Time for a timing belt and waterpump replacement on my mk2 1.4.

Should I go for genuine Ford Parts or spurious? I'll likely have the car for the life time of the new belt.

Genuine Fraud.

I'd love some reasoning from someone in the business with experience on these.

Do spurious timing belt parts fail on a much higher basis than Ford? If so what parts? Tensioner? Belt? Waterpump?

I haven't checked the costs. Are genuine parts for this job much more expensive?

Time for a timing belt and waterpump replacement on my mk2 1.4.

Should I go for genuine Ford Parts or spurious? I'll likely have the car for the life time of the new belt.

I would stick with the ford genuine part. In a few months I will be replacing mine and I will be getting all parts from ford.

Genuine Fraud.

I would stick with the ford genuine part. In a few months I will be replacing mine and I will be getting all parts from ford.

On what basis?

On the basis of the definition of spurious ! Nuff said.

The internet is full of opinions, 90%+ are them are absolutely useless. Everyone, EVERYONE has an opinion online. Right or wrong, whether they have any experience or not. Whether they know what they're talking about or not. Everyone has an opinion. And most of them are absolutely shlte because they don't have valuable knowledge or experience to back it up.

I'd love to hear from somebody with valuable experience of these. ie somebody in the trade who has dealt with numerous timing belt/water pump failures, both genuine parts and spurious.

On the basis of the definition of spurious ! Nuff said.

That to me, or anybody wondering the same thing, is absolutely useless. You mightn't understand it or believe it, but it is.

In your opinion - not mine. You asked . . you pays your money , you make your choices.

Google '' Spurious '' for the definition of the word.

'gates' supply timing belt kits and I believe they also supply Ford.....

Google '' Spurious '' for the definition of the word.

Spurious: not genuine Ford parts. I think it's fair to say we've all accepted and understood that.

'gates' supply timing belt kits and I believe they also supply Ford.....

Cheers Russ. I've read that somewhere else actually. That would be useful to know for sure. Presume they would make identical items for both the Ford label and their own?

Gates are the largest manufacturer of O.E. belts globally. They are not spurious. Probably the best.

Ive known all makes of belts fitted and no breakages that i know of, but sure theres some kits on ebay that are poor copys,

just stick to either ford or gates kits to be on safe side

Gates are the largest manufacturer of O.E. belts globally. They are not spurious. Probably the best.

Anything but the Ford genuine parts are, by definition, spurious. I think you're missing a beat here.

If the genuine Ford part and the Gates part are from the same line and identical then that's something worth knowing.

Ive known all makes of belts fitted and no breakages that i know of, but sure theres some kits on ebay that are poor copys,

just stick to either ford or gates kits to be on safe side

Yeah any search I've tried doesn't throw up many results from breakages. And any I've found, they don't seem to be blaming spurious parts.

I definitely wouldn't trust the cheap eBay parts.

Whatever belt I get will be changed at the correct interval, or probably before it. So I'm probably putting too much thought into it. But it's always good to get some good advice.

I wonder about the water pump too. I have heard that only genuine water pumps should be used (though that was VW).

Actually, the real question is more to do with risk management, are these parts made my other companies, yes without a doubt, do this parts have levels of QC, who knows. which manufacture makes them, probably more than one.

If you want to take a risk on something that has the potential to wreck the whole engine, no matter how small the risk, then go for something else, if you want to "Minimise" the risk then stick with ford.

its your call, but I personally wont be rolling those dice, ill be minimising the risk as much as humanly possible.

Well that's what I'm trying to find out. What is the risk? There is very little online evidence of spurious timing belt failure.

Is there a 0.3% risk on the Ford parts and a 0.5% risk on the spurious parts? Or is there actually any difference? Are Gates and Ford t-belt parts the same (equal risk)?

I'm don't expect to get such exact figures, unfortunately. An expert opinion would be a good substitute though.

the only people who will ever know the actual failure rate is the manufactures, this information will more than likely be market sensitive and thus secret. So the only information you will ever get from anyone is going to be opinion based on their limited experience of a global market.

considering you can get ford parts for the 1.6 tdci for only a couple of notes more than other parts, its really not worth any risk, perceived or otherwise.

It's actually quite difficult to find incidents of Ford Focus timing belt failures online. They are extremely scarce, and giving the popularity of the car, I'd guess that the failure rate is much lower than the 0.5% I stated above.

There are a few examples, just a few. And at first glance, half of them actually happen straight/shortly after a service/belt replacement.

I'm thinking that a Gates kit or similar will be absolutely fine.

Anything but the Ford genuine parts are, by definition, spurious. I think you're missing a beat here.

If the genuine Ford part and the Gates part are from the same line and identical then that's something worth knowing.

I've owned Ford's exclusively since 1994 (Mainly Mondeos and Focus) and I can confirm that on more than one occasion, I've purchased a genuine Ford cambelt kit and found it had Gates markings on it. I don't have any issues with fitting Gates as an alternative to Ford if it is cheaper. I don't think I'd use any other brand though.

cept it isn't just the belt, its the tensioners, bolts and water pump, your probably right and its the same gear and possibly even QC'd the same, but probably isn't good enough for the sake of 20 quid.

Ill be having mine done soon and ill be using ford.

Perhaps whats more likely to cause problems is the garage its done it.

cept it isn't just the belt, its the tensioners, bolts and water pump, your probably right and its the same gear and possibly even QC'd the same, but probably isn't good enough for the sake of 20 quid.

No "probably" about it. Tensioners also had Gates markings. Water pump is another matter. Although on engines like Zetec silvertops, where the cambelt had to come off to change the pump, on later engines that's not always the case and a cambelt kit doesn't usually include the waterpump. You usually have to buy that separately.

The internet is full of opinions, 90%+ are them are absolutely useless. Everyone, EVERYONE has an opinion online. Right or wrong, whether they have any experience or not. Whether they know what they're talking about or not. Everyone has an opinion. And most of them are absolutely shlte because they don't have valuable knowledge or experience to back it up.

I'd love to hear from somebody with valuable experience of these. ie somebody in the trade who has dealt with numerous timing belt/water pump failures, both genuine parts and spurious.

At the end of the day, You're asking members of a Forum what they recommend and by definition any answers we give you will be as you so eloquently put it 'an opinion'.

If you want hard facts or definitive answers may I suggest you pay for that service at a garage rather than haranguing members here?

You wouldn't ask random people in the street what was in a pork pie would you?