Hi, im looking to fit a new drive belt (fiesta 53 duratec 16v petrol) could someone be kind enough to give me a simple guide on how to do this? i know i have to remove the offside headlight and grill, i just need instructions on the actual belt removal and fitting, thankyou :)

No need to remove the headlight or grill to fit a drive belt. Remove the wheel and part of the arch lining covering the pulleys.

they are stretch type belts so to remove the old one it's easiest to cut it. To fit the new one some belts do come with s fitting tool, otherwise you can buy one seperately. Otherwise you can red neck it and do it with screwdrivers if you are feeling brave and want to risk the new belt lol.

and stef is no 1 red necker here. lol

is it easy for someone with no mechanical experience to go red neck? for this particular job lol

Here's one extreme way! Suffice to say I wouldn't recommend it but it's fun to watch.... ;-)

(To be fair it probably wouldn't work on a true stretch belt given the tension)

2 hours ago, iantt said:

and stef is no 1 red necker here. lol

Hahahahahaha do elaborate Ian  

42 minutes ago, Martin-Fiesta-MK6-1.4 said:

is it easy for someone with no mechanical experience to go red neck? for this particular job lol

I would advise against it lol. 

Can I ask, if your car is needing a drive belt - has the timing belt ever been changed? 

15 hours ago, stef123 said:

I would advise against it lol. 

Can I ask, if your car is needing a drive belt - has the timing belt ever been changed? 

yeah i had my timing belt changed 8 months ago, why do you ask???

if it has then chances are the aux belt was changed at the same time(or should have been) as streatchy belts should be one time fitment, cut them off to remove before doing cam belt.

3 minutes ago, iantt said:

if it has then chances are the aux belt was changed at the same time(or should have been) as streatchy belts should be one time fitment, cut them off to remove before doing cam belt.

ok so from watching youtube tutorials im gonna do the following...

1 take wheel and plastic guards off

2 cut off old fan belt

3 attempt to thread the new fan belt around the cogs using my hands

 

anything else i need to do??? lol

 

im ok if i fail my cousin is a mechanic but i really want to learn how to do these things by myself

Take a lot of steroids as your going to need to be a monster to feed that belt on by hand lol