I know this subject's been covered many times, but still wanted to see what current thoughts are on timing belt component replacement, re: 1996 965. I'm closing in on 150,000, getting ready for belt change. Previous owner replaced belt at 84,000, and at same time replaced tensioner roller (not tensioner), idler, front cam seals, front crank seal. I'm thinking I should replace the water pump as a preventive measure, but wondering, should I replace the tensioner and rollers? Leave them 'till the next belt?
Regards, Richard

Richard,

If it's within your budget I'd go ahead and replace all tensioners and rollers at this time. Including the one for the serpentine belt. That should provide piece of mind for many thousands of miles. As far as the waterpump, if it's not leaking or noisy I'd wait it out a while. If it does go bad on you, replacement is very simple. You'll just have to remove the timing belt again. I have 162k on my 95' 964 and just replaced it last week because I had a leak. Upon inspection it didn't have any play in the shaft and looked like it could go on for many more miles. When I installed the new one, I had a leak in the same area, so I suspect it wasn't the pump.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck!

95' 964 162k

I'm getting ready to replace the belt on my car in the spring as soon as it warms up here. The tensioner was replaced on the last belt at 180k miles along with new rollers and a new roller on the serpintine belt. I was gald I did this when I did, the roller for the belt tensioner was getting ragged. I have thought about the parts I replaced on the last outing and will not use the same on this change over. The rollers I got from Grotten were not in my opinioun as heavy duty as the roller from Volvo-get the OEM parts when you go back in there and accept no substitutes. Change out the water pump along with everything else.
I know that the OEM parts are more-but they are more heavy duty. The last thing any of us wants is a belt failure on one of these engines.
Poolman

I second what poolman said about using OEM parts. I used OEM parts for all the tensioners and pulleys. Got a decent deal from Borton Volvo. Just make sure you ask for Jon Reynolds as he's the internet sales person.

Good Luck!

95' 964 162K

Thanks for the tips. Big difference in price between Groton and Volvo, but I'm willing to pay for quality. Curiously, when I called the local dealer, the parts man informed me they do not bother to stock water pumps for the later 960s and S-90s because failure is so rare, even with high mileage.
Richard