I'm in the process of doing the timing belt for my 93, and the lower bolt on the timing belt tensioner has stripped.

NOT the bolt itself, but the threads in the engine block that the bolt goes into. Not sure if I lined it up wrong, or what. Whatever the cause, it happened. So do I re-tap it or replace the engine (the engine is fine, other than being a typical 93 slow poke engine) or get a new car?

The pros and cons of re-tapping.

Pro: If it's possible, it's probably cheaper than a new engine, because...
My car now has a branded title and isn't worth squat (some jerkface backed into my door in April) and I'm not super excited about the prospect of dumping a ton of money into a car that I probably couldn't sell for more than 600 bucks.
Con: I'm not sure how I could do it without it being a huge PITA.

The Pros and cons of new (to me) engine.

Pro: I'd be able to do a lot of the maintenance needed with the engine out of the car.
Con: I don't necessarily want to deal with taking an engine out of my car and put one back in.
Con: It's more money into an inexpensive/worthless car (see above).

Or do I get a new (to me) car?

Pro: Potentially nicer car, and style I like (wagon).
Con: Having to deal with all the undone and potentially spendy maintenance

So does anyone here know if it's possible/safe to re-tap it? The current bolt is a m8 I believe. either 1 or 1.25, I'm not entire sure.

I would assume IF I could re-tap it, I could go with an M8, if it fits in the lower bolt hole in the tensioner. That parts easy enough to figure out.

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1985 245. 246K Gone..but not forgotten. Sold in 2013, found 2018! Still running on the road. Of course.

Ran the car again today for about 15 minutes, added some additive (Big MOA something), and it started to sound normal. Then after about 20 minutes, it sounded fine. Tho it ran a little rough, I suspect the bad gas had something to do with the rough(ish) idle more so than anything I did to it.

Thanks all for the tips and advice.

Still toying with the idea of getting a V70 wagon (tho I don't think I want an XC70)
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1985 245. 246K Gone..but not forgotten. Sold in 2013, found 2018! Still running on the road. Of course.

You can tap it, just hard to get 2 hands and eyes on it at the same time. It is an aluminum block, so as a last resort, get a slightly more corse thread and tighten 'er up!

As for the door, look for a Pick&Pull for and 850 door with the same color and swap them. Not hard to do.

In my book, the 1993 isn't worth $500. Look around for a cheap V70, not 2001-2002 because of the 5 speed auto box. If you stay away from the AWD, much less maintenance and more fun to drive.
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Keeping it running is better than buying new

I am in the (early early) stages of looking at a 98 V70. It claims to be super low miles, but has been for sale for a month + now.

As much as I love my car, I kind of would enjoy having a wagon again and not having to deal with the weird quirks of my car.

It's already a salvaged title (my car) so IF I bought a replacement, I would probably just part it out. Tho, who knows what that would gain me. I'd strip the car of all the stuff I could use, and probably sell it to pick n pull. :(

Ain't gonna lie, that saddens me a bit.
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1985 245. 246K Gone..but not forgotten. Sold in 2013, found 2018! Still running on the road. Of course.

Find out if there is any maintenance history. It is old enough to have rotten vacuum lines and an EVAP system that needs a lot of work. Bring a scanner with you, the OBD port is in the center console.

Make sure all of the electrical systems work, windows, sun roof, cabin heater (A/C should be out of R134a). To check the ECC, turn the blower speed to auto and the vent selector to auto before turning the engine on and hope the blinking lights of death don't blink 20 times.

Major possible headaches: leaking steering rack, noisy tranny, blown rear cam seals. A ripped driver's seat can be recovered using 1999-2000 seat covers, the seat bottom cover can be moved from the passenger seat.

Check the parking brake for frozen cable or delaminated shoes.

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Keeping it running is better than buying new

Funny you mention transmission and steering rack, as the further I dug into finding stuff out about the car, those were two things that were issues.

I've been incredibly lucky with my last 2 cars (despite the issues I've had with my 850). They were both sold to me by their original owners and had tons of maintenance records.

Its getting harder to find a good 850/v70 that isn't high mileage or on it's 3rd or 4th owner.
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1985 245. 246K Gone..but not forgotten. Sold in 2013, found 2018! Still running on the road. Of course.

You might consider looking at 2003-07 V70. They have a better reliability (especially tranny) than the 2001-02 and are becoming quite affordable.
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Will I buy another Volvo??? We'll see....

