"My question is that I remember reading somewhere that Volvo changed the design of the timing belt somewhere late in the production run to one that lasted longer."
Hi Jim,
The change to the round tooth belt (and matching drive sprockets) for the B230 came sometime in the '93 model year. I believe this was coincident with the piston cooling oil squirters. See this excellent Photo Essay.
IMO, the "lasted longer" part is a myth. For the B230F the replacement interval is still 50K miles. To the best of my knowledge, only the B230FD gets the longer (100K) interval. Why the FD is a mystery to me. It may have relate to having EGR, and/or the CA emissions rules, where (Ive heard) Volvo pays for emissions related equipment with a less than a 100K interval (just a guess).
--
Bruce Young, '93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.
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