[2003ZTW]

Hey all,

1. My owners and service manual both mention "green" and "yellow" coolant. The car has "yellow" in it right now. I was just wondering if the "yellow" was what my wagon came with from the factory? From reading the service manual it seems that the "yellow" coolant should be replaced (flushed I assume) at 100K. Any benefits of flushing it sooner or just go by factory recommendation?

2. My air filter box has two seized bolts. I am going to remove the box and get the round nuts off. Should I just replace the bolt and nuts with something more standard or just use zip ties when I get OEM bolts off? Anyone with better ideas let me know if it doesn't required having a machine shop in the garage.

3. The lower passenger side fog light has a bit of moisture in it. Can I fix this myself and do you know any good threads on how to do it if possible? Also is there any good HID fog light kits that could just be dropped in? I find the stock fog lights don't add much light on a rainy dark night.

4. Is there a timing belt or chain in the 2003's? My mechanic said I should change it at 100K, but the service manual says 200K. Any insights?

Everything else seems pretty good though.

[duckcanuck]

(05-23-2011, 11:19 AM)2003ZTW Wrote: Hey all,

1. My owners and service manual both mention "green" and "yellow" coolant. The car has "yellow" in it right now. I was just wondering if the "yellow" was what my wagon came with from the factory? From reading the service manual it seems that the "yellow" coolant should be replaced (flushed I assume) at 100K. Any benefits of flushing it sooner or just go by factory recommendation?

--> Nope, even my dealer told me not to bother changing it sooner.

2. My air filter box has two seized bolts. I am going to remove the box and get the round nuts off. Should I just replace the bolt and nuts with something more standard or just use zip ties when I get OEM bolts off? Anyone with better ideas let me know if it doesn't required having a machine shop in the garage.

--> Yeah, I had this problem also. It took me a long time with various vice grips and penetrating oil before I finally succeeded. You can replace them with something normal, and easier to grab

3. The lower passenger side fog light has a bit of moisture in it. Can I fix this myself and do you know any good threads on how to do it if possible? Also is there any good HID fog light kits that could just be dropped in? I find the stock fog lights don't add much light on a rainy dark night.

--> No opinion here.

4. Is there a timing belt or chain in the 2003's? My mechanic said I should change it at 100K, but the service manual says 200K. Any insights?

--> 2003 Zetec is a timing belt. Service interval is 200K, however, from experience, age is also a factor. I had a belt fail on an Escort after only 80K (interval was 100K); the mechanic told me it was just age; so, I plan to change the belt on my 2003 sooner than 200K; I figure I will only do it once in the car's life, so it really doesn't matter if I do it sooner.

Everything else seems pretty good though.

Good luck,

Bob

[buzz2.0]

ford recommends flushing the cooling system and really any other system every 50,000km....and id go with green coolent...

i know of a HID kit for $80 thats plug and play for the focus fog lights....ive done it to my car...took all of 10mins to install....pm for the details

the timing belt should be changed at 180km, i just did mine....a b*tich of a job if your gonna do it yourself...