2003 Focus - Engine Questions

[phipps]

I am looking at a 2003 Focus with the 2.0 I4 engine for my daughter. I'm pretty sure it is the base engine.

Is this engine an interference engine? (ie piston hits valves if timing belt breaks) The car has 132,000 miles on it so I'm concerned about the timing belt.

What kind of longevity do these engines have? Should I be concerned at 132,000 miles?

[tempfixit]

Originally Posted by phipps

I am looking at a 2003 Focus with the 2.0 I4 engine for my daughter. I'm pretty sure it is the base engine.

Is this engine an interference engine? (ie piston hits valves if timing belt breaks) The car has 132,000 miles on it so I'm concerned about the timing belt.

What kind of longevity do these engines have? Should I be concerned at 132,000 miles?

Do a search on this forum it has several threads about timing belt and being non interference. Ford does not like interference engines, when they had the mercury villager which is the same as a nissan quest, they both have the nissan engine and drive train but ford insisted on a non interference engine which nissan did do for the villager. Here is 1 of the thread:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...ht=timing+belt

[phipps]

I did do a search. I found several threads that said it was non interference, but also found one that said it was.

Any thoughts on longevity?