My 1998 s70 has a blown engine per the dealer becuase the belt tensioner failed. I had the drive tran belt changed at 70K miles but not the tensioner.

Volvo does not recommend changing the tensioner until 105K miles.

Has anyone ever heard of this before. The dealer wants $4,000+ to fix the engine.

Any help or ideas ? I am tired of riding my bike.

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but I have a 98 base S70 with almost 100,000 miles on it. Are you saying I should have the timing belt tensioner replaced?

I just had to replace my serpentine belt tensioner as it was making a lot of noise right after a cold start in the morning. Noise is gone now and I also had a new serpentine belt installed as insurance.

So should I have my mechanic replace the timing belt tensioner and timing belt too?

Also, if anyone has the TSB # from Volvo on this, I would appreciate knowing about it too.

Thanks.

same thing back in april $2400+. the work was done through a independent shop. luckily i was going to a stop about 5 mph at the time and minimal valve to piston damage. head work was performaed. the faster you were going, the more damage. mine happend at 125k.

seems with these car I WILL ALWAYS REPLACE THE TENSIONER WITH THE BELT!! about $65 more only!!!

sorry to hear it.

one more thing: after calling all the dealers in town, they all knew right off the top of their heads what it needed and the cost...about $4k.

seems like volvo knows this...

I replaced tensioner and idler pulley at the 140k belt change. They SHOULDA checked the hydraulic tensioner for leaking at the belt change. (Unless it was the 105k -late '98-on TB, then the mechanical tensioner and belt should both have been changed.)

Rather than pull off and rebuild the head, I'd probably go for a used engine for less than $4000. There are lots of used SV70 engines around.

-BTC

I'm a bit confused, I think the original poster is talking about the serpentine belt and it's tensioner, not the timing belt and it's tensioner?

Sorry for the confusion. I am talking about the timing belt. I cannot make the decision what to do. I am considering purchasing a 2004 wagon but the dealer will only give me $1,700 as a trade in for the 1998.

Thank you everyone for your help.

tim

If the serpentine belt breaks, that can whip into the timing belt and take that out too.

How come the multi-rib belt failure can damage the engine? I was able to drive my Taurus about 0.3 miles more to bring it up a local Pepboys even after the accessory belt tensioner bearing was broken out (I was driving the car around 40 mph before the multi-belt tensioner was broken out). I didn't know the tensioner was broken out until the pepboys mechanic told so. The power steering was hard to control with the broken drive belt tensioner. But, I have to pay about $300 to replace a $20 belt tensioner (Pepboys took an advantage of my bad situation). I didn't have to worry about replacing timing belt, TB idler and TB tensioner because most of domestic V6 engines from Big three have timing chains.

So, I have to replace all of the following items to sleep peacefully.
1. timing belt ($55)
2. timing belt idler ($45)
3. timing belt tensioner ($120 for hydraulic and $70 for mechanical)
4. timing belt tensioner pulley ($110 for 99 S80)
5. water pump ($100)
6. serpentine belt ($45)
7. drive belt tensioner ($60)
8. multi rib belt ($40)

I was told the TB replacement (Timing belt, and serpentine belt only) costs around $450 at an independent Volvo shop around my town. So, I have a lot of risks damaging my engine even after having the $450 timing belt replacement.

+ plus 4 to 5 hour labor if you can't do timing belt replacement by yourself.
Do I need to replace crankshaft and camshaft (intake and exhaust) seals also?
Or, I just skip this step if the seals are not leaking. Thanks.

The accessory belt tensioner in my Taurus was broken at around $130 and the water pump was broken out around $150. That's all I did to keep a 95k mile Taurus to 150k miles until I donated it. Of course, I did my normal tune up when I bought it like putting new spark plug, spark plug wire, distributor cap and rotor, new brake pad. Thanks.

Typos in my previous post. The accessory belt tensioner in my Taurus was broken at around 130k miles and the water pump was broken out around 145k miles.

For those out there with the newer type manual tensioners on a '98 model year X70, UNFORTUNATELY there is NO such TSB listing that those tensioners should ever be routinely replaced, despite past rumors of such here in the past. I have access to all Volvo TSBs, TNNS, etc and it doesn't exist.
Also, according to the owners manuals and all writen info from Volvo, ALL '98 model year T-belts have a 70K replacement interval so at that time, if it has the newer type manual tensioner, it's unlikely that anyone would just routinely replace it.
I believe that these motors were an oversight by Volvo in that the literature for both owners and dealer people simply doesn't exist to support anything. On all '99 on up, both the t-belts and tensioners must be replaced at 105K miles.

Now, if it was an oil filled auto type tensioner, odds are good that it wasn't leaking oil at 70K miles.

I just had my R with fixed mechanical tensioner done at 100K miles and asked the Volvo dealer would they be changing the tensioner pulley and bearing........where he replied "No...that is not a "required" part of the maintanence unless its bad when we change the belt". So my car at 100K only got a belt! WA DA YA THINK?