My recently purchased 1999 V70 T5 came without any history and with 116K on the odometer. I've been trying to figure out whether or not I should change the timing belt. If the car was taken care of, it should have been changed at 105K.

I've looked at the belt myself, it does look fine, but I'm not sure I could tell the difference between a belt that had 10K on it, versus 110K. I've also had my local Volvo shop look at the belt, and they also said it looked fine, but stopped short of saying it had most definitely been replaced at 105K.

The question is, would an original timing belt with 116K look obviously old to myself or my mechanic? And if not, how much should I trust their judgment versus changing it blindly?

While you should be concerned about the timing belt, it is the tensioner that really has to be replaced at or before 105K. Your mechanic should have checked to see if it looks newer than one that is 7 years old.
Most still changed the belt at 90K along with the tensioner. I guess it will be your call...

Klaus
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Just driving a 1998 V70R :)

If replacing the tensioner is an important part of the first timing belt change, I'd have to believe that if the car was properly maintained, they were both replaced. If it wasn't maintained, then neither has been touched.

The mechanic didn't say anything about the tensioner. Would there be any tell tail signs of a tensioner that had gone 116K versus 10K?

It should be easy to distinguish between 10K and 110K tensioner. New tensioner puller is turning easier than old one. I saw very large difference between new and old one while turning the puller. To check this you would need to slide off timing belt (which is not difficult) and turn puller by fingers. When replacing timing belt and tensioner it is good idea to replace also idler puller. The water pump might need to be replaced at 140K.

Except for it and the bolts looking newer than those on the other rollers, I would start calling dealers in the area where the car came from. They will need the last numbers of the VIN to look up records.

Klaus
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Just driving a 1998 V70R :)

I started investigating the history of the car, and found that it appeared to be purchased in New Jersey, but never registered there. Instead, it turned up in California, and has spent it's entire life in the Berkeley area. It was serviced at Lawrence Volvo until about 60K miles (the maintenance book is religiously marked by the dealer at all the intervals), but when I called them, they refused to tell me anything about the car without the previous owner's permission. The previous owner just happened to have left his name and address in the owner's manual, along with the original owner's name and address, but reverse lookups didn't yield any phone numbers. At least I could reasonably guess I was the third owner, and send them a letter if necessary.

As I was putting the paperwork away, I noticed a phone number scribbled on the back of the owner's manual. I did a reverse lookup and found it was a local shop in Berkeley called Independent Volvo Repair. I gave the number a try, and ended up talking with a very friendly gentleman, Antonio.

I explained the situation, and asked him if he may have serviced the car at any point. Unfortunately, his records were sorted by license plate number, and because the car has been reregistered in Oregon, the original plate was gone. So I begin to describe the car to him. Blue, 99 V70 T5, and gave him the owner's name. Oh yes, he remembers! The car with a manual transmission! He goes on and on; one in a million! Great car! The previous owner apparently took it in to Antonio regularly, including tire rotations and oil changes, and had developed a friendship with him.

Antonio begins to read off all the records on the car, which cover everything from 60K to the present. After he finishes, he offers to send the records to me. So I give him my fax number, and later that evening, I get about 25 pages of records for the last 4 years, with the owner's new address blacked out, of course. And the best part? The timing belt and tensioner were done at exactly 105K! I promptly sent Antonio a glowing thank you letter for his time and help. If anyone lives in, or visits the Berkeley area, I recommend giving Antonio at Independent Volvo Repair some business. He was the nicest, most strait forward mechanic I've ever spoken with.

I definitely got lucky on this one. The car appears to have been well cared for its entire life. Regular fluid changes all around, belt replacements, filter replacements, various software upgrades from the dealership. Almost every i has been dotted and every t crossed, leaving the car in near stage 0 condition for me. The ABS module was replaced at 90K, so I've dodged that common bullet for now. It also got two new oxygen sensors, and an air mass meter replaced at 100K, saving me another several hundred for the time being.

I may or may not try to pursue the original records at Lawrence Volvo, but in the meantime, I've got enough records go off for repairs. Good ending, and now it makes me want to keep the car on the road as long as possible! It got a good start!

That's great! Now, you have just one thing left to do. Go to the "shops" section and enter it in the list of shops for california. It is repair facilities like these that we need more of.

Klaus
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Just driving a 1998 V70R :)