Hello all!
I brought a 2001, Ford Focus Zetec 1.6 last year.
Having a proper flick through the history there is nothing to say that it’s had a cam belt change.

Most previous work had been done at ford dealerships so it was a surprise that this hadn’t been done. I phoned the dealer to ask, incase the document had been lost but they haven’t changed it.

So after hitting 70,000 miles last week and with the car at 14 years old now should I panic? Is there a way to inspect the belt or it better advice just to have it done? Any advice on if and where to have the work done (Ford dealership/halfords/or my local garage) and how much I can expect to pay?

Thanks in advance

Zetecs are 100k miles or 10 years, whichever comes first. Choice is yours where it is done. The later cars ( black rocker tops engines) I don’t believe they run the water pump on the block ( sigma engines) so will be a cambelt, 2 tensioners and a rocker cover gasket, as they need to remove the rocker cover to lock the camshafts with a bar. Not a bad thing as rocker covers can leak with age anyway. Cost is relative to labour rates, but I would always recommend to use Ford parts rather than aftermarket.

Often a garage might scrawl the mileage of a cambelt change on the cover. So if it was done privately that’s one sign. There’ll generally be a warning light too around the mileage, no harm getting it done early if it hasn’t been done.

Milage limit is 100k or its 10 years time limit which ever comes first.

How ever – what did you pay for it. 14 year old 1.6 focus probably wasnt more than 1000 was it ? I wouldnt bother paying to change the timing belt unless it was a minter- i would do it my self though for piece of mind.

Your local trusted garage for the belt change if you go ahead. Remember to do the tensioners

Yes.

The cambelt interval will be something like 80k miles OR 8 years. There is always a time interval, and it’ll definitely be much less than 14 years. Not worth risking it.

You can inspect the belt, there will be a pop off cover on one side of the engine. Google for how to check condition of a cambelt, there are things to look for. You should always check it at a service even if it’s not due to change.

If course the engine may have a chain instead. Google that too.

Thanks all!
I’m going to have it done in the next month in that case!
The car only cost £400 but it has been very reliable so wish to keep it going rather than running into the ground and getting a lemon. I’ve called for a couple of quotes and they are around the £300 mark, pricey but worth the piece of mind as the car has been good to me over the last year.

300 quid is about the right rAte for a 1.6 ford engine

Dayco belt and tensioner kit is about 110 quid at the parts people

I wouldn’t bother

You’d need to check but IIRC the 1.6 Zetec isn’t an interference engine

1.6 zetec is interferance

1.6cvh wasnt. That died with the orion iirc.

I’m confused by this technical chat, but very very grateful all the same!
So is it advisable to have it changed ASAP now?

The car only cost £400 but it has been very reliable so wish to keep it going rather than running into the ground and getting a lemon

This is the right attitude. If it breaks and you scrap the car, you then have to go through the hassle of breaking down, and the finding a new car. Whose cambelt may snap the next time you drive it. If you spend the money you’ll have a known new belt. They are consumables, so it’d be like selling a car because the tyres are worn.

Even if it’s not an interference engine and it is not destroyed when the belt breaks, you will still be stranded mid journey and if you are say on the motorway at 80 it could be pretty dangerous to lose power suddenly.

So is it advisable to have it changed ASAP now?

Yes.

As said earlier 100K or 10 yrs which ever comes first. I had my 1.8 petrol done at 98k at 9 yrs. It’s worth doing they are great cars, probably the best hatchback of the last 20 yrs. Nothing of that era came close in my opinion.

My 2001 focus 2.0 zetec just ticked over 200,000 kms on its original timing belt.
Just yesterday I ordered the cam locking tool and timing pin for 30quid and a contitech belt kit for 50quid. 1000 bucks at the dealer for a belt change so I’ll be doing it myself.
Now I’ve posted here, my belt will likely snap today :/
The belt is relatively easy to inspect if you have the plastic belt cover. Mine looks a little stretched but no evidence of cracking or missing teeth.

If the car is a keeper & tidy get belt, tensioner & may as well fit new water pump while all apart. Did mine at 70k miles & 10 years. Old belt will probaly look ok but tensioner bearing can also fail, either way it’s an expensive failure & not worth risking.

1.6 zetec is interferance

1.6cvh wasnt. That died with the orion iirc.

