Doing the timing belt on a mates 2001 Focus 1.6 as a favour - now the fcuking thing has me stumped.....No key on the bottom pulley or cam sprocket, there are held in place by torquing up the pully bolt and squeezing them on a slight taper.

The first time I attempted this I just jammed the bottom pully so it wouldn't turn and torqued up the bolt, when I tried to start the engine however I discovered the crank was turning but the bottom sprocket was slipping and the cams were not rotating....

The haynes manual once again has a stupidly vague solution to this "use a suitable lennght of treaded bar inserted into the crank and a nut to torque them up and force the sprocket onto the taper" the idea then being that you then remove the nut and treaded bar and then torque up the new pulley bolt. Thats wonderful except the treaded bar is a standard M12 size but has a finer tread than normal so no lenghts of treaded bar I have will screw into the crank
This leaves me with the option of using the old pulley bolt to do the job but if I torque it up surly when I remove it again to use the new one the tension will just come off the sprocket again?

 

Ford ETIS tells you to tighten it up against the special TDC tool , I assume you have removed the blanking plug in the block and have access to either this tool or some other crankshaft locking tool ?

I have seen these bolts come loose and it causes a horrible mess , valves and pistons making intimate contact ...... not fun for anybody

 

Yeah I have the cranking TDC timing pin but theres no way that would stop the crank rotating considering the torque level required to tighten up the pulley bolt. Did Ford never hear of the old adage "if it aint broke dont fix it" what the hell is wrong with woodruff keys?

 

take the starter motor out and lock the flywheel. thats how i do them.

 

I agree with both of you , woodruff keys are good but this was Fords way of getting around production tolerances i would use the tdc pin to set initially, but then as long as the cams are tightened with crank at TDC then it does not matter , so remove s/motor and tighten fully then set back against the pin and then tighten cam pulleys , if you were somewhere local would lend you the flywheel locking tools as I seemed to have gained some rather than using the trusty screw driver in the ring gear .

 

I cant remember the exact position of the crank pulley, at the moment the pulley will not go any futher onto the crank but the timing belt is at the very edge of the sprockets and not central as it should be.
When I'm putting the crank pulley back on should the outer edge of the pulley be flush the end of the crankshaft as in diagram A or should the pulley protrude several mm as in diagram B..?

 

How did you get the bottom crank pulley off.I,m doing mine at the moment and haynes says use a puller but i aint got one.?

 

There is a special pin to lock the crank, but I wouldn't like to try and turn against it or else it'll bend!

If there's no way around it - can't you put a gun on it?

 

Pain in the arse! Sometimes they come of very easy - most of them time they don't! bit of tapping with a hammer can help but becareful not to smash the pulley!

 

Have you put the plastic cover over the sprocket? As the pulley buts up against that.

 

Could i put it in gear then get some one to put there foot on the brake,while i undo the crank puley nut.I take it it,s anti clockwise release?

 

Yeah anti clockwise - we use a impact gun to get them off. Have to be dead square though or it'll be a long hard day getting the rounded bolt out!

 

Yes its an anti clockwise release...sometimes what your suggesting wont work and you need to use a bit more force. If you haven't got access to an air impact gun get an 18mm impact socket and a regular breaker bar. Place the socket on the crank pulley bolt and jam the breaker bar against the swing arm. Disconnect the coil pack multi plug.
You then need to turn the engine over for the shortest time possible - literally half a second or even less if you can manage.....this will lossen the pulley bolt.