I am considering buying a nice clean 96 850 wagon non turbo. I talked to the shop owner who has done some work on my 240 (80) and he said that the 5 cylinder engine is a no clearance one and that he has had a couple come in that had broken their timing belts and recommended that I stay with the four cylinder engine. He said that to be safe the belts need to be changed about every 40 to 50k miles at about $500.
I am hoping for some other feedback on this.
Thanks; Dave
 

This engine was designed by Porsche, and in its Volvo incarnation is one of the most responsive powerplants available. Delivers decent (even exhilarating) power with excellent gas mileage. More power AND better mileage than the 4cyl B230F engines. Moreover, later model Volvos (850 and later) have better safety performance than the RWD Volvos.

So get an indy tech to change the Tbelt. My tech changed Tbelt and serpentine for $100US labor, he belts were about $45. Shop around for a good price.

The main issue with the 96 model is that many developed ABS problems that required a wiring repair and frequently a new controller module. How many miles on ths car? You should try to find out if the previous owner(s) have had this fixed. (If they have, great!)
--


David
1998 S70 T5SE // misc mods (mostly lighting) // red calipers
1992 940 GLE // Hella Micro DE foglights and 170K

A timing belt is $45 and replacement shop time is 2 hours and 94's up
go at least 70K between changes (105K on newer cars).

I've only seen a couple people post here that they had a timing belt
fail. Failure is pretty rare if serviced correctly.

You might search using "buying advice" in the search field below.
This is a common topic. Yes, there are problems areas that might
cause you concern after reading those posts but timing belts are
not really an issue with the 800/70 series (look at the transmission,
air conditioning and ABS electonics issues first).

Just to add to what others have said, the cost of the t-belt change is nowhere near $500. The dealers in my area charge $250 (Canadian, or about $185 US) for the job. An Indie shop should charge less.

Koz.

The 850/960 etc. engines are indeed interference designs and one does not want to suffer the consequences of a broken timing belt.

Following Volvo's recommended time/mileage change interval should be sufficent.

I changed mine myself in about 2 hours and the belt cost was around $50, so for me it is not a big deal. It is not a hard job for an experienced DIY mechanic such as myself, but I would not recommend it as a DIY project for the beginner, mostly because getting something wrong can have bad consequences.

The Volvo 4 cylinder motor also requires periodic timing belt changes. My recollection from when I last did the job of our old 240 was that the job was similar in difficulty to the 850, except that on the 240 one needs to remove a big stubborn bolt on the crank pulley. My air wrench made easy work of that, but without an air wrench it might be a problem. The 850 is front wheel drive, and getting at the belt is a little more of a pain than on the 240. However, the 850 has the modern style single belt for all accessories which is much easier to remove for getting at the timing belt than is the rats nest of traditional V-belts on a 240/740/940. Pluses and minuses in both cases.

John

If you never buy a car that has AC, you will never have to worry about it needing AC repair.

Have you taken the 850 for a ride yet?

If you cannot see your way to an 850, I have a nice '90 744 Turbo for sale.
--
3 8s & 2 7s 740,000 miles total

I don't know about that. I own a 1997 850-R and have owned a 1994 base model 850, both of which have performed very well through a combined 111,000 miles, 75,000 on the 97 and 36,000 on the 94.

As for the timing belt issue, when people bring their cars in with a broken timing belt, which usually causes $$$ in engine work, the reason is usually one of several things:

1. They know nothing about cars, did not follow the service manuel for maintenance, relying on someone else to tell them when to do what--low and behold, a key component to the engine breaks (the timing belt) because nobody said anything to them, and now the engine's reputation is on the line for no reason other than a lack of education on how to maintain that engine properly.

2. They do know something about cars and tried to push the life of the timing belt and caught one in the behind for it.

3. Their timing belt failed prematurely do to no fault of the owner, simply bad luck.

Following the maintenance guide for any car will extend its life. Don't follow it and its life is short.

Personally, after 75,000 miles, my car is still running like it did new. I do not agree with your mechanic, but he is entitled to his opinion.

Just my opinion
Rick in Denver