An escort zx2 came into our shop with a broken timing belt at roughly 80,000 miles. When we took the covers off it hadn't broken the belt, it broke the bolt off in the idler pulley. We ordered a new belt kit and when it came it had idler pulleys in it. Our engine had a spot for an extra pulley but it wasn't there and hadn't been installed by ford when the car was built. We installed the kit without the lower idler just as it had came to our shop. 4 months later the car came back with the same bolt broken off again. We contacted a friend at the local dealer, and according to VIN that engine should have had the lower idler from the factory. So we ordered another kit and installed. A week ago, roughly four months since the last install with both idlers, the car came back to the shop with the bolt broken off again. It would almost seem as if a cam must be siezing in the head and pulling the belt extremely tight and breaking the bolt off. The cams both turn fine when the car gets here and none of it makes much sense. Nobody we have talked to yet has ever heard of such a problem. I really hope someone on here knows whats up. Any ideas or help would be very appreciated!

 

I believe my previous post was a bit confusing. The Engine has a possibility of having one or two idler pulleys. One near the camshafts, and one near the crankshaft. When it came to the shop it broke the one of near the camshafts, and was not equiped with one near the crankshaft. So we removed the broken bolt and installed it all as it came from the factory. It then four months later broke the same idler pulley bolt off again. We called our friend at the ford dealer and he ran the VIN number and said that it was supposed to have both idler pulleys. So we order the lower idler pulley from ford, ordered another timing belt kit and installed it all with the two idler pulleys. Four months later again it broke the bolt off in the upper idler pulley. Not a person we have spoke with have ever seen a problem like this. I really hope that helped explain things again, and I hope someone can help me.

 

I am having an identical problem with a 2000 ford contour. I'm up to three broken idler pulleys. Did you ever solve the mystery?