Both engines are definitely interference engines. Cant think of any Ford engines in the last 20 years that weren’t.

My cousin lost a belt on an old Rover 216 ( O Series) and wasn’t interference, so replaced the locked water pump, as reason for the belt to snap, tensioners and belt , hit the key and all running sweet again. Only one I can think off.

Inbred456 – Member
It’s worth doing they are great cars, probably the best hatchback of the last 20 yrs. Nothing of that era came close in my opinion.

Not just your opinion, most of the motoring press say the MK1 Focus is as close to perfection in its time as is possible.

I had a 1.8 zetec mk1 focus. Light years ahead of many of the other hatches of its era. The car that made me drop my Vw habit although I have had another golf since.

Spent a long time in the car trade.
A Ford Zetec of that age should have the belts done at 80k (Ford recommends) most people in the trade say 100k is fine. £300 for the job is a fair price.
The MK1 Focus is even by today’s standards a great car.

Mmmmmm. It’s tricky, with this sort of job/car/price. Because sure a change gives you peace of mind on that particular part, but it doesn’t stop some unrelated part from dying, and at this age and miles you can’t assume that it won’t shit the bed tomorrow. Equally it could go another 14 years.

Personally- and it is personal- I’d have a look at the belt, see if it looks in decent nick and if it seems to be I’d leave it, if it was scabby then I’d start a thread on STW and probably MC would tell me how to fix it 😉 It’s basically about deciding whether you want to gamble on that exact part failing and nothing else major, or you wan’t to gamble on that particular part not failing- but maybe something else does. You’re tying up money in the car. But that also depends on whether you can afford to do this preventative medicine AND also fix an unrelated failure.

They are good cars though, and the value of the car isn’t really in pounds. The question isn’t whether it’s better in the long run, it’s whether it’s going to do the long run at all. I put about £300 into the brakes of my old Focus to set it up for MOT and sale, and 2 days later the clutch went, because it was possessed by a cruel and perfidious spirit.

But these things are all consumables and any car needs them. You can’t avoid changing them by continually changing for more old cars.

I’m not sure you understand the point I’m making Mol. Putting brakes in that car was neccesary, unavoidable- it was just an example of how an evil car will screw you if it can.

But here you’ve got a job which is only desirable, not required, and with a car of this sort of age you need to plan for the unpredictable failures not just the maintenance schedule. So in this case here- spend £300 on cam belt, it gives you maybe 80000 miles of confidence in the cam belt, which is definitely good. But that’s no good if in a month it spits the dummy in some other way and you don’t have the cash to fix it because you invested it in sensible but now useless long term work.

No matter what, it’s a gamble. Do you want your £300 to cover 1 risk, or many. Do you want to keep the options open, but at a risk of a specific failure that realistically destroys the car.

It’s not what the car is worth, it’s what it’s worth to you

£300 spent on a reliable £400 car might not make economic sense, but in terms of the hassle of breakdown, recovery, hunt for another car, etc it may well do

That car will do another 70000 miles (at least) on its new cambelt, and during that time four new tyres at £200-ish, service and MoT at £200 pa, etc will exceed its value many times over, but these are consumables for any car at any value

As NW said, it’s a gamble as to what breaks or rusts next, and when. There are plenty of newer cars that break expensively, my neighbours 5 year old alternator and control unit cost several times your cam belt

My VW did 21 years until getting parts became a problem

If you don’t change it and it snaps it’ll cost you recovery charges and being stranded who knows where for hours, in a motorway lane, a bad spot? Etc.. I change everything on time and investigate every squeek regardless of age/market value.

That MK1 Focus is worth more than its resale value. Great cars.

But here you’ve got a job which is only desirable, not required,

Disagree. It is required! And you may not have the cash to fix it at this moment but the alternative is a new car, and none of the problems will go away, you’ll still be in the same situation.

How many miles has it done?

My mums 1.6 zetec Focus is past 260,000 MILES 😯

Milage limit is 100k or its 10 years time limit which ever comes first

Are we sure of that? Same engine in my c-max and it was 100k or 8 years. Either way I’d get it done, its not a hugely expensive job on a focus and its peace of mind for probably the rest of the cars lifetime.

Yes, later model 1.6s moved to 10 years /100k … And either way this has exceeded it.

