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timing belt question - double checking my work

Remove the bottom idler

Remove the bottom idler

If you have the small bottom idler, try removing it. I too had a contour that I absolutely could not keep a cam belt in. Proper tension made things better, but the major contributor was the lower idler. So I removed it, properly tensioned the belt and the problems went away. Depending on build date, contours sometimes had the bottom idler and sometimes didn't.

Best of luck.
 
why yes it would

why yes it would

Of course is would make the belt tension too loose, that is why I said to reset the tension on the belt. It would also slightly alter the cam timing as well, which using fords recommended procedure to set cam timing AND setting tension at the same time will reslove both. There is also a TSB (don't know the number) about cam belt shredding that speaks to proper method of setting belt tension.
 
nope

nope

when I removed my lower idler, I did so by only pulling the crank pulley and its timing cover. Tried it out without timing or tension. car ran well enough and no longer walked off of the cam gears. I then reset the timing and tension. its been 29 k miles with no further problems.
 
I notice that my Focus zetec has no idler pulley down low at all, only crank pulley alone.
 
still no luck on idle.... but the walking part, well i guess i need not to be working on cars when im tired, it ended being the crank pulley must of rotate some when i impacted it on and wasn't fully seated, once i redid it - belt went into position.

but i have a 98 contour for sale for 600 bucks lol 70k on motor/trans :D 135k on body :laugh: - cosmetically challenged
 
Thanks so much andreslobo! I only signed up to the forums yesterday and wanted to ask my question but figured I'd just scan the forums to find the answer to my question. You were finally the one to answer it! After realizing the Haynes manual is a joke to try and time my 1999 Contour by, I started looking online for an answer to how to set the timing properly. I did a lot of reading and thinking. I'm pretty good at finding TDC on any engine. I did it my old-fashioned way before I realized there were timing marks on the harmonic balancer. Once I looked down there, I was lined up perfectly so I guess my old-school ways aren't too bad. Anyway, my question was regarding if on the VCT engine, after setting the cams and rotating the engine 720 degrees (twice), will the marks in the cam line up? Your step #6 hit the nail on the head about not worrying about whether the slots lined up afterwards. I would suppose this only applies to NON-VCT engines. I'm going to go out to the shop and double check things one more time and then, hopefully, put everything back together. I know this is an old thread too, but it's what I needed to get going again. Thanks!!!
 
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