Michael,
Well this weekend's project was to change the timing belt and the auxiliary
belt.
Since you have to remove one to get to the other, you might as well
replace both of them.
I used Bay 13 instructions and replacing the timing belt was not that
difficult.
However, instead (as Bay 13 suggested) trying to get the old belt out
around the crankshaft pulley,
I simply cut it and saved myself time and effort. Obviously you
need to align all the pulleys before cutting!
Marks on the pulleys were clearly visible thus no problems there.
After aligning the pulleys I put the transmission into park (P) to
prevent the crankshaft from rotating.
The hydraulic tensioner does not require 7" vice, it was only 3" to
4" long when removed and it didn't extend all that much after that.
I used 6" C-clamp to compress it (the clamp is also useful to compress
front brakes' callipers) and locking the tensioner was the
biggest challenge, at the end a wire form a big paper clip worked the
best.
New belt went in without too many problems, just couple of alignment
adjustments on the intake camshaft pulley,
and rotating the engine by hand (big ratchet you might say) to check
the alignment was quite a workout (move the gear selector into neutral
when doing this).
The serpentine (auxiliary) belt is not difficult to replace.
The only problem is the tensioner. Even if you move the tensioner
with one hand you have only one left to work on the belt.
But Volvo engineers fixed the problem. The tensioner assembly
has a little hole on the moving part and a matching opening in the stationary
one.
After moving the tensioner you can lock it with a little pin and have
both hands to work on the belt.
And the ultimate test was to start the engine after all the work, hopefully
without any terrible noises telling you that instead saving few hundred
bucks
you now better splash few thousands on engine rebuild.
Well, the engine roared to life and I got all my 190 ponies back good
for another 100,000 km.
Hope you and others will find the info useful.
Janusz
Thanks to Brad Reichert for this contribution, 2 Nov 2001;
I just got done doing t-belt and found it not to difficult except trying
to get new belt around pulley and sprocket
messed around for 15min then pulled the 2 bolts for front motor mount
out and jacked up motor and belt -slid right in
it seems to give you just a little more room.
thanks for the great website.
If you have any experiences, facts, hints comments or data that you think might be useful on the site, please
and I will post it, with an acknowledgement of your contribution (if you so wish).