ok guys i have just serviced my focus with 67000 on the clock. I know that these cam belts ford recommend 8 years or 100,000 miles but the Haynes manual states around 60,000.

so i am going to change it at my next service interval which is next June at 79000 miles as money is a bit tight at moment so if Haynes is saying 60,000 and ford are saying 100,000 I just thought to split the difference which just happens to fall in around my next service interval so is 79,000 ok do you think?

On my mk4 fiesta I had the belt done at 115000 but that was overstretching it a bit lol!

also i will be tackling this myself this time and think it would be best to get the full ford timing kit rather than just a belt. so is this a hard job and does anybody have any sort of guides, hints or tips on changing the belt on the Mk2.5 1.6 zetec engine?

Thanks

are you on about the ti-vct or the normal, I changed mine at 35k miles on my 55 plate ti-vct was alot easier than I thought, two problems i found though,

The crank pulley isnt keyed so in other words once you remove the bolt the pulley spins freely so make sure the timing is 100% set before removing the bolt, I bought a sealey kit when doing mine and locked the crank with the locking pin and used the flywheel locking tool aswell, the bolt is really tight to undo I used an air impact wrench for 30 minutes and gave up as it was just not budging, ended up using a 1inch drive 8ft breaker bar a piece of wood to support the bar and jumping on the end of the bar whilst someone hit the socket with a sledge hammer (small hammer wasn't doing it) it came off in a couple of minutes.

for my ti-vct there is a special tool that locks the ti-vct cams, for the normal 100bhp its a bar that seats in the back of the camshafts.

When refitting it is vital the bolt is tightened to the correct torque as if it isnt it could undo causing piston to valve contact.

Belt wise, I did buy both ford kits (to confess I did return the timing belt kit and bought a gates instead)

The drive belt kit is vital as the belts are stretch belts and the kit comes with the tool needed to fit the belts.the belts are Dayco.

In the ford timing belt kit it included the timing belt (gates) tensioner and two bolts depends on which length your car has, I returned the ford kit for a gates kit purely for cost i was only a student when doing it so money was very tight and considering the gates kit is exactly the same I thought why not.

Make sure that there is pre applied loctite to the threads as it is vital.

I still have my locking kit and was planning to stick it on ebay.

Instruction wise it depends if it is a 100bhp or 115bhp (ti-vct) as each uses the locking tools in a different way.

Its advised to replace the bolts for the pulley ford stated this also and replaced it its not the belt that goes its the tensioner so it may last till the next service problem is no one knows when it may go i stick to 65000 for a kit

Theres been many an argument on the period to change and they have and do fail early ford only recommend the belt at 100k not the tensioner

Any chance you still have instruction for the standard 1.6 petrol 100bhp