I would like to find out the advice of all of you. Due to the problems associated with timming belts in the 960 is it recommended that it be changed at the dealer or at a regular independent Volvo shop?

What warranty can the dealer give you?

I'll tell my story. Less than 30 days after I bought my used 960 from the dealer the timming belt broke. The dealer paid for the $6,000 repair job under their 30 day warranty. Lucky me!

Now if the dealer installs a new belt and it breaks before its next scheduled repair what happens?

I have owned other cars and this issue of replacing the timming belt has never been such a major problem.

Is this a inherent problem in the 960 ?

Thanks for your help

92 960 100,000M

I would want to know what caused the timing belt to break in the first place. The belt broke prematurely on my 960 and based on what I found a brand new belt would have also broken. I would want to know exactly what repairs were made to the engine and then make a decision as to whether I would keep the car or sell it. The 960's can be a very nice car and I really liked mine when it was running. My faith was really shaken with the 960 by the way the timing belt broke. In my case one of the intake cam bearing journals galled and caused the belt to snap. At this point an interference engine is not high on my list.

The belt is so easy to change that any concientious person can do it. It took me just 2 hours the first time, hood up to hood down. Just be sure to get an OEM quality belt. On your '92 make sure the damper has been installed. You can see it behind the pulley for the exhaust cam. It is a black thing that makes that side look different from the intake side. I've never seen a documentated case where the belt failed prematurely. Several have broken when driven past the recommended interval. Just make sure the recommended interval is followed and relax.
--
'96 965 at 89K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.

I think that it would bevery unusual to have a belt break within the 30K interval. Given that it did in your case, I'd think the odds would be enourmous (but not zero) that it would happen again. I have mine changed at an independent garage if the interval is up in Baltimore, or I have the dealer in Illinois change it if I happen to be there....
--
John Shatzer, '92 965 @100K; one of a few still in captivity.

The quality of work should be the same. Warranties will differ: usually they are 30 days on a repair. Nobody will warrant a timing belt for its full service life of 30k miles. This car is a tough call, although recognize that the 1992 cars had an upgrade to their belts to improve service life to 30k miles. A number of people have written to brickboard about broken belts in 960 cars.

I think the 92 is every 30,000 miles, as long as it is done every 30,000 you should be OK.
--
1996 960 124,407