogging up the pump would be the main issue.

I will probably do major service in around two months time so I will replace the belt and have the strainer and sump cleaned. 
So far the engine is working excellent, but I bought it with a new engine at 71k so right now the new engine/belt is at around 60k km.

Basically, there’s not much I can do apart from regular oil changes? How often should I replace the belt and have the strainer and sump cleaned? Every 80 000 km? Should probably decrease oil changes to every 10 000?

Liqui Moly Motorclean is a no because it can harm the belt?

11 hours ago, Kile14 said:

So it is more often that the belt snaps? I was under the impression the debris clogging up the pump would be the main issue.

I will probably do major service in around two months time so I will replace the belt and have the strainer and sump cleaned. 
So far the engine is working excellent, but I bought it with a new engine at 71k so right now the new engine/belt is at around 60k km.

Basically, there’s not much I can do apart from regular oil changes? How often should I replace the belt and have the strainer and sump cleaned? Every 80 000 km? Should probably decrease oil changes to every 10 000?

Liqui Moly Motorclean is a no because it can harm the belt?

Usually teeth come off the belt, rather than it snapping, but the effect is the same on the engine. 

By that point the vac pump, turbo and engine are usually all worn by the oil pump being clogged as well.  But that is not usually what causes a breakdown.  Usually it is the belt stripping or snapping.

Correct, there isn't really anything you can do other than servicing with the correct oil.  Unfortunately I'm not sure how your line of work will affect the oil.  Usually higher mileage would be better and allow longer oil changes.  But if Uber is mostly separate short journeys around town in traffic then that could be worse for the oil.  We tend to talk in miles on this forum, and I would recommend 80,000 miles for the belt change, and 12,000 miles for the oil change, for normal private use.  I don't have enough experience of your type of use to make a recommendation for that.

I would not risk using any additives in the oil with a wetbelt.  Some of them will be safe.  But there is no way of knowing which one isn't safe until it's too late and the belt starts degrading again.

The prescribed 5W20 WSS-M2C948-B engine oil specification is known to be kind of hygroscopic. Condensation causes the additives in the engine oil to separate/degrade. The result is that the properties of the engine oil change and become mildly acidic which affect the wetbelt material.

Even when not being used this proces sets in. This is why Ford prescribed in a TSB that these engines cannot be left unused for longer than 12 weeks. After this period a sludge is formed which can also clog the oil pump. When not being used for an extended period, the engine should be started regularly and run until normal operating temperature is reached.

From my point of view the oil separation/degradation in combination with unburned petrol residues are the main reason why wetbelts fail prematurely on low mileage vehicles and vehicles that do mainly drive short distances.

Many problems can be prevented by applying reduced service intervals. Ford used to prescribe reduced service intervals low mileage vehicles and vehicles that do mainly drive short distances (it used to be listed as a footnote in the service requirements). Reduced service intervals were 50% of the regular service intervals.


Apart from respecting the service intervals/requirements and using correct oil there is not much you can do. A good alternative for removing the sump and cam cover to visually inspect the condition of the wetbelts is performing an oil analysis periodically (for example at every oil change).


When these engines were introduced the wetbelts were supposed to last the entire lifetime of the vehicle. What Ford did not mention was that this actually means the economic lifetime of the vehicle which is basically 150.000 Miles/240.000 KM or 10 Years (whichever comes first). Shortly after the introduction this also became the prescribed interval to replace the wetbelts.

Like many products these days these engines were developed as disposables. The bottom end is not considered to be serviceable (replacement instead of repair). Due to cutting costs engines are no longer designed to last any more.  

 

The Uber is mostly short journeys yes, but the engine doesn’t shut down, the rides are constant (at least during the summer). 
 

80 000 miles seems very long as I see many online that have blown up at 50 000, and I also bought mine with a new engine at 44 000 miles so it might have had the same issue.

My mechanic told me these should be replaced every 40 000 miles as they start degrading and scattering debris at that time.

The replacement is I assume like a 1000€ and doing it every 40 000 miles would be very expensive…

5L of the Castrol Ford grade is 50€, would it be a better and more economic option that I lift the car myself with a regular car jack and change the oil every 5000 miles, and every 10 000 do the regular maintance? And then change the belt at every 100 000 miles

Also Ceratec is approved by Ford, does that make a difference? Motorclean is not.

The oil & filter change is the only regular maintenance that should be done every year or 12,000 miles in my opinion.

The air filter and spark plugs should last around 3 years or 36,000 miles.

Changing oil at 5000 miles would be a waste in my opinion.  But it's your car and your choice.

If engines are still failing at such low mileages in your area then perhaps garages are still using the wrong oil or an engine flush/additive.  Both of those things can make belts fail earlier.  Generally we're seeing belts fail around 80,000-100,000 miles over here now, but every garage should know how delicate these engines are now.  They used to fail at lower mileages over here when even Ford were using engine flush on them!!

I would not trust Ford recommendations on additives personally.

So you would say these engines are actually allright but people destroy the belt by not using the proper oil?

Also it’s only to avoid oil additives? I was pouring Liqui Moly Reinger into the fuel as I usually pour 95 octane fuel.

31 minutes ago, Kile14 said:

So you would say these engines are actually allright but people destroy the belt by not using the proper oil?

Also it’s only to avoid oil additives? I was pouring Liqui Moly Reinger into the fuel as I usually pour 95 octane fuel.

Well, I wouldn't go that far!

It is still a delicate engine that needs more care than other engines.  But personally I do believe the wetbelts will last 10 years/100,000 miles on cars that are driven far enough to heat the engine fully every day and serviced with correct oil at least once a year.

Very few cars will do that in the UK though.  Many just do short, cold journeys for school run or popping to local shop.  The covid lockdowns in the UK also caused a lot of belt degradation and we saw a large number of failures in the year or so after lockdowns ended.

Some petrol does get into the oil so you should be a bit careful using fuel additives.  However, the impact they could have is much smaller than the impact that oil additives could have, so they are less of a risk.

2 hours ago, Kile14 said:

So you would say these engines are actually allright

That's FUNNY 🤣

ethanol - destroys the belts - adding that filth to fuel is all part of the plan for the rich to take over and you to die poor sooner than nature intended

the fact as a taxi driver means the ethanol doesn't get long to rot down is a good thing (see 12 week comment above) - ethanol death fuel deteriorates after week 4 and is delivered to budget outlets at 3 weeks old !!! and as you keep the oil hot burning off filth, it should all help yours last longer than most - also ensure start stop destroy my cam drive is OFF forever !!

and never add junk to oil, its just marketing - modern oils are highly effective and only get far worse with bottles of junk added 

 

 

Absolutely agree with the Stop/Start Deactivation

My start-stop is deactivated and the engine is always warm as I usually don’t shut it down during my shift (summer), during winter there is some shutting down as I don’t work as much (I live in a tourist area, so during winter time there isn’t as much work). 
 

Aren’t these additives in the premium fuel as well? I was using the Liqui Moly Reinger as I supposed the eurosuper95 would cause carbon buildup. And adding the reinger every 2000 miles is much cheaper than using eurosuper100. 
 

Wouldn’t keeping the oil hot all the time be bad for the rubber belt as well?

Should I pour the eurosuper100 for the cleanup every fourth tank or are the additives in it bad as well?