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Ford focus zetec/svt cylinder head removal / headgasket fix

22K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  Runeblue 
#1 · (Edited)
So i just bought a ford focus svt with a broken timing belt, tried replacing the belt seeing if it would maybe start up but no, valves are bent, looked all over online but could not find a tutorial on how to remove the cylinder head, a lot of people saying basic steps, but no one had a tutorial, so i will be making one with lots of pictures so people like me could get a bit of help, i know people tend to blow head gaskets and the ford contour, escort, and mercury cougar use the zetec 2.0,
so posts coming up!!!!
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES YOU MAY CAUSE TO YOUR CAR BY FOLLOWING MY GUIDE

okay, so you want to start off by using the timing belt change tutorial for a 2.0 zetec to get you started removing stuff, this is where i got my info from

1. Put the passenger side of the car on a jack stand and remove that wheel. Remove the plastic splash guard that covers the bottom of the car and the passenger side. These are 10 mm bolts.


2. Remove the serpentine belt then remove the crank pulley. This can be done without an impact gun. Use an impact gun if you have one, but if you don't, then follow this procedure. Use the correct socket for the crank bolt (I think it is 18 mm) with an extension and breaker bar. Put the breaker bar and socket on the bolt and brace the breaker bar against the lower control arm. I used another jack stand and a few small boxes. The idea is to have the bar snugly pressed against the control arm and propped up from underneath so it sits square with the crank bolt. Now, dis-connect the 3-wire connector at the ignition coil so the car won't actually start. Make sure the car is not in gear and no one is standing near the breaker bar. Bump the key about a second in the start position. This should break the bolt loose and now you can go remove it. You can view a video of how to do this on YouTube or My Space <===== Those are links by-the-way.

3. With the crank pulley off you can now see the timing belt gear. Remove the splash shied cover that is behind the crank pulley. It is held by two 8 mm bolts I believe. Also remove the upper timing belt dust cover. These are 8 mm as well.

4. Remove the valve cover. Start by dis-connecting the VCT connector on top and remove the spark plug galley cover if you have one. These are 8 mm bolts. The valve cover is held on by 8 mm bolts as well. The one on the passenger-firewall side has a stud on it and will require the use of an 8 mm wrench or deep well socket. Do not let the gasket touch the ground. Soak the gasket in WD-40 so it will swell back to original shape and you can reuse it.


from there, we're gonna remove the tensioner and idler for the timing belt, loosen the tensioner, use a 5.5mm allen to release tension, then remove those two pulleys and slide off the timing belt



next we'll take off all the screws to the exaust heatshield, there's two on top and two on the bottom, while you're at it you may want to take off the two screws for the power steering bracket that hold on to the head, exaust was 10mm i believe, bracket is 13mm





while you're down there for the exaust heatshield, you may want to drain your coolant as you will need to do it eventually, GET A PAN, i used some plyers and loosened up the drain plug on the radiator which is on the driver's side of the radiator,
as shown in pic



now go ahead and remove the 2 8mm bolts that hold the fuel rail to the intake side of the head, also, while you're at it unclip and unplug the fuel injectors, after doing both, GENTLY wiggle off the injectors off, CAREFUL, this is all plastic, you dont want to have to need new injectors later



now you're not gonna be able to remove the heatshield for the exaust... at least not easily, from what i've seen no one has an easy way to get it off, so pry it back as far back as you can or if you dont care about it like me cut it up and start unscrewing the exaust... bolts are all 10mm except for the 2 on the far left and 1 on the far right, which have a 13mm nut with a screw with an e-7 head





now we're gonna remove the thermostat housing and the bracket that holds the coil in place, the thermostat housing is held on by 3 10mm screws, the coil bracket is held on by 3 T40 torx screws... sorry didn't take pics of the coil pack



loosen up the intake manifold's clamps, just do the side that's closest to the block, at least that's how i did it

ah, now for the camshafts, we need to remove those to get to the screws below, the way i do it is remove the inner holders first then slowly unscrew the outer ones until they're no longer pressing the valves, DONT MIX UP THE HOLDERS, (these things have a name....) THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO GO BACK IN THE SAME PLACE/ORDER LATER....
what i do is get an egg carton and set them down there so they dont get mixed up


By [URL=http://profile.imageshack.us/user/jonyrocks]jonyrocks
at 2012-04-16


UNPLUG the vct if your engine has one and turn the last 4 screws you left on, do a 1/4 turn one, then the next, and so on, until all are loose, then just finish unscrewing them, and remove, if you have vct the camshaft with the vct will be a little tricky to remove, careful not to damage anything......

