Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 01 1.8 petrol - snapped cambelt

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
View Threaded
Sun 30 Aug 2009 13:37
01 1.8 petrol - snapped cambelt - laurajose
Hi all
I have a 2001 ford focus 1.8 zetec, 82k miles, and im pretty sure my cambelt snapped yesterday. it just died without warning. can you tell my if its an interference or non interference engine
thanks
laura


slt and shifted to Technical

Edited by Pugugly on 30/08/2009 at 13:46

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 30 Aug 2009 13:54
01 1.8 petrol - snapped cambelt - Dr Dave
Most definitely an interference engine - the repair will probably outweigh the value of the car.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 30 Aug 2009 13:59
01 1.8 petrol - snapped cambelt - laurajose
Thats what i thought but to be honest have no idea what the problem is it just lost all power. when we tried to start it hard to explain but you can hear something spinning very fast. does that make sense
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 30 Aug 2009 16:17
01 1.8 petrol - snapped cambelt - Peter D
Well spinning very fast could be the valves are bent and you no compression. Just remove the cam belt cover and take a look, or stick it is first gear and push it, if it moves relatively easily and with no jerks then it's going to be expensive. Regards Peter
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 30 Aug 2009 16:37
01 1.8 petrol - snapped cambelt - Galaxy
The cambelt on this engine doesn't usually snap!

However, if there is a cambelt-related problem with your car it's more likely to be connected with the cambelt tensioner or pulley wheels, which it's well known can break up and cause problems. It's still as serious and expensive, I'm afraid, and will need further investigation.





Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 30 Aug 2009 20:09
01 1.8 petrol - snapped cambelt - Wurzel83
In the Haynes Manual Pg 22 Ch1A, it says the belt should be replaced every 75K miles. Do you know whether this was done? Was the tensioner also replaced? If it has been done then in theory it means the cam belt is a less likely candidate.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 31 Aug 2009 00:11
01 1.8 petrol - snapped cambelt - Galaxy
The Ford recommendation for cambelt change on this engine (a Blacktop Zetec) is 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. However, much depends on how the car is used and if it's used for lots of stop-start short journeys then various authorities do suggest the period should be considerably reduced.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 31 Aug 2009 00:25
01 1.8 petrol - snapped cambelt - bell boy
another ebay special buy it now caveat umpar special
Reply | Report as offensive | Link

We give you the low down on how to save on insurance, little-known tricks and tips, what insurance groups mean and how to use insurance aggregators to beat insurers.

Insurance group finder and how to save on insurance