1. Home
  2. Car Maintenance
  3. Ford Focus TDDI (Endura DI engine) cambelt replacement

Ford Focus TDDI (Endura DI engine) cambelt replacement

The car has done 81K miles now, and thought the mechanic says to leave it until 100K miles before changing the belt, I don't want to tempt fate and it's not his cash down the pan if it snaps!

I've been quoted about £130 to get a new cambelt fitted. I've had a look and the belt on these is quite short and seemingly easy to get at ( it only goes from diesel pump to camshaft via tensioner pulley if I'm not mistaken). I thought I might get the bits and do it myself as the belt and tensioner pulley can be bought for about £40. I figured that even if I have to buy a special tool to tension the belt correctly, it might not cost too much more than £80 and I'd end up with a tool I can reuse.

I've unbolted the expansion tank to gain access and managed to get the bolts out of the cambelt cover, but it looks like the driver's side engine mount must be removed to get the cover off, so I suppose this means removing the sump guard and supporting the engine, am I on the right track here or am I missing something?

Basically the job looks like this-

Unbolt expansion tank and move out of way. Remove sump guard. Support driver's side of engine at a suitable sturdy point. Unbolt engine mount and remove. Unbolt cambelt cover and remove.

Loosen tensioner pulley. Remove cambelt. Remove old tensioner pulley. Fit new tensioner pulley Fit cambelt. Adjust tension. Reassemble.

Is this all there is to it? How necessary is a tension gauge, can it be done close enough by feel or measuring the deflection of the belt at a certain point?

If the camshaft and crank are not disturbed, can the belt be fitted without lining marks up or is this foolish corner-cutting? ;-)

Thanks for any advice.

Morse

Reply to
Morse
Loading thread data ...

If you change it and the new one fails whose cash is it?

Reply to
CWatters

In message , Morse writes

In theory, yes. I once changed the water pump on a '91 Seat Ibiza (this runs from the timing belt). I was being careful, but still managed to shift the valve timings out enough (without noticing!) to bend a couple of valves, which ended up costing 3 or 4 times more to repair than the garage would have charged to change the pump. Personally, I'd let the garage do the job for me, just in case, as indeed I had done yesterday on my Fiat Bravo, £125 well spent, IMO.

Reply to
Kenny

Jesus. Who thought up that kind of nonsense for a cambelt change?

Anyone would have thought it was a Fiat....

Reply to
SteveH

Well, the Haynes manual for my Fiesta with a lower power version of exactly the same engine said that the tensioning tool is called a Clavis gauge (IIRC), which measures the tension based on the frequency of the belt if it were "pinged" (or plucked, I suppose) like a guitar string. It also mentioned that the tool is essential, and that there is no manual equivalent.

Personally I wouldn't touch this cambelt change, as (a) I'd have to buy a special tool that I wouldn't be familiar with using, and probably wouldn't use again, and (b) it involves pissing about at the side of the engine where there's very little clearance to play with and it's bound to be very fiddly. However for someone who's done it loads before, it's a relatively simple job, hence cheap in labour costs to get them to do it, so that's what I'd do.

Reply to
AstraVanMan

Hmmmm. They state that you need tensioner guages for most belt changes. I didn't bother when I did the Cinq., regardless of what it said.

Agreed - it appears to be some kind of deliberately difficult installation.

Reply to
SteveH

Well, yes- but at least it would be bad luck rather than neglect!

Dave

Reply to
Morse

Ouch!

Yeah, I'm starting to think it would be better just to let the garage do it.

Dave

Reply to
Morse

You mean like the 2.4 JTD lump? Apparently that's an engine out job, though it can be done in situ with a bit of fiddling.

Dave

Reply to
Morse

Hmm. I'm getting less and less keen on doing this job!

I might shop around and see what quotes I get. I can understand it being expensive on some engines, especially ones with difficult access and complicated belt paths, but this looks so simple I'd have thought it would be rather cheap.

Dave

Reply to
Morse

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.