I just might. I have been lead to believe that the 99-02 V70's are not worth getting (unless it has been documented that their issues are fixed).

I really REALLY like the look of 2nd generation of the V70 wagons. To me it's the closest design to the 245's, which is what I've grown up thinking is what a Volvo is supposed to look like.

But I was under the impression I should avoid those due to the issues of the 99-2002's.

So are you saying that the 03-07 V70's kind of cleaned up their issues by that time?
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1985 245. 246K Gone..but not forgotten. Sold in 2013, found 2018! Still running on the road. Of course.

Yes, Klaus might know more of the specifics, but as I understand it from reading the BB the 2003+ V70’s came with software updates that basically solved the issues of the early cars. I don’t remember reading about any issues here with the 2004+ cars.

Personally I haven’t owned one but my sister and brother in-law bought either a 2004 or 2006 new. They drove it for years without any serious problems then handed it down to my niece first and later my nephew. So it had multiple drivers and many miles without a major issue. I wouldn’t hestitate to buy a 2004+ car. Probably the newer the better as the 2006-07 are supposed to be the best of the lot. Volvo had some years to perfect it...:)

BTW - My Dad had a 2001 V70 with no serious issues. The car was totaled at 88k and might have saved his life as he was rear-ended at approximately 60 mph on a divided highway!

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Will I buy another Volvo??? We'll see....

Please excuse my ignorance - I've not owned a car with the hydraulic tensioner. Is the hydraulic actuator fed oil pressure through one of the bolt holes? If so, is that the stripped one? Can you get straight-on access to the stripped hole by removing the inner fender access plate?
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Current rides: 2005 Volvo S80 2.5T, 2003 Volvo V70 2.4NA, 1973 Volvo 1800ES (getting ever closer to road worthiness)

No, it's an enclosed system. I bought an insert, and some taps and drill bits, that hopefully will fix it.
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1985 245. 246K Gone..but not forgotten. Sold in 2013, found 2018! Still running on the road. Of course.

Please let us know how it goes - lessons learned, pifalls, etc.

Slimsert? Timesert? Helicoil?
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Current rides: 2005 Volvo S80 2.5T, 2003 Volvo V70 2.4NA, 1973 Volvo 1800ES (getting ever closer to road worthiness)

Finally got this finished. I hadn't forgotten about this thread.

I ended up drilling out the hole (10.5 mm I think, or 10), and tapping it to 12mm (or 12.5, don't recall) and putting in an insert for the bolt.

that seemed to work fine.

However, I do have an issue. Here are the deets:

The car sat for 7+ weeks.
I drained the oil, and re-filled it.
changed the timing belt and serp belt.

Now the car seems to sound a little louder than it used to. A louder valve click/clack sound.

I have read that these engines are known to have issues with the valves sticking/clicking if unused for 10+ days, and that it should just settle down once the engine gets to running temperature (but I'm not able to do that right now). So I'm hoping that is the issue and I'm totally over-reacting.

But, this caused me to think back to the last time I (foolishly) changed the timing belt on this car. I totally mucked up the timing, by not having all 3 marks lined up. This created an OBVIOUS "red alert" sound when I tried to start it (which is absent from this experience, thank god).

So this time, I was much more diligent with the timing markings. In fact, I re-set it 3 different times because I wasn't happy with things.

But the timing markings, after 2 cycles, seems to be off by like half a tooth (at most) on the cam sprockets (so about 1/4 tooth on each one is the lower marking is correct).


Is that enough of a difference to fubar the exhaust and intake valves?

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1985 245. 246K Gone..but not forgotten. Sold in 2013, found 2018! Still running on the road. Of course.

Nah, being 1/2 tooth off is no big deal. 3th off would be FUBAR.

As far as the lifters clicking, no big deal if it goes away after a few minutes of driving. Re-check the oil level, of course.
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Keeping it running is better than buying new

Blame that on spell check and fumble fingers. THREE teeth off.
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Keeping it running is better than buying new

Gotcha. Figured you meant that or a 4th of a wheel off.

Thanks
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1985 245. 246K Gone..but not forgotten. Sold in 2013, found 2018! Still running on the road. Of course.

3th off?
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1985 245. 246K Gone..but not forgotten. Sold in 2013, found 2018! Still running on the road. Of course.