now that the camshafts are out of your way, remove the black cover that was below the camshafts on the timing belt side, it should be 2 8mm bolts, set it aside and now loosen up the alternator, it only has 2 screws, then remove the screw closest to the engine, and push the alternator back, then remove the screw that holds the alternator bracket to the cylinder head, in the picture it's already partially unscrewed, forgot to label it >.>



i don't know about you guys but at this point i start getting all exited, only 10 screws hold the cylinder block to the head now, get a T-55, a BIG ratchet (i recommend 1/2 with an adaptor to your more than likely 3/8 T-55 head since i tried 3/8 ratchet and all i did was break my 3/8 extensions ~_~) and loosen these baby's up, if you loosen one screw, loosen the one on the opposite side next, do 1/4 inch turns and then head to the next screw and the next and so on and so forth until they're all no longer holding the head in place, then remove. the reason you do 1/4 inch turns is to prevent the most warping of the head possible, i least that's my theory on it.



grab a 2x4 block of wood and place it on head in the least brittle place you can find and with a hammer tap the 2x4 until you feel the headgasket give way and let go of the head, be careful as to where you choose to place that block of wood...

well if you followed me step by step then now you're trying to pull the head and the intake is slowing you down, there is a screw that holds the 2 parts of the intake together way down at a place i can't reach.... so i forced the cylinder head up the most i could, grabbed my 1/4 ratchet with a 1-inch extension and my 8mm socket placed on it and unscrewed the screw while it was up in the air... hopefully if your headgasket was still on top of the head you could just lean on the top of the head like i did and just let it sit there, don't recommend putting any weight like that on top of the head but hey, i was in a bind, in the following picture you can see the long plastic extension where that screw held the intake on...




now as for me i bought the car with a timing belt with no teeth left on it, so i knew i had valve damage, the cylinders look all good so right away i was celebrating not needing new pistons or honing the walls, but then i put the cylinder head down and looked at the valves.....



10/16 valves are bent into an open position and the last 6 i dont even know....

so now i need 16 svt valves, so if anyone wants to hook me up with a good deal let me know :D
 
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#3 ·
Nice! Im sure this will come in handy.

Talk to steve about new valves and guides.

For buckets (when clearancing your cams on reassembly) you may find that some are out of spec with the new valves. People floating around the interents here have buckets, so post up your bucket sizes needed and someone can help ya out!
 
#7 ·
haha yea 18" bar for me too, the snap freaked me out the first time too! thought i broke the top of the bolt or something,
and i did mention the power steering bracket, all i did was remove the bolts that attached to the head, which is just two in the front left of the engine, worked fine for me and will hopefully save me some work later
 
#8 ·
So i just bought a ford focus svt with a broken timing belt, tried replacing the belt seeing if it would maybe start up but no, valves are bent, looked all over online but could not find a tutorial on how to remove the cylinder head, a lot of people saying basic steps, but no one had a tutorial, so i will be making one with lots of pictures so people like me could get a bit of help, i know people tend to blow head gaskets and the ford contour, escort, and mercury cougar use the zetec 2.0,
so posts coming up!!!!
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES YOU MAY CAUSE TO YOUR CAR BY FOLLOWING MY GUIDE

okay, so you want to start off by using the timing belt change tutorial for a 2.0 zetec to get you started removing stuff, this is where i got my info from
1. Put the passenger side of the car on a jack stand and remove that wheel. Remove the plastic splash guard that covers the bottom of the car and the passenger side. These are 10 mm bolts.
2. Remove the serpentine belt then remove the crank pulley. This can be done without an impact gun. Use an impact gun if you have one, but if you don't, then follow this procedure. Use the correct socket for the crank bolt (I think it is 18 mm) with an extension and breaker bar. Put the breaker bar and socket on the bolt and brace the breaker bar against the lower control arm. I used another jack stand and a few small boxes. The idea is to have the bar snugly pressed against the control arm and propped up from underneath so it sits square with the crank bolt. Now, dis-connect the 3-wire connector at the ignition coil so the car won't actually start. Make sure the car is not in gear and no one is standing near the breaker bar. Bump the key about a second in the start position. This should break the bolt loose and now you can go remove it. You can view a video of how to do this on YouTube or My Space <===== Those are links by-the-way.
3. With the crank pulley off you can now see the timing belt gear. Remove the splash shied cover that is behind the crank pulley. It is held by two 8 mm bolts I believe. Also remove the upper timing belt dust cover. These are 8 mm as well.
4. Remove the valve cover. Start by dis-connecting the VCT connector on top and remove the spark plug galley cover if you have one. These are 8 mm bolts. The valve cover is held on by 8 mm bolts as well. The one on the passenger-firewall side has a stud on it and will require the use of an 8 mm wrench or deep well socket. Do not let the gasket touch the ground. Soak the gasket in WD-40 so it will swell back to original shape and you can reuse it.
from there, we're gonna remove the tensioner and idler for the timing belt, loosen the tensioner, use a 5.5mm allen to release tension, then remove those two pulleys and slide off the timing belt

