Ford has used a variety of four cylinder engines over the years, ranging in displacement from 1.6 to 2.5 liters (see engine application chart on page 22). All of these engines are overhead cam engines, some with a single cam others with dual cams, and all have timing belts that need to be replaced at 60,000 miles (up to 1997) or at 120,000 miles (most 1998 and up). This is especially important on the interference engines to prevent expensive valve damage should the timing belt fail.

The interference applications include all of the older 1.6L, 1.8L and 1.9L engines in Escort and EXP, the 2.0L and 2.2L engines in Probe, and the 2.0L DOHC engines (VIN 3 and 5) in Focus.

The timing belt replacement procedures on most of these engines is pretty much the same as any other overhead cam engine. On the 2.0L engine in 1998-2000 Contour, Escort ZX2, 2000 Focus, 1998-2000 Mercury Mystique and 1999-2000 Mercury Cougar, you'll need a special camshaft alignment tool (see Ford TSB 99-25-4 for details on how to adjust the belt tension on these engines).

It's always a good idea to inspect the water pump when replacing a belt, and to recommend a new pump if the old one shows any sign of leakage or has more than 60,000 to 100,000 miles on it. Replacing the water pump now can save your customer the labor cost of having to replace the pump later should it start to leak.

Replacing the belt tensioner and idler pulleys with new ones i...