St Albans Car Clinic: Ford 2.0 Diesel Ecoblue Wet Belts

Replacing the wet belt on the Ford 2.0 Ecoblue Diesels at SCC.

SCC are specialists in the replacement of the wet belts on the 1.0 EcoBoost and 2.0 Ecoblue Ford Engines. We are one of only a small handful of garages in the local area with the ability, tools and knowhow to carry out these replacements professionally and efficiently and as a result of this we are doing many each month.

These engines use a Wet Belt instead of the traditional Timing belt, the main difference is that the Wet Belt runs inside the engine and a timing belt runs on the outside of the engine. Ford recommend these belts are replaced every 10 years or 150,000 miles however on some vehicles due to lack of servicing, poor maintenance or incorrect oils used we are seeing many of these belts failing prior to the suggested replacement interval so we suggest a replacement at about 8 years or 80000 miles to be sure. If the belt fails there is a high chance that a replacement engine will be required. The 1.0 EcoBoost engine was first introduced to the UK market in 2012 meaning they are now coming due for the Wet Belt to be replaced and or overdue. The powerful 1.0 litre engine was fitted to several of Fords models including the Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus, Ford Transit Connect Van and the Ford B-Max.

The design of the wet belt means that replacement is a big job. We have to strip down the top, side and bottom of the engine to be able to access the wet belt and the oil pump belt and we have to use specific timing tools.

There are several special tools required to replace the Wet Belt on the EcoBoost engine, firstly you need a ‘Torque Multiplier’ to be able to tighten the crank bolt to its specified torque setting, then you need the flywheel locking plate to ensure the crank cannot move whilst the belt is being replaced and the correct timing kit to ensure that both cams are set correctly.

At SCC for peace of mind we always replace the following components when carrying out a wet belt replacement: