Focus cam belt has let go :(

peter212693 · 30 Mar 2010 at 20:44

Hi all,

Was just pulling out of work this afternoon and the car lost power. Tried to start it twice and it didn't sound good so I opened the bonnet. Had a look at the cam belt and it was loose

Looks like the tensioner has failed. The local garage towed it in and said they would ring me and let me know. They rang and said they put a belt on it and the compression test came back fine, all 4 cylinders blowing 150 i think he said, they then put the leads back on and it was missing on cylinders 2 and 4

He reckons the valves will probably be bent but hes going to take the head of tomorrow and have a look then let me know what its going to cost

Its a Focus 1.8 done just under 69k. What do you think this is going to end up costing and is it likely just the valves that are goosed?

Janesy B · 30 Mar 2010 at 20:46

Unlucky

Waste of time messing about with that engine, source an engine from ebay and have a local indy fit it for you. The engine will be around £300, as for labour it depends.

DRZ · 30 Mar 2010 at 20:48

It cannot have passed a compression test AND have bent valves.

One or the other is wrong...

[TW]Fox · 30 Mar 2010 at 20:50

This happened to my Mondeo

Janesy B · 30 Mar 2010 at 20:51

DP of fail.

BeatMaster · 30 Mar 2010 at 20:57

Sorry to hear about your Focus

Out of interest, what age is it?

peter212693 · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:14

BeatMaster said:
Sorry to hear about your Focus Out of interest, what age is it?

Its a 03 mate

Dogbreath · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:19

DRZ said:
It cannot have passed a compression test AND have bent valves.

One or the other is wrong...

Exactly what I was thinking.

peter212693 · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:27

When it comes to that sort of thing i dont have a clue. Im sure thats what he told me, im stressed to hell at the minute, in the process of buying a house so this has come at a bad time to say the least.

Jamous · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:35

IIRC the change interval on these is 100k? (or was it 80k) still, both are more than your mileage, but it is getting on for the right age for changing the belt.

As above, if the valves are bent (usual consequence of a snapped belt or failed tensioner letting teh belt jump) then they are jammed open and the compression test would show low on the affected cylinders.

DRZ · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:37

peter212693 said:
When it comes to that sort of thing i dont have a clue. Im sure thats what he told me, im stressed to hell at the minute, in the process of buying a house so this has come at a bad time to say the least.

Running a compression test basically means removing the spark plugs, replacing them with a pressure monitor and turning the engine over and getting a reading.

If the valves were shot, the engine wouldn't hold any pressure and that would be really, really obvious to the person running the test.

I know I've massively simplified that but in essence from that you can see that he cannot say that the compression test results are all good and then telling you that it is running rough because the valves are knackered!

For what its worth, it is very very likely that the valves are toast and he just got the compression test results wrong somehow. It would have been a miracle to avoid valve/piston contact at the best of times on an interference engine, but you subsequently trying to start it a couple of times means almost certain death for some of the valves.

thepharcyde · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:38

What is the comeback with Ford because IIRC they are due to be replaced every 100k miles? Therefore taking it to Ford and they will tell it would not need changing???

Dogbreath · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:40

thepharcyde said:
What is the comeback with Ford because IIRC they are due to be replaced every 100k miles? Therefore taking it to Ford and they will tell it would not need changing???

There will be a time and mileage limit, though I don't know what it is for the Focus. Usually 4-5 years.

thepharcyde · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:41

Dogbreath said:
There will be a time and mileage limit, though I don't know what it is for the Focus. Usually 4-5 years.

Google suggests 10 years?

[TW]Fox · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:46

Dogbreath said:
There will be a time and mileage limit, though I don't know what it is for the Focus. Usually 4-5 years.

It is 10 years and 100,000 miles.

My tensioner failed at exactly 10 years and 2 months and 165,000 miles.

peter212693 · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:46

Yea its been tried numerous times. They warrant the "belt" for 100k that is all. If it snaps before 100k then fine but they do not warrant the tensioners.

dazz25 · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:47

dYeh there 10 years or 100k miles. I don't know how Ford can get away with it!

This worries me as mine is on 68k at the moment. I'm looking into getting mine changed ASAP.

From what i've seen the belt seems to be fine after 100k but everything else that runs off it is a different story!!

peter212693 · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:49

dazz25 said:
Yeh there 10 years or 100k miles. I don't know how Ford can get away with it!

This worries me as mine is on 68k at the moment. I'm looking into getting mine changed ASAP.

From what i've seen the belt seems to be fine after 100k but everything else that runs off it is a ifferent story!!

Get it done mate, i was like "o it will be ok people have done 100k with no problems" Im ment to be going away on monday and was going to get it done when I get back. It will save you a lot as I will no doubt learn tomorrow

Dogbreath · 30 Mar 2010 at 21:58

dazz25 said:
dYeh there 10 years or 100k miles. I don't know how Ford can get away with it!

They have had plenty of practice with other engines, e.g. the old 1.8 diesel that used to snap belts for a pass-time. 100k/10years is exceptionally good for a timing belt, have to wonder if that was driven by fleet requirements or actual reliability testing

cm1179 · 30 Mar 2010 at 22:01

peter212693 said:
Tried to start it twice

ouch