next we'll take off all the screws to the exaust heatshield, there's two on top and two on the bottom, while you're at it you may want to take off the two screws for the power steering bracket that hold on to the head, exaust was 10mm i believe, bracket is 13mm


while you're down there for the exaust heatshield, you may want to drain your coolant as you will need to do it eventually, GET A PAN, i used some plyers and loosened up the drain plug on the radiator which is on the driver's side of the radiator,
as shown in pic

now go ahead and remove the 2 8mm bolts that hold the fuel rail to the intake side of the head, also, while you're at it unclip and unplug the fuel injectors, after doing both, GENTLY wiggle off the injectors off, CAREFUL, this is all plastic, you dont want to have to need new injectors later

now you're not gonna be able to remove the heatshield for the exaust... at least not easily, from what i've seen no one has an easy way to get it off, so pry it back as far back as you can or if you dont care about it like me cut it up and start unscrewing the exaust... bolts are all 10mm except for the 2 on the far left and 1 on the far right, which have a 13mm nut with a screw with an e-7 head


now we're gonna remove the thermostat housing and the bracket that holds the coil in place, the thermostat housing is held on by 3 10mm screws, the coil bracket is held on by 3 T40 torx screws... sorry didn't take pics of the coil pack

loosen up the intake manifold's clamps, just do the side that's closest to the block, at least that's how i did it
ah, now for the camshafts, we need to remove those to get to the screws below, the way i do it is remove the inner holders first then slowly unscrew the outer ones until they're no longer pressing the valves, DONT MIX UP THE HOLDERS, (these things have a name....) THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO GO BACK IN THE SAME PLACE/ORDER LATER....
what i do is get an egg carton and set them down there so they dont get mixed up

By [URL=http://profile.imageshack.us/user/jonyrocks]jonyrocks
at 2012-04-16


UNPLUG the vct if your engine has one and turn the last 4 screws you left on, do a 1/4 turn one, then the next, and so on, until all are loose, then just finish unscrewing them, and remove, if you have vct the camshaft with the vct will be a little tricky to remove, careful not to damage anything......

now that the camshafts are out of your way, remove the black cover that was below the camshafts on the timing belt side, it should be 2 8mm bolts, set it aside and now loosen up the alternator, it only has 2 screws, then remove the screw closest to the engine, and push the alternator back, then remove the screw that holds the alternator bracket to the cylinder head, in the picture it's already partially unscrewed, forgot to label it >.>



i don't know about you guys but at this point i start getting all exited, only 10 screws hold the cylinder block to the head now, get a T-55, a BIG ratchet (i recommend 1/2 with an adaptor to your more than likely 3/8 T-55 head since i tried 3/8 ratchet and all i did was break my 3/8 extensions ~_~) and loosen these baby's up, if you loosen one screw, loosen the one on the opposite side next, do 1/4 inch turns and then head to the next screw and the next and so on and so forth until they're all no longer holding the head in place, then remove. the reason you do 1/4 inch turns is to prevent the most warping of the head possible, i least that's my theory on it.



grab a 2x4 block of wood and place it on head in the least brittle place you can find and with a hammer tap the 2x4 until you feel the headgasket give way and let go of the head, be careful as to where you choose to place that block of wood...

well if you followed me step by step then now you're trying to pull the head and the intake is slowing you down, there is a screw that holds the 2 parts of the intake together way down at a place i can't reach.... so i forced the cylinder head up the most i could, grabbed my 1/4 ratchet with a 1-inch extension and my 8mm socket placed on it and unscrewed the screw while it was up in the air... hopefully if your headgasket was still on top of the head you could just lean on the top of the head like i did and just let it sit there, don't recommend putting any weight like that on top of the head but hey, i was in a bind, in the following picture you can see the long plastic extension where that screw held the intake on...




now as for me i bought the car with a timing belt with no teeth left on it, so i knew i had valve damage, the cylinders look all good so right away i was celebrating not needing new pistons or honing the walls, but then i put the cylinder head down and looked at the valves.....



10/16 valves are bent into an open position and the last 6 i dont even know....

so now i need 16 svt valves, so if anyone wants to hook me up with a good deal let me know :D
If you still have the photos from 10 years ago I would thank you very much sir
 
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