DIY: 1998 Volvo S70 Timing Belt Overhaul

The TB (Timing Belt) with 85K on it is still OK, has hairline cracks, but time to replace.
The TB factory Idler and Tensioner Pulleys have slight play and were “free-wheeling”, so time to replace
The WP has no leak, but the bearing has a very very slight play. Technically speaking, you can keep the WP for another 30K. From reading Ozark Lee’s and few others experience with leaking WP at 150K or so, and since I have no time to redo this in 30K, I put in a new Aisin WP.

Timing Belt, Water Pump, Cam Seals, Serpentine Belt… The Whole 9 Yards!

My 1998 S70 with 150K had the TB and SB replaced at 65K (in 2004).

At 150K, these are my observations:

The TB (Timing Belt) with 85K on it is still OK, has hairline cracks, but time to replace.
The TB factory Idler and Tensioner Pulleys have slight play and were “free-wheeling”, so time to replace
The WP has no leak, but the bearing has a very very slight play. Technically speaking, you can keep the WP for another 30K. From reading Ozark Lee’s and few others experience with leaking water pump at 150K or so, and since I have no time to redo this in 30K, I put in a new Aisin WP.
Front Cam Seals have slight leak, no big leak, but since I am there, I may as well replace the Cam seals. It was quite an experience but no worry, I will show you the easy way. Read on…
Since you will be removing the Cam Sprocket, make sure you read forum on the issue of Cam Sprocket Timing Advance vs Retard adjustment. Do not assume that your sprockets were correct (never know the P.O. adjusted the setting). However, if your cam sprockets are stock and have never been adjusted before, you can mark them for ease of re-installation. I adjusted my Exhaust to +3 degrees (Advanced) and Intake to -1 degrees (Retarded).
The SB (Serpentine Belt) with 85K on it is still OK, has hairline cracks, but time to replace. I keep the old SB in the trunk as spare just in case.
The SB factory Idler and Tensioner Pulleys have slight play and were “free-wheeling”, the grease dried out, and were somewhat noisy during operation, so time to replace them.
The Alternator Front Pulley spins with little resistance, so the Front Bearing is probably somewhat worn, but I will do an Alternator overhaul later, maybe at 180K or so. For now, the Alternator is OK.

… see the other 24 steps here:

DIY: 1998 Volvo S70 Timing Belt, WP, Cam Seals, Serp. Belt

UPDATE

cn90 » May 2015 @168K miles

So, the SKF Seal finally leaks after some 21K miles. Recall in the original thread that during install, the Front Exhaust Seal was damaged (the lip folded on itself) and it was a Sunday, I had to get the SKF seal from local Napa store to get going.

After some 21K miles, the SKF seal leaks while the Volvo OEM seal (Front Intake) is still fine. So I ordered Corteco seal from rmeuropean dot com for $9 (I also ordered other things to get free shipping).
As it turned out, the Corteco seal ($9) is identical to Volvo OEM seal ($18) at half Volvo price!

1. Oil Leak photos. Note that once oil trickles down behind the Inner TB Cover, it goes all the way down and drips onto axle boot, control arm etc.

2. New Corteco Seal vs Volvo OEM seal (damaged during install in Nov. 2012). You can see that they are identical, down the markings etc. (The Volvo name was scratched out on the Corteco seal).
I learned the lesson from previous job: the PVC coupler was a bit too long, cut it down to 26-27mm width and it worked perfectly for install!
Now car is bone dry!