This weekend, I did a timing belt change on my 1995 960. I have only had this car for a bit longer than a year, and my last brick was a 1982 240 that I sold in about 1990. So, despite rusty Volvo skills, everything went off without a hitch.

I chose to also do the water pump at the same time, as I did not want to do all this labor over again if and when it failed. I also chose to replace the tension bearing just as a precaution. Since the cooling system was open, I replaced radiator, heater and oil cooler hoses plus the thermostat, too.

All this took approximately 5 hours of time and approximately $500.00 worth of parts. The only non dealer part that I used was the heater valve, as it is a typical generic valve that you would find on an American car. I felt that since the water pump is a part of the valve train drive, that it would be less likely to fail if it were a factory part (appx. $155) rather than an aftermarket pump. Hoses were also not cheap at the dealer, but appear to be of superior quality compared to other aftermarket hoses.

Many thanks to all who have contributed to the knowledge base here, without which I may have wimped out and paid someone more money to do a less complete job!