With all the talk of timing belt replacement, I wanted to relay a series of not-to-funny-at-the-time stories about my B230 timing belt escapades.

Two years ago, right before Christmas, I changed the timing belt in my wife’s 940. Not to bad, pretty straight-forward process actually. However, it’s about 3:00 on a Friday afternoon and we’re on I-20, 40 miles west of Jackson, Mississippi, halfway between Dallas and our South Georgia destination. It’s icy and in the low 30s when I look in the rearview and see white smoke billowing out from under the mule - I quickly look at the temp gauge - PEGGED ON HOT.... Uh oh, I look up and there’s an exit. Immediately I kill the engine and coast up the ramp.

I pop the hood, get out and find the harmonic balancer pretty much hanging by the accessory drive belts. What the #$*&!!!! Looks like I didn’t get the darn thing tight enough...crap. Thank goodness I had my tool box....Off come the belts and the pulley, when I notice the crank timing gear key sheared off in balancer. BTW, about 10 guys on their way to their deer stands (it was December!!) stop and offer assistance (what a great state!), but feeling pretty stupid at this point, I shrugged them off.

Anyway, no cell phone. No pay phones in sight. So off we go, limping into Jackson at 35 mph and minutes before the ONLY volvo dealer in town closes for the weekend. YES,we found it. And yes, they have the lower gear. Well, it’s about dark now, but what the hey.... Off comes the timing belt and on goes the new crank gear. I button it all up, torque the balancer bolt as much as possibly can and off we go. Well, about midnight we hit Selma, Al (think civil rights marches back in the ‘60s) when BANG!!!! We pull over and yep....SOS. This time not only is the gear gone,but the balancer has had it...With no other option, I tighten everything back up and off we go....limping to Montgomery under 2000 rpm (it worked....)and on to Auburn and on to Columbus, Ga. early the next morning. What should’ve been a 12 hour drive ended up taking 20+ hours. And to think my wife was so proud of me – it didn’t really matter to her my mechanicing got us in trouble to begin with...

Ended up, I needed another new crank gear and a new balancer, as the keyway in this one was so wallowed out after two shearings....

Anyway, to make a long story short, over the next several months, probably went back into the timing belt four or five times, replaced a couple more crank gears, a new balancer and a couple timing belts...then I found out it was a good idea to replace the cam/crank seals..... So before I knew it, I am an expert changing B230 timing belts.

All along, my wife kept begging me to take the mule to a certified volvo mechanic or dealer, and have them properly fix the car. Well, rockheaded me, this was NOT going to beat me, and there is no way I’m going to pay someone $450+ to go in after me.....

Well, the mule has been operating flawlessly for a couple years and 20k+ miles now, with no signs of wobbling balancers. How did I do it? Lot’s of patience, parts, a patient spouse and most importantly, a 1/2 drive impact wrench and loctite on the harmonic balancer bolt.

I still would love to hear what the proper way to keep the engine from turning over while putting 140+ pounds on the balancer bolt.....

Anyway, thanks for the room. I’ve always wanted to confess this...

I too have an amusing timing belt story...that actually has a moral for 960 owners (it was not amusing at the time however). When I replaced the timing belt on my 960 at the 120K mile interval, I figured I would do some preventative maintenance and replace the water pump at the same time (it was the original one). The OEM Volvo pump was REALLY expensive, so I went down to my local Pep Boys and ordered a GMB replacement pump from them. I ran GMB pumps on my B230 without any problem...so I figured the 960 wouldn't be any different. Ha! Less than a thousand miles later, I was on my way to St. Louis in late December, -30 with the wind chill with a HEAVY snow falling. Low and behold, my "low coolant" light comes on...shut the engine off and coast down a hill to the next off-ramp. A quick look under the car reveals a downpour of coolant, eminating from under the timing belt cover. Go back inside the car, put on every jacket, sweater, scarf, hat, etc. I can find and pull off the timing belt cover and find the water pump shaft cocked at a 45 degree angle. The timing belt had almost completely come off, so I was VERY lucky that I shut off the engine when I did.

To make a long story short, the snow never let up and I ended up replacing the water pump and timing belt (with OEM Volvo ones this time!) in a driving snow (which eventually turned into an ice storm) on the side of the road. I can't even imagine having to do that on the B230...I probably would have had it towed the 60 miles up to St. Louis in that case.

Now, here's the moral. When I got back home to New Orleans, I went back to Pep Boys (a VERY pissed off customer) and made a nice little scene with a bunch of customers in the store and actually got reimbursed for most of my expenses (thought that was very generous of them). But...the guy behind the parts counter made the comment that he's seen a "startling" number of those GMB pumps for the Volvo inline 5 and 6s fail in the exact same way mine did. Now...keep in mind this is New Orleans, where Volvos are few and far between (let alone 850s and 960s), so these pumps must have had a high failure rate for the guy to even notice. So...my advice to those of you with the modular engines...stick with OEM water pumps b/c their quality seems to be pretty high compared with the alternatives. And, since the consequences of water pump failure (possible timing belt breakage) is so high, the extra cost of the OEM pumps is worth it. I don't know about other aftermarket brands, but I'm not prepared to take my chances again...hell, the OEM one was still fine after 120K miles! The GMB one lasted less than a thousand...which apparently wasn't a fluke!

Just an observation,

Lance

Per your earlier response – I too used a manly screwdriver on the flywheel. You’re right. It works in a pinch.

Yes, there’s nothing like side-o-the-road auto repair. At least your hands were warm. Pretty invigorating experience, huh? My wife will never forget it – as she was my ‘lookout’ for suspicious characters and haltingly armed with my Ruger target pistol as I leaned vulnerably over the radiator support…. We were, after all, in the middle of nowhere.

BTW, I run a GMB pump in my wife’s 940 – And understand why you didn’t want to fork over the big $$$ for the OEM unit. I haven’t had any problem with ours in 30k miles. And good for pep boys!

Lance, you piqued my curiosity – are timing belts /water pumps in 960s REALLY that much easier to change than a B230 setup?

> Lance, you piqued my curiosity – are timing belts /water pumps in

> 960s REALLY that much easier to change than a B230 setup?

It's really remarkable how much easier the TB is to change on the B6304. Once you've done it once it is literately as easy as changing a fan belt. I could probably have my entire TB changed and put back together before you could even get the lower cover off of the B230. That's why when people scoff at the 30K mile replacement intervals, I emphasize that it's really not a terrible thing.

As for the water pump, the 960 is easier because it's right out there in the open once you remove the timing belt cover and it just bolts right up (you don't have to mess with the heater pipe coming off the back, or those that seal on the top of the pump that never seats right).

I don't regret selling my B230FT-powered 760T for a minute...

Lance

Volvo does have a special counterhold tool just for this and it really isnt too expensive.

Must say, you and spouse are well matched!!

dick

I used to use the biggest flat-head screwdriver I could find and jam it between the teeth on the flywheel and the opening in the bellhousing and then had someone hold it while I tightended the nut. Locktite is also I good idea, I put it on just about everything.

Lance

Thanks for the tip, Dick. And yes, we're a patient couple.

Unfortunately at the time, I wasn't aware of the brickboard, or for that matter, any volvo-related resource. So I was pretty much going by instinct (that is, of an "American car owner"). But I must say, the 92 940 is the best-engineered automobile I've ever owned.