Couple of Q's on a 91 Festiva

[Festiva4SHO]

I'm about to buy a 91 Ford Festiva that has been sitting for about a year, its starts, runs and drives, and I want to do all recomended maintenance to the vehicle. I have a couple of questions though. First question is, does the Festiva have a timing chain? Or Is it a belt? Also, is it an interefence motor? Or non-interference? (Meaning that if the belt breaks, will it ruin the motor) And finally, the right rear wheel is locked up, I tried dragging it across pavement to break it loose, but it wouldnt budge. Is there a common thing that makes them do that? Or is the drum just rusted tight? I know its not the e-brake since both of those cables move freely. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[stefan]

Timing belt, and NON-interference.

Try taking the wheel off and whacking the drum with a rubber mallet. The shoes might be rusted to the drum. Had that happen with a parked escort once.

[Festiva4SHO]

Timing belt, and NON-interference.

Try taking the wheel off and whacking the drum with a rubber mallet. The shoes might be rusted to the drum. Had that happen with a parked escort once.

AWESOME! Glad to here its non-interference! I'll try the mallet and see if that'll work! Thanks again!

[stefan]

AWESOME! Glad to here its non-interference! I'll try the mallet and see if that'll work! Thanks again!

As glad as I was when my belt broke?

The mallet worked on the escort... its worth a try!

[SimonTuffGuy]

The Festiva ebrake cable is prone to freezing in place. It has to do with the adjustors (I guess they're adjustors) that go in the back of the drum. They just rust up. Hit them with some PB Blaster and then smack them out with a mallet.

This is one of the big reasons for the Aspire brake swap (along with having bigger brakes, imporved handling from the intergarted swaybar, and different bolt pattens with more wheels)

[mattswabb]

Look behind the drum where the cable attaches. Smack that with the hammer and/or pry on it a bit. They can freeze up and lock the drum.


Also take the top few bolts off the timing belt cover and take a peek at the belt to see it's condition.

[Festiva4SHO]

Thanks for all the help guys, smacking the drum with a mallet for 5min did the trick! Tomorrow its onto bleeding the brakes and checking the timing belt! Thank you guys so much for the help!

[jglutz]

Locked up rear wheel.....this might seem odd....but this is what I would do....or my logic:

1st) commit to a complete rear end brake rebuild...pads, drums, cylinders, pads, bearings, seals.....and maybe a break cable.
2nd) if it does not break free from diving...it's really locked up.
3rd) remove the dust cap and loosen the spindle nut 2-3 turns....drive it really hard around the block (really close to home). Hopefully the axial thrust will break it free or at least loosen it up.
4th) lift it up...take every thing off and change it out....what ever frooze is not good.

[Levitan]

I had that happen on one of the Festys...I think Levistiva. The e-cable attaches to a lever -like thing inside the drum and has a pivot. That pivot was rusted/corroded. I torched, then PB'd it, then hammered it on the concrete floor til it came loose. I then kept lubing it and pivoting it back 'n forth til it moved freely.