2004 XC70
I'm doing the obvious today, timing/serpentine belt and associated pulleys and tensioners. Thought I'd share my findings and maybe ask for some advice from those who've seen this before.
The timing belt was last replaced at 113K (by a Volvo Dealership in the Twin Cities, MN). We bought the car at 128K, the car is now at 189k and I'm pulling the covers off to do the timing belt and here's what I find.
The crank is set where (I think) it needs to be set:
With that there, here's where the cam pulleys align. The intake cam is aligned with the timing cover alignment notch, exhaust cam mark is set CW +5 teeth from timing cover alignment notch.
After seeing this, a few things rattle around in my head, aside from annoyance.
1. "Assuming the cam pulleys haven't been off before, I'm amazed that this car runs, especially as well as it does, and doesn't make any valve noise."
2. "Maybe I'm just blowing it way out of proportion - a couple teeth off is an acceptable mistake."
3. "But how in thee hell did he manage to get the timing so far off, and not happen to notice his carelessness?"
4. "Well, I guess on a positive note, the timing belt is in rather good shape."
5. "But how do I proceed from here? Slap the new belt on it with the cams set where they are? I mean if I can manage to do at least that, I know it'll still run just like it did."
6. "Or do I "correct" the cam positioning and "hope" I am righting a 76K mile old wrong?
I do not own the cam alignment tool apparatus by the way. Though I'm not sure you'd need that since the head's not been off.
Totally unrelated, well, sort of:
Last week I just did all the drivetrain fluids (haldex, bevel gear, rear diff, tranny T-IV last summer). The bevel gear has clearly been out of the car before to do the "factory reseal job". The fill plug, which is pretty damn big I might add, was obviously cross threaded by the tech when he put it back in. Halfway in, he musta realized "this doesn't feel quite right", backed it out, then put it in on whatever remained of the original threads. When I backed it out, nice shards of the fractured threads came falling out. My feeling is, the same tech that did that "job", also did the timing belt on this car 75K miles ago.
The collective Volvo forums have been such a huge help, so I want to say thanks to all of you smart guys who've put together all this information.
Any thoughts?
- Pete -
Bookmarks