Mondeo Cam belt

Personally I'd get it changed now, but a lot of people swear that Zetec cambelts are one of the more trouble free designs and claim to know loads of people that have even let them run slightly over the 100k marker without going.

If I were you I'd go into the Ford dealer and ask that, if it was to snap before 10 years or 100,000 miles, would they cover the cost of the repairs. If they respond with the likely answer of "no, it's out of warranty", then ask them why the recommended interval is as it is, if they can't back it up if things go wrong within the so-called "expected lifespan". Do this quite loudly in front of lots of other customers.

I would respectfully suggest that would *not* be the best approach. I have always found it best to remain on good terms with my local dealership unless (until?) things go wrong.

In any case, it would never be the dealer that covers the cost of warranty claims, they will only ever do what the manufacturer will pay for. Likewise, they don't set the service interval for the cam belt, or any other item. In fact, you could consider it was to their credit that they didn't try to persuade you to have work carried out that wasn't needed.

I would think about how long you are going to keep the car. If it is likely that it will pass the 100K mark, but do less than 160K whilst you still own it, then do it around 80K for example.

HTH

Chris

Is that Inchcape (formerly Gowrings), Chris? I've not got a good word to say about them since they told me that the most likely cause of the gunge in my 00/W Mk5 Fester TD van was head gasket failure, happily charging me half of the job rate to take the head off to inspect things, even though they had encountered *exactly* the same problem on an identical model van, and replaced the oil cooler, which was where the fault turned out to be on mine, under warranty. So basically, they'd had experience of identical symptoms on an identical model, and should have checked that first rather than ripping me off with far more work than was neccessary. The knowledge of this identical model was gained from a guy enquiring about the van via ebay when I put it on there. I appreciate that they probably can and do provide good service, and my Dad's had few complaints over the years with them, but that experience left me never wanting to trust them again.

But in general, yes, it is best to keep on good terms with the local dealer.

Well, maybe so, but let's face it - this is a 5-year-old car with 60k on the clock, so it's done an average of 12k/year so far. Let's say at 8 years old and with 96k on the clock, the cambelt snaps. What's the likely response from Ford going to be? I'd put good money on them not giving a flying f*ck.

Indeed - prevention's always better than cure. I think though, that with things like cambelts, there's a hell of a lot left to be desired in the accountability stakes. And in quoted expected lifetimes of components in general. If something's within it's supposed lifespan, and the vehicle's been correctly maintained up to that point, then IMHO that part should be warranted if it hasn't been recommended that it be replaced.

Just MHO though.

The dealer I use is Inchcape, Wokingham. They have always given me a reasonable service, possibly helped by the fact that I went to school with the service manager ;-)

As for the bunch of clowns at Inchcape, Bracknell, I wouldn't trust them to change a wheel! I'm always nagging my son about maintaining hie vehicles properly. He took his van there for a service. (A Fiesta TD oddly enough!) Long story short - they were dreadful! Many items not done, arguments with the arrogant service manager about what a major service covered even though we had evidence to the contrary. we even got the AA involved, but decided to cut our losses in the end.

There have been several Ford dealerships on that Twin Bridges site; they have all been dreadful!

Indeed. With 96K at 3 and a bit years, they would be unlikely to do much. However, it's necessary to make a judgement with these things, and I think changing a cam-belt at 60% of the advised milage is too soon.

Well, I suppose so in a perfect world. There would have to be some sort of time limit though surely?

If I was the OP, I would change the belt at 80K, unless I was looking to get rid of the car very shortly afterwards.

Chris

Try telling that to all the Alfa owners who went by the book but suffered broken belts at 20k+ miles short of the change interval.

Or even the VW 1.8T owners who went by the 80k in the book and suffered broken belts at 60k miles....

Given the price of changing a cambelt, I prefer to change at somewhere between 50% and 75% of the quoted mileage.

Suppose it's always best to confirm exactly what they're going to do before booking it in really....

Heh - well my Dad's Mk1 Mondeo (P reg) developed it's first random problem a month or few back - rear lights and instrument panel illumination just stopped working - all fuses and bulbs looked fine (though the handbook wasn't clear as to which fuse was for the instrument panel illumination) - took it down there - was some sort of control unit - about 200 quid's worth all in all, a fair bit of which was the part. Worked fine, until a while later when the problem happened again - I think they sorted it out, but maybe that says something about their workmanship doing it the first time around. Or maybe it doesn't....

Yup, and with 96k and 8 years, probably even less likely.

Yes, but they specify a time limit of 10 years as an alternative to 100k miles. If 10 years is too long, then they should recommend a shorter time interval.

I have always been curious why we went to cam belts from the old timing chain. Was it cost? Weight? Noise?

Does anyone have the answer?

Regards Bucket

Thanks for the advice so far.

Another point to raise is if I go ahead and get the belt changed and a few weeks / miles down the line the new belt snaps what happens then. Will Ford cover the cost of repair?

The message from "Bucket" contains these words:

Cost. The other two were passed off as justifications.

Yeah, but we're talking Ford here :-)

Oh, and by the way, you missed the Vauxhall owners who were told 72K, only to have it reduced to 36K. Great if you had made that one of your selection criteria for your new car!

Chris

He thought he had - a 30K service as detailed in the owners manual! It shouldn't really need any more than that surely.

Chris

True. Bunch of sharks then, without a shadow of a doubt.

All of those.

Steve

Zetec's are not known for early failures, but they can/have failed at 60000. Have a new cam belt kit fitted now for less than £200 , or take a chance and scrap the car if you're unlucky.

It is very rare for a cambelt to snap within it's recommended lifespan. Indeed I have seen them do twice the recommended life without snapping. That said, I have known them break in significantly shorter periods.

Dear a.n.other,

Please don't be offended if I ask you kindly not to put your replies at the top of the post you are replying to. It is considered "bad form", and you will be severely castigated in some less friendly newsgroups if you do it. You should generally make your comments at the end of the previous post; if you have multiple comments these may be sometimes inserted in to the existing text.

I know that the most commonly used program for Usenet tends to make you do this, but trying to follow a thread where some of the replies are top- posted makes it really difficult to follow, especially for those amongst us who may read hundreds of posts a day.

It may help you to Google for information on the correct way to post in Usenet as there is a lot of information available.

I'm sorry for posting this publicly, but you have sensibly used a non-valid email address.

I look forward to your constructive comments in the future,

Chris

"Fred" 60000. Have a new cam belt kit fitted now for less than £200 , or take a

changed mine at 90000 black topped zetec 1.8 old belt looked fine but i had just bought the car and i always change the belt on a car new to me new belt kit was £40 took about an hour didnt like look of aux belt so changed it at same time (another £12) all parts genuine ford at trade though

Well Chris has already asked politely about the top posting thing, so I won't bother, but just do like I've done here - snip enough of what you're replying to to give context, and reply below - it just makes sense.

Re: your above comment - you must have been living in a cave for the last 10 years.

I expect it is because of the move to OHC engines, the extra length of chain created new problems of needing guides and tensioners that were not found on pushrod engines, plus extra spaces for oil to leak. Belt drive should be quiet and relatively easy to integrate onto an engine.

Early cam belts like pinto lumps are so easy to do, likewise CVH. Also these are quite cheap.

I am doing a turbo diesel mondeo today, it needs a belt and tensioner kit (95 pounds) a water pump (100 pounds) and is a b@#*tard to fit (150 pounds labour) because of all the extra bits around it.

And it is an early one so needs the belts doing every 40k !!

NOT cheap to service at all.

mrcheerful