Ford Focus - Max years before cam belt replacement

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Mon 15 Jun 2020 09:14
Ford Focus - Max years before cam belt replacement - chssvl

I have a 2012 Ford Focus 1.6 petrol with very little milleage (30k miles) as it mainly gets used on the weekends.

I was looking at the service book and there is no mention of when the cam belt needs to be replaced (or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place) and last time it was serviced (last year) this was not mentioned as something that needed doing.

Looking online I've seen comments about the age at which cam belts need to be replaced ranging from six to ten years. Is there any consensus view of when would be best to do this?

Also, given that the car has such little milleage and is going to continue doing very few miles (max 3,000 a year until it gets sold, maybe in five years), is it really worth replacing the water pump at the same time?

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Mon 15 Jun 2020 10:05
Ford Focus - Max years before cam belt replacement - elekie&a/c doctor
Suggested change interval for the cam belt is 10 years or 100k miles . So you are well within the limits . The water pump needs to be changed at the same time . Because on these later Focus engines , one of the cambelt tensioner pulleys is part of the water pump assembly.
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Mon 15 Jun 2020 10:27
Ford Focus - Max years before cam belt replacement - John F

If it works, don't mend it. This sturdy Zetec engine cambelt was designed back in the 90s to last the life of the car. Our family Focus 1.6 is 20yrs old this year;nearly 150,000 miles. Belts showed no sign of wear when I last looked. The (also original) water pump is driven by the poly-v belt. Modern aramid belts don't go off much with age. Even the forty year old fan/alternator belt in my TR7 is still OK. They just get the occasional squirt of belt dressing.

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Mon 15 Jun 2020 14:17
Ford Focus - Max years before cam belt replacement - thunderbird

If it works, don't mend it. This sturdy Zetec engine cambelt was designed back in the 90s to last the life of the car. Our family Focus 1.6 is 20yrs old this year;nearly 150,000 miles.

We changed the belt on our Mk1 Focus 1.8 at 100,000 miles as recommended by Ford, did the water pump and pulley's at the same time. Lucky really, the idler pulley had a wobbly bearing and probably did not have much life left, a failure could well have wrecked the engine.

Ford (or any manufacturer for that matter) have never said the belt was designed for the life of the car, if it was why would they all recommend changing them? Very few belts are changed by a main dealer, by the age we are talking about most are with their local garages (our was) and pattern parts are used (Conti in our case) so Ford made no money whatsoever.

So OP the choice is yours, are you feeling lucky? A belt failure (or pulley) will almost certainly wreck the engine and on a 10 year old car that will make it an uneconomic repair unless you and a mate can change the engine for a good used one (which will probably be due a belt change).

Belts showed no sign of wear when I last looked.

Our belt looked perfect but when bent to extremes once off it showed signs of micro cracking especially between the teeth. Have you had the belt off and checked?

I considered we were very lucky but who knows, it could have lasted years.

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Mon 15 Jun 2020 15:08
Ford Focus - Max years before cam belt replacement - Andrew-T

If it works, don't mend it.

I would tend to agree with that philosophy for things which don't cause expensive damage if they fail unexpectedly. Most cambelts don't match that description. But in view of the low mileage on this car I would have no qualms about letting it run another couple of years.

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Mon 15 Jun 2020 15:28
Ford Focus - Max years before cam belt replacement - thunderbird

But in view of the low mileage on this car I would have no qualms about letting it run another couple of years.

Hadn't spotted it was a 2012 car with only 30,000 miles. Agree with above, should be fine for another 2 years.

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Mon 15 Jun 2020 18:42
Ford Focus - Max years before cam belt replacement - SLO76
This engine isn’t hard on belts but if you intend on keeping longterm you might as well buy peace of mind and do it now and that’s it for another 8-10yrs. If you plan on offloading within a year or so then I wouldn’t bother.
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Tue 16 Jun 2020 09:04
Ford Focus - Max years before cam belt replacement - chssvl

Thanks for the replies. Really helpful. I guess it's not really an immediate worry then, but should consider doing this sooner rather than later.

To be honest, every year I use it less and less and I wonder if I should just sell it. However, it's not that costly to keep it and every now and then it proves to be so useful (only car in the household)...

Thanks again!

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Tue 16 Jun 2020 09:27
Ford Focus - Max years before cam belt replacement - Andrew-T

... every year I use it less and less and I wonder if I should just sell it. However, it's not that costly to keep it and every now and then it proves to be so useful (only car in the household)...

In normal times one might decide whether the cost of insurance, VED and maintenance is a lot more than an occasional taxi. But when public transport is a hazard it may be better to keep a car handy.

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