Hi I'm Phil, I'm new here. Nice to see a Volvo community online. I participate in online forums for all my cars, so I'm glad I finally found you. About a year and half ago, we got a '98 V70R AWD for my wife. It was a big car I could live with. Got it used from a Volvo dealer, Borton in Minneapolis. It had full dealer service history, 60K on the clock. I put new Yokohama AVS DBs on it and new brakes at all four wheels. I liked it, as much as I could like anything with an auto. She loved it.

All was well until this summer, I had to replace the longitudinal driveshaft. Ouch. Front u-joint gone. I understand there's a place in California that will replace that u-joint with a serviceable type but it was as expensive as replacing teh whole shaft.

Anyway to get to my point. After having a couple of oil/filter changes done by an independent near me, I decided to make an exception with this car and switched back to having routine service performed by the dealer. I intended to keep it for a while, and liked the idea of a full service history. At 76K I brought it in for the full 70k service - I done only the oil change last time. Per the standard they replaced the timing belt. This was August 26th. Last Saturday, a little less than 4,000 miles later the tensioner failed and the belt chewed through the timing cover. Ugly. The engine turns, but I have yet to pull the head and see just how bad it is.

The dealer tells me that because the belt didn't fail, it's not his problem. Imagine that. He said that the tensioner was fine at the time, because if the tensioner had needed replacing they would have replaced it. How wonderfully circular.

Is this normal? do these things go from fully within spec to total disintegration in 4000 miles? If so, why aren't they replaced as a matter of course?

Is this the legendary Volvo durability I've heard about? Dealer service for 80K and then catastrophic failure is just "Hey, it happens" and "Business as usual?"

I'm floored that the tensioner is not covered under the limited 12 month warranty for "Genuine Volvo Service" for the timing belt replacement. If inspecting that tensioner was part of the deal, they made the call not to replcae it, and it was the wrong call.

So what is the group experience? How bad is this likely to be, valves only or piston crowns as well? Do these tensioners suddenly self-destruct on a regular basis? Is it SOP to replace it? In anybody's opinion, should it be? Why was there a part number change in mid '98 for the tensioner? (mine was an early one.) Am I just the recipient of very bad luck in this case?

Anyway, I let Volvo North America know that I'm very unhappy with the performance of their vehicle, and the dealer. I don't intend to let the dealer hacks anywhere near the car at this point.

Phil