Thanks to both of you….project completed (timing belt only) using the locking tool. And you are correct; not much room compared to my old red blocks. Thanks again to KlausC and jadnhm, your info was helpful…..

Some of this you are going to like, some not.

Changing a Tbelt on a 5 cyl is not that difficult, unless you make it so. Harder to see things?, you bet! And the right front wheel comes off for access.

The Serp belt comes first and is quite simple. Check the rollers and replace if needed.

The Tbelt timing marks are the world's hardest because the one on the crank pulley looks like a small scratch and the bump on the oil pump is too large to be completely accurate.

With VVT, what you need to do is get the 3 timing marks lined up, turn the crank 90 degrees more clockwise, and then back up to the timing mark. That relieves the pressure on the cams. At that point you can take off the belt. I prefer to count teeth in the belt between the 2 cams just to be safe.

The manual tensioner MUST be replaced, the rollers also. Check the water pump for wobbling. Inspect the cam seals for weeping. And put it back together. The water pump will easily last 200K if you use good antifreeze and flush it every three years or so.

Always rotate the engine when the belt and tensioner are done 720 degrees with the spark plugs out to make sure the cams are still good to go. Double check the tensioner setting after that spin.

When you restart the engine, let it run for at least 2 minutes to get oil to all of the moving parts.

The Tbelt can be a pain to get off, but it does come off. The new one goes on easier.

I just posted someone with an XC and gave him a link to a very good pictorial, same engine. http://volvoxc.com/resources/how-to/pdf/timing-belt-replacement2.pdf


Klaus

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Two good Volvos, a 220 and a V70R

I'm sure you're aware of the danger of messing up a timing bet on an interference engine like these whiteblocks, so I won't lecture on that :)

I have never done one of the VVT engines, but I did do my 1998 V70 last summer.

There is not much room.

I elected not to do the seals on mine. After conferring with the folks on this board I determined that if the seals are doing okay (ie: not leaking) then don't bother them. It's a bit of a job to get the cam sprokets and harmonic balancer/crank pulleys off, and it would be pretty easy to start messing things up in terms of cam-to-crank orientation. You can build a locking tool for the rear end of the cam shafts... it's a lot of work that probably doesn't need to be done if you're not currently having trouble. The front seals aren't very prone to leaking anyway - we don't hear much about that here. It seems if the PCV pressure goes up the rear exhaust seal is usually the first to blow out followed by the RMS. At only 110k I'd leave well enough alone but it's entirely up to you of course.

I would also leave the water pump for next time unless you spot trouble. Leaking of any kind, or a wobbly or noisy pulley are both signs it needs to be replaced. But again it is a fair bit of work and expense for a part that reliably goes over 200k miles without trouble.

Idler pulley and tensioner are a different matter. I'm pretty sure the manual tensioner needs to be replaced every t-belt change. Someone else will chime in about whether that's correct or not. The other rolling gear should be changed as well, but it's slightly less important with your mileage (though age is going to start to be a concern for you soon) but it would certainly be a good idea to change them if you can. I never did figure out how to unbolt the tensioner pulley and ended up leaving the old one in even though I purchased a brand new one...

I didn't use a cam locking tool when I did my job and it's really really not necessary. Not sure about that when it comes to the VVT engines. IPD sells a locker. You could probably make one as well, and maybe the home-made lockers people use for the rear of the cams can be used at TDC?

I would suggest an AllDataDIY.com subscription so that you can get the exact info you need for the VVT engine, which most of us on here don't know as much about. The older non-VVT engines are covered pretty well in the usual places like Bay13 and MVS.

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1998 V70 AWD->FWD Turbo 200k+