Timing belt squeak? - Ford Forums

Griffyn · 03-27-2003, 17:43

Hi all,

Just had a 100,000km service on my KJ3 laser and had the timing belt replaced.

Driving the car out of the place and there's a squealy rubbing noise under the bonnet. I asked the guy about it and he said it's just the new belt needs to loosen up a bit - should be fine in a few days.

On the road, I can smell oil or something when the vents are open, and acceleration power has been reduced.

I took it back the next day (today) to say I wasn't happy with it, they had a mechanic look at it for 20 minutes and the final word was that it should be fine in about a week, and they put some lubricant on it. Nothing was changed. Still loud and slow.

Does this sound right to anyone? From what I can gather, timing belts are put on too tight as standard. And - tight belts make squealing noises and reduce the efficiency of the engine. Doesn't sound right to me......

EBXR · 03-27-2003, 17:53

If I was in your situation, and not happy with it, I'd take it back again, or take it somewhere else for a second opinion.

Aussiblue · 03-28-2003, 04:26

Get it checked ASAP they may have forgotten to back off the tensioner pivot bolt.

creature3 · 03-29-2003, 03:27

Timing belts do not need "running in" and/or "loosening up" Take it back. Broken belt = serious damage!

mongrelEB · 03-29-2003, 23:23

Tight belts should NOT squeal - only loose belts do this.
Are you sure it's not a fanbelt with oil on it?
But yeah, this is not right, get it checked quickly.

snavy · 03-30-2003, 03:31

well really bad sign, you dont want the timming to go really off, can stuff up your whole engine!

Griffyn · 03-30-2003, 15:18

Thanks for your concerns everyone. I'll take it back today. For your information, I had it serviced at New Oak Ford in Oakleigh, Melbourne.

Ace_92EBII · 05-14-2003, 06:46

If your belt continues to sqeak just get some RP-7

It works wonders on those noisy belts!!

- Ace

TopGhia · 05-14-2003, 12:51

Ace, this thread is a bit out of date, filling up space that is needed for newer problems.

Although it would have been good of G. to let us know what the fix was.

Griffyn · 05-14-2003, 16:26

Sorry, that was poor of me.

I took it back the next week as I said I would, and picked it up that night. It had been tinkered with for sure, but the squealy noise was still there, and now there was a rattle under the bonnet whenever I changed gear forcefully, or went over big bumps!

That pissed me off no end, so I wrote a letter to their Customer Service dept, and CC'd it to Ford Australia's Customer Service. After about 4 working days of not hearing anything, I called their CS dept to find out, and she was very apologetic etc. Anyway, the car was booked in and they gave me a loaner (Focus) for free. standard stuff.

They had the car for two days, and when it came out it was fine. Apparently, the new timing belt was faulty because they just replaced it, and the rattle was caused by the engine not being bolted on properly or something small and simple like that...... :(

Never going back there for sure.

Oh, and the power loss issue I solved myself when I was forced to fill up with regular unleaded instead of the Optimax I've used for the last few years. Power came back straight away. I've used Optimax in the next few refills and the power's been there as well. So maybe it was just the computer needed a kick in the pants or something to get it to do it's job properly.