krenekj »
I recently completed this job, and want to thank those on this forum for their advice and posts. None of this would be possible without your collective help.
In case you’re interested, here are some thoughts and insights on the work I did. None of it is new, but repeating what others have suggested may help give folks confidence to accomplish these tasks.
99 S70 N/A, non-turbo, MT, 101k
I set out to do a number of things:
– timing belt, tensioner, idler pulley
– water pump, coolant flush, thermostat
– accessory belt
With the exception of the acc belt, I had never done any of these items myself. I’m reasonably good with mechanical things, and like to solve puzzles, so I felt pretty confident I could accomplish the service with help from the forum.
The time between opening the hood and taking a test drive was about 6 hours working time. I hit a few speed bumps, but overall things went well. Here are some observations and thoughts:
- The vibration damper does not need to come off. However, you do need to remove a small black plastic cover around the bottom of the crankshaft (2 bolts). It’s there to keep dust/dirt off the TB.
- Before removing the TB, I marked where the cam gear marks intersected with the TB, and transferred those marks to the new TB. This ensured I had the same number of teeth between cam gears.
- Sliding the TB off was difficult because of a bolt that comes close the back of the vibration damper, near the bottom. So, I cut the belt off, hoping I could slide a new one on. This was a huge leap of faith.
- Putting the new TB on took a bit of effort, but I was able to get a good angle to get it past the bolt (described above) and the back of the damper. This took about 5 min of wrestling, all done while laying on my back. I had a big sigh of relief after this step.
- The pulley and tensioner were a piece of cake. No issues there.
- Most time was spent getting the TB on the tensioner (this is the last part on which to thread the TB). Of course a new TB does not want to give, and it took over 30 minutes just to wrestle this on. One thing that helped was to ensure I had good tension in the belt from the crank to the intake gear, and then exhaust gear. Keeping that tight, gives some extra slack around the water pump and just enough play to force the belt onto the tensioner. This is generally followed by a big smile because you are in the home stretch.
- Adjusting the mechanical tensioner seemed all too easy.
- The water pump was easier than expected. I did not anticipate the amount of fluid that would rush out, but there is enough to make a mess of things. Be prepared to capture the runoff .
- You’ll need to clean the off the water pump’s old gasket residue from the engine block. I found it easy to use some high grit sand paper (400+) to GENTLY clean things up a bit.
- Putting the water pump back on, with a new gasket, requires some hand gymnastics, but it can be done. There are two pins on the engine block that help register both the gasket and water pump.
- Be sure to torque all bolts correctly. I was surprised how little force was required for some items, like the water pump. If I was doing this w/o a torque wrench, I probably would have easily over done it.
- Stay organized so you can easily find your tools and parts without a lot of searching. It helps remove the anxiety later when wondering if there was anything you may have forgotten to put back, or take out.
After bolting everything together, filling with coolant, I cautiously started the car. It turned over immediately, and nicely purred. It let it idle on the jack stands until it heated up, and checked all my work. I’ve driven about 50 miles so far, and no problems. The car sounds great, and I have the confidence to tackle the many items that I know will be coming up now that the car has hit 100k, and my kids will soon begin driving.
abscate »
The 1999s are tricky
Turbos have VVT, NA engines do not.
Without VVT , the timing belt job is similar to the 1998, but the tensioner is different.
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Last Updated on August 2, 2026
