Just thought I'd put this one to the room and would appreciate some wild and maybe some not so wild speculation about the following: On the way to work this morning I suddenly noticed the car (2000 MkII Mondeo 1.8 petrol) wasn't responding properly whilst ambling along at 50. Momentum was enough to get me approx 1/4 mile into a layby where I switched the engine off.
Now on Sunday whilst I was pulling off at traffic lights on a steep hill whilst carrying 50-odd stone worth of people (thanks to a rather large brother in law) what I believed to be a slipping of the clutch occurred (revs buts no pull, put it out of gear then back in and was fine) which may be irrelevant but thought I'd mention anyway.
Anyway, called AA out, said I thought it may be clutch, so he started it up with it in gear and it just stalled. On inspection under the bonnet he told me that the timing belt tension was low (belt hadn't snapped) and that this was what caused me to conk out. My instant thought was that I've now got a knackered engine although Mr. AA didn't seem to think it would be quite so severe. Won't get a diagnosis from my mechanic until Thursday so am sitting here until then wondering whether one week from now I'll have my beloved Mondy back, or will be in the market for a £150 banger!
A big lesson in 'not getting around' to things. AA upgrade to get me all the way home has already set me back early £90. As per usual I was just weeks from getting this done (car's done 103k) and bet if it hadn't dragged 50-odd stone of people 60 miles on the weekend it would've held out. I will gladly listen to anybody's views and experiences on this!
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 04/12/2007 at 20:53
|
Demon
Roadside diagnoses can be ludicrously wide of the mark. I've never seen "low belt tension" cause two cut out incidents. If the belt jumps - it stays jumped; it wouldn't have restarted when he tried it.
Wait until your mechanic has had time to carry out a proper check.
|
|
|
Assuming that the AA man has got the diagnosis right (they don't always!) then I would guess it's the "Wheels" or the Tensioner that have failed, as Zetec cambelts aren't particularly known for breaking.
As you may already know Ford give the life of the belt (and tensioner, etc) as 100k or 10 years for a "Black Top", which you Mondeo will be. Even so, you have been unbelieveably unlucky if yours has failed at 103k, if, indeed, it transpires that this is what has happened.
I had my Mondeo cambelt changed at 95k, others have said in the past on this forum they regularly last to 130k+, then again, some have had failures at well before my 95k. Seems it depends upon how the car is used and the sort of journeys it does, i.e. lots of short journeys with accompanying stop/starts, or long motorway drives with much less stop/starts. The latter is believed to be better for long-lived cambelts.
Fingers crossed until Thursday then; you never know, things might not be quite as bad as you are fearing.
Good luck!
|
Thanks! Tis indeed a black top. I probably should also have mentioned that there was a noise to go with all this - it sounded kind of like rustling, not particularly loud and from inside the car I thought it sounded like the sound of going through a wet bit of road.
I've had the car for 26k miles, 40 mile A road round trips to work, the odd lorry has to eat my dust but I'm not really a bat out of hell! Twas previously a company vehicle on relatively high miles for year I suppose, but obviously can't assume they were all long distance journeys, though I'm sure it was never a taxi - no stains on back seats :) All irrelevant now I suppose, what's done is done, but I'll continue to pray to the oily guy in the sky!
|
>>Tis indeed a black top. I probably should also have mentioned that there was a noise to go with all this - it sounded kind of like rustling, not particularly loud and from inside the car I thought it sounded like the sound of going through a wet bit of road.
>>
I had a similar sort of noise with my 1998 2.0 auto which certainly was not over stressed in my hands.
The problem was due to a tensioner roller breaking up but the belt was OK.
The plastic skin on the roller was in a horrible state.
When I bought my Mondeo at 83K, the service log said "cambelt" at 80K. ( 80K was the mileage for changing belts on the older silver top.) I hit trouble at 113K and I suspect that the belt change had not included the tensioners.
I had a proper job done by a trusted indie and 2K later all seems fine. ;-)
Do give us info on the outcome.
|
|
OK my mechanic called me last night to say that it was the tensioners which had gone, that he'd fitted a new belt kit and the engine was running but he wouldn't commit to saying there was definitely no further damage yet. Picked it up just now (got him to change the brake pads as well) and he says having run it today he thinks I got away with it. Engine is running fine and driving as was. So it seems my greatest loss is having to fork out to the AA to upgrade my breakdown cover as I only had roadside and was 21 miles away when it happened...! I hope anyone who's been putting off their belt change (even if you're only a couple of K's over) reads this and learns my lesson... upgrade your AA cover now... :)
|
I'm just trying to remember the last time I had a problem that COULD be fixed by the roadside, 1986 I think - although cars are more reliable now than then, they're a lot more complex.
I wouldn't dream of having any car without recovery cover - how much is a motorway tow-off charge, £100+?
|
I'm just trying to remember the last time I had a problem that COULD be fixed by the roadside 1986 I think
>>
A visitor to us, last year, had the coil pack on a Polo changed from on board stock. I was impressed.
I was able to limp to my main dealer for a coil pack change on my Mondeo.
I must admit it did not occur to me to call the recovery mob and I was in a hurry.
|
|
My brother had a coil on his Megane changed at the side of the road. AA man plugs in computer, says "aha!", and changes the coil. No further problems.
|
|
|
|
I once had a flat tyre in my first car - a little Peugeot 205 diesel that had 190k on the clock but not a spot of rust when I sold it on - do you think I could get the bolts off? I had to call out the RAC to change a tyre, and was very happy to see the guy who turned up struggle to get the nuts off too, and have to get a wrench that was about 2 metres long to get them off - saved me some major embarassment. They also bodged up the same car when the exhaust fell off so I could drive it home - albeit sounding like a boy racer with a very much 'pimped' sounding exhaust growl!
Fair point though. When I got cover for my first car I rarely need to drive further than 15 miles, was skint student (I'm a skint adult after this week!) so 'roadside' cover was a habit I got into, and have this week gotten out of!
Edited by Demon on 07/12/2007 at 18:23
|
|
|
|
Hello Demon,
Many thanks for coming back to the forum to let us know the outcome.
Sounds like you have had a very lucky escape, I didn't think it would be the belt itself. It's always the wheel(s) or tensioner that fail on a Zetec, not the belt.
Galaxy
|
Many thanks for coming back to the forum to let us know the outcome.
>>
I second that.
You and I have both had a close call. ;-)
|
Forgive my ignorance, chaps, but I've never heard the terms 'black top and silver top' used in reference to Ford engines. Would someone kindly enlighten me, please, and does this apply to 2L as well as 1.8? Does it refer to the rocker box cover?
Many thanks Waino
|
|
|
|
|
|
