98 Escort ZX2 timing belt problems

Took the subject car in to mechanic for water pump replacement at 120K miles. Ran into "might-as-well" replace timing belt with water pump.
After about 1 month / 2500 miles, I found out that the newly installed timing belt had disintegrated on the outside 1/2 (this is the outside half as in "outside half of the pulleys", ie, the pulley edge closest to the passenger side tire) and the remaining belt finally slipped a couple of teeth and got the car out of time. Mechanic re-replaced the belt.

As soon as the car came out of the shop, we pulled the upper timing belt cover and found that again, the belt appeared to be running at the very outer edge of the pulley, and was already starting to show some small frayed patches along this edge. There is also clearly a
"shiny patch" on the pulleys from where the old belt ran, the old patch was directly centered on the pulley and looked to have about
3/16" clearance on either edge of the pulley.

How is the timing belt alligned on these engines? It seems most probable that the mechanic put something back together in the wrong order (crankshaft pulley/washers or spacers) or left out parts entirely and still hasn't corrected the problem. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Hmm, make sure that IF there is a timing belt guide on the crankshaft pulley that it is:

1. Not bent
2. Installed such that if it is curves, isn't installed so that it eats the belt

To me it sounds like either the tensioner wasn't set properly or the timing belt guide is missing or damaged.

If it's like the contour 2.0liter (I suspect it is), shop manual (sec03-01A-1 notes that there is a spring on these motors (tensioning spring) that is not installed factory and must be installed upon first service or change of the camshaft timing belt. Must be purchased seperately, not supplied with engine.

Thanks for the input guys. I will definitely check out both avenues.
I am still curious, does any know for sure if there is some type of guide plate or such?

Im having the same problem keeping my timing belt alinged too. Im on my second belt now. I have spent money replacing all pulleys too. I did notice that the belt stays on better and runs truer with the tensioner on the loose side. There is NO guides at all on my 1998 that keeps the timing belt alainged on the gears or pulleys.
Im also haveing problems with timing and cam timing if somone is very firmilure with this please contact me. Please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . I have set no.1 cylinder to TDC ( using a dial indicator) to determine TDC of piston and I used the cam tool ( straight bar in back of cams) and then tightned the cam gears( belt alread on) and acording to books this should be the process but its not! Help. also another artical I read is the exhaust gear on the end has a 4-1 timing teeth on it and the tooth that is out of sink is the tooth that determins TDC but that cant be true cus it dont point to the cam sensor. Is there a diffrent process when setting timing on a variable valve timing cam gear application?

Hi Kartkeith, welcome to the forum

In respect to your question I found the following online. Could you please let me know if this helps?

click here please

if my memory serves me right ford has a service alert on this.also the last 5 years or so excorts were madza 262s.