While molgrips is right , id want to be more than happy that the rest of the car was in good nick before i put 300 quid into a 400 quid car.

Having seen a 10 year old cam belt from a 1.6 zetec that had done 40k ….. I wouldnt be pushing it too far on a car i wanted to keep for any length of time. The belt was fine , the tensioner was like a bag of shit.

id want to be more than happy that the rest of the car was in good nick before i put 300 quid into a 400 quid car.

Oh yeah.. That goes without saying… The car has to be sound for it to be worth it.

molgrips – Member

Disagree. It is required! And you may not have the cash to fix it at this moment but the alternative is a new car,

Ah, so the OP doesn’t know if the belt’s ever been replaced, or the condition of the belt, tensioner etc, but you do? And no the alternative isn’t a new car, that’s just nonsense. The alternative is just keep driving it. And that’s a roll of the dice, but so is replacing (not “fixing”) it.

There’s every chance keeping £300 in your pocket keeps the car on the road longer than spending it today, and every chance that spending £300 today ends up being unproductive because something else scraps it. This is always the conundrum and IMO there’s no right answer. But especially not with this level of information

In France they tend to keep their cars. Here we cherish a new car. **** nose why

I had many great years driving MK1 ford focus cars. Great to drive for their time and good engines. Fords generally I am not a fan of…I owned a fiesta (1998 model) and the areas that the accountants had saves money on turned me off the brand…fuzzy felt as boot liner, exhausts that rotted in 3 years and one month, oh and brake calipers that siezed. After that car I have always bought a better brand at a greater age. Give me a 4 year old Volvo over a new Ford any day.

300 quid is about the right rAte for a 1.6 ford engine

We paid well under £400 including a major service – Filters, plugs etc.
Local mobile chap did it outside the house.

“We paid well under £400 including a major service – Filters, plugs etc.
Local mobile chap did it outside the house.”

well of course – lower overheads. i was assuming he was going to a private garage.

150 quid if i do it outside my house inc major service –

I can’t be arsed. He had all the wheel arch liner out and the engine dropped on a trolley jack for access. I don’t have inclination or the tools. TBH the parts would be more than £150 too. Plugs and oil would have been £65+ for a start so I’m calling BS on that price! 😉

OP I think you could get the cambelt price down if you called around 3/4 local garages. Fords are a staple of most indies and they’ll know the engine etc. I got rid of my 1999 Ford Puma due to rust on the subframe etc. If it wasn’t for that I’d have kept it. The engine etc was an absolute peach.

The MK1 Focus was a peach to drive. Not a fan of the MKII at all.

As for chucking money at a £400 car. If a car is sound it’ll give you good service. You can easily throw £500+ a year at a 5yr old car that also depreciates £1,000 ontop every year.

You could easily drive it until the belt snaps or simply neglect to service the car- but then where will you be when it goes? The recover costs and even maybe the overnight stay and time off work the next day might put £££ ontop of this.

You could also just buy another secondhand car….that needs consumables changing asap and becomes a pig.

Friends of ours just changed a perfectly reliable Nissan Note for a Focus that they knew had a mystery electrical problem related to battery charging. Just heard they broke down this morning and had to walk home…

hora – Member

The recovery costs

Maybe I’m assuming too much but I figured most people with an older car will have breakdown cover? Especially if you’re driving it far enough to possibly need an overnight stay.

I’ve not looked at one for a while but unless you have it on your bank account wont it be higher for an older car?

Not just that- how long would it take to get to you and my worse fear- setting off down to London on a Friday evening for a weekend away and the engine/belt lets go. Queue stood on the motorway hard shoulder for hours then being towed to either a garage or back home?

Cost of neglecting preventative maintenance? Priceless.

On the cambelt cost- my Puma is a difficult one to do and it cost £200 so I had it in my mind that a Focus should be 150-200 max.

Bullshit price Maybe if your paying retail.

Having a friend as a manager in a local motorfactor makes it worth my while.

Its a bit shit when i need to pay rrp for dealer only parts though 🙁 need a crank shaft damper for the van just now and finding the rrp of 150 quid a bit much to stomach . Pattern dampers are a false economy according to my mate he gets a fair few returned and reckons to only go with genuine.

I struggle to aee how bangernomics makes any sense at all unless your handy with the spanners and have an interest in it.