How do you change the timing belt on a 1998 Ford Contour 2.0?

Answer 1

1-First you have to lift the right front of the vehicule and put it on a safe jack stand. 2-Remove the right front wheel. 3-Remove the plastic inner fender(2 bolts 10mm) 4-With a 13mm box end wrench turn the serpentine tensionner clock wise to loose the serpentine belt(easier with two people) 5-Using a hydraulic Jake and a piece of wood,support the engine under the oil pan(enough pressure to hold the weight of the engine only,don't lift the entire car!) 6-Remove the upper engine mount(6x19mm nuts)Take it away. 7-Remove the top T-Belt cover(2x8mm bolts) 8-You can now remove the water pump pulley(8 mm bolts x 4) 9-With a 15 mm wrench, remove the foul pulley 10-Remove the middle T-Belt cover by removing the 8mm bolts 11-Unscrew the crank shaft pulley(18mm bolts) 12-Remove the lower cover of the T-Belt (8mm bolts) 13-Using a 17 mm wrench untight the T-Belt tensionner(you will need a 6mm Allen key to hold it when it will be time to tight the T-Belt tensionner back) 14-To make sure your timing marks are good you have to remove the valve cover.Once you're done,go to the camshaft end (driver side)put a metal ruler in the slut aligned with the top of the head.It will assure that you are at TDC of cylinder #1.The crankshaft timing mark is on the side of the oil pan(kind of a arrow).On the demper pulley, there are two timing marks,you have to use the one which is at the right.(When you face the demper pulley)

For the rest, go from step 14 to step 1!!!

Additional InformationTo Simon's excellent I would add the following information :

REVISED TIMING BELT & TENSION SETUP ON 2.0L For the 1998-2000 Contour, Escort ZX2, 2000 Focus, 1998-2000 Mercury Mystique and 1999-2000 Mercury Cougar with 2.0L engine. Ford TSB 99-25-4 provides the following corrected information: To achieve proper timing belt tension on this engine, rotate the crankshaft clockwise so cylinder No. 1 is at top dead center. Once this has been done, Ford says the camshaft sprocket bolts should be loosened enough to permit the sprockets to turn freely on the camshafts. (I am not sure why). Then, install the camshaft alignment tool in the camshaft slots to hold the cams in place ( The Metal ruler or flat stock Simon mentions works good). 1. Back out the tensioner bolt four full turns and position the tensioner so the locating tab is at approximately the 4 o'clock position. Line up the hex key slot in the tensioner-adjusting washer with the pointer that is located behind the pulley. 2. Working counterclockwise from the crank sprocket, install the timing belt. 3. Rotate the tensioner locating tab counterclockwise and insert the locating tab into the slot in the rear timing cover. 4. Position the hex key slot in the tensioner-adjusting washer to the 4 o'clock position. 5. Tighten the attaching bolt enough to seat the tensioner firmly against the rear timing cover, but still allow the tensioner adjusting washer to be rotated using a 6 mm hex key. 6. Using the hex key, rotate the adjusting washer counterclockwise until the notch in the pointer is centered over the index line on the locating tab. (The pointer will move in a clockwise direction during adjustment). 7. While holding the adjusting washer in position, torque the attaching bolt to 18 lb-ft (25 N.m). Note: If the pointer does not remain centered over the index line during final tightening, loosen the bolt and repeat the procedure beginning with step 4. And finally, do not forget to lock-tight the cam bolts if you loosened them, and the crank balancer bolt.