Ford Repair: Timing belt question for a 99 Contour, ford contour, timing chains

Question
Hi:

My wife's 99 Ford contour died Friday and we had it towed to the local dealership where we were told that the timing belt had broken (63,000 miles on car). I'm curious if there are signs/noises that would give us a sign that teh timing belt is nearing it's life (Service advisor stated that the timing belt normally doesn't need replacing this soon). I've never had a timing belt replaced in any of my vehicles (been driving since 1976) and I tend to drive them to the 150,000 mile mark before selling them.

Thanks

Answer
Roger-

  Timing belts are tricky things.  They're not like timing chains which were dominant until the the last 15 years or so when small displacement overhead cam motors started becoming more popular.  Timing chains will stretch, but you really have to beat one to break it.  That makes it easier to pinpoint when it's time for a new one.  However timing belts can give up the ghost for no reason at all without any prior warning.  The service advisor is right...it's pretty unusual for a belt to give up at 63K miles, but I've seen some go much earlier than that.  Generally I advise people to at least get the checked around 100K miles, but some can last for much longer.  Hope this helps.

Steve