1996 850 20V Timing Belt Kit and Water Pump

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 06 Mar 2016, 12:59

Finally getting around to doing the timing belt and decided to do the
water pump due to all the labor, also doing serpentine belt.

Read that the OEM parts are Aisin water pump and tensioner, INA rollers,
and ContiTech belt - not sure if this is accurate.
Edit: read many comments that say Aisin is OEM, cheaper one is only
different not have Volvo lettering on the casting, this is good to know.

IPD has one kit claimed to be better than OEM, with the picture showing
Aisin water pump and tensioner, but one comment says that they got a
Hepu water pump, $315:
http://www.ipdusa.com/products/9220/120 ... r-pump-kit

I am confused by info and price differences at FCPeuro, the Contitech
timing belt is about $15 whereas the genuine Volvo (9180954) is about $41.
Volvo water pump is $131 vs. $74 for the Aisin is it just Volvo branding?
Having read that the Volvo part is Contitech I hate to pay more for the
Volvo branding or are they different grade belts?
There is also the Gates blue performance belt kit, with an Aisin tensioner
that comes in at $315 after adding on an Aisin water pump.
Contitech kit with Aisin water pump and serpentine belt is about $301,
Contitech KIT-P80EARLYKIT2P7:
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... 252wp-oega

I wrote down these numbers off of the engine: 711613, 6821749, b52574s
not sure which one is used to check the 148582- and Up engine number?
Is it safe to assume it is the 711613 since they both have 6 digits?

All help appreciated, thanks!

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 07 Mar 2016, 00:01

Found this advice on installing the water pump:

I've bought an extra gasket, which FCP now offers. It may be a hair thicker than Aisin's but I haven't used it yet. Be sure to meticulously clean the old gasket material from the block. This is not easy as some can only be accessed from below, and you should not use any metal scraper that will mar the aluminum block! Expect to spend a good amount of time doing the prep work. Also avoid over-tightening the bolts -- only 13 ft-lbs. I slowly cross-tighten to just this amount of torque and leave it. More is not better and may cause a leak!

Post by **jreed** » 07 Mar 2016, 05:11

I bought the IPD kit a couple months ago (the kit that includes the Aisin water pump). It installed fine in my '97 855 GLT at ~183k miles. The water pump is working fine so far, only ~1k miles in as would be expected. Overall I would buy this kit from them again. I can recommend IPD -- they have great customer service.
Another source to consider is the Volvo dealer -- I have read on MVS that they have a timing belt kit that is competitively priced.

Post by **RussB** » 07 Mar 2016, 08:06

Here's a pic of the factory Volvo water pump. The Aisin simply has the cast "Volvo" ground off of it.

I have been using Continental belts and INA bearings in my P80's since 2000

Post by **erikv11** » 07 Mar 2016, 08:13

To follow up on Russ's answer to your specific question: yes, Contitech and Aisin the difference is just branding.

For comparison shopping, these are probably your best possible prices on the Volvo branded items, I usually buy these two from Volvo to just be sure I get the quality timing parts the first time every time:
$123 http://volvopartslisle.com/part/OEM-Vol ... h-Belt-Kit
$ 63 http://volvopartslisle.com/part/OEM-Vol ... -Tensioner

Water pump buy the Aisin from somewhere else.

Water pump gasket scraping: it is fine to use a razor blade if you are cautious, but be very careful to not gouge the soft aluminum. Some access from underneath, some from above, take your time and it will come clean. I don't think gasket brand matters at all for the water pump. I always reuse the water pump bolts, they have a sticky sealant goo on them. The Volvo branded pump comes with new bolts, I don't remember if the Aisin does.

Maybe you asked in another post about mileage and changing the water pump, is yours the one with 140k? Anyway, On these cars with hydraulic tensioner like yours I let the original Volvo pumps go to the third timing belt, in my mind 200k is no problem at all. Fine to change it now as insurance just offering my $0.02.

For this job I suggest you also remove the serp belt tensioner, it is 2 easy bolts and opens up a lot more space for hands and arms.

Out of curiosity, what kind of car is this (turbo or not, wagon or sedan)?

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 07 Mar 2016, 22:36

Thanks everyone, bought the kit from FCP. I've commented that I live very close to
FCP and have walked in to buy parts many times but it is the corporate headquarters
and is not really set up for over the counter sales. The town has forced them to stop
the counter sales since the office building is not intended (or zoned?) for that sort of
thing.

It is an NA wagon.

bugs11 · Post by **bugs11** » 08 Mar 2016, 10:56

FWIW - I went with a FCP kit last fall when I replaced my timing belt, water pump, etc... I recall it was a real pain getting the old gasket off the engine block, but so far so good. And it took an extra set of hands to get the timing belt on, it was tight.

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 11 Mar 2016, 09:25

This video from FCP on how to do the timing belt looks good and he moves along quickly:

He talks about putting a plastic clip on the tensioner at about the 12 min point in the
video. This kit came with that plastic part but I thought it had something to do with
putting the belt on but was not needed once the job was done.

Can anyone clear this up since everything else makes sense to me?

Post by **erikv11** » 11 Mar 2016, 10:07

The plastic clip is a protection measure, if the tensioner fails it may save your engine (OK, may save all of the valves in the head). It is not part of installation per se, you only put it on at the end.

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 11 Mar 2016, 14:54

Thanks erikv11, I see, that makes sense!

Robert's video is also very helpful:

I've got the cam timing marks lined up, but I can't seem to see the marks on
the crank pulley. I see small indentations on two teeth in Robert's video,
but I can't seem to see them on our car. It might partly be my old eyes, or
might I have to turn the crank another revolution? Didn't think to do it when I
had the wrench on it.

Also, the T45 torx socket that I have is too long, Robert shows this Lisle brand low
profile type, but I can't find it at any walk in store:

: SHORT-TORX.jpg (52.52 KiB) Viewed 2603 times

I did find a similar looking kit from Auto Craft, I think it was, but Robert mentions
that those did not work for him, probably very poor quality.

We have a Harbor Freight nearby and they have torx bits that are just bits
and probably take 1/4" drive or 10 mm, that I could use an open end wrench
on or vice grips - not sure if that is a good idea. Or I could cut down the back
end of it to make it low profile then put it in a socket.
Any suggestions?