2008 c30 catastrophic engine failure

[kosterholm]

59,800miles on car; timing belt slipped and engine destroyed. car towed to primary mechanic who thought a/c belt came apart and got between timing belt and pulley, causing it to slip and engine failure;
he thought Volvo may help in repair so it was taken to a dealership; they thought a tensioner pulley had failed causing engine failure; they contacted Volvo of North America who paid half of the $5K repair; the extended warranty claim with Volvo VIP was denied because they do not cover belts; belt replacement interval is 120K miles
My question is has anyone ever experienced a similar situation? How does one prevent belt/tensioner failure so as not to get stranded on the highway?
thank you
Kerry

[matthew1]

I contacted an indie service manager about this. I'll relay what he says.

[matthew1]

Brett is a fantastically experienced service manager at Volvo Specialists here in Denver.

What do you think? I'd guess the indie mechanic is correct (AC belt), not the dealer (tensioner). A 2008 OEM tensioner failing at 60k miles just sounds weird to me.

Seems ridiculous to me too. We have seen it. On the p1 platform cars, the a/c compressor sits lower than the motor and is the 1st thing to get hit if bottoming out in a dip or pulling up to a curb/park stop. Hitting it will cause the belt to fly off, then it’s just bad luck if it jams into the timing belt. I have seen it on the p80, p2 and p1 cars, but not lately.

As long as there is no physical damage/marks to the engine splash pan (it’s plastic), i would argue with them for 2 reasons for full 100% coverage –

if the tensioner failed, not the belt, the vip ext warr should cover that.
The tensioner/belt should not have failed at 59k miles, if so, why does volvo suggest replacing at 120k when there is so much at stake upon failure?

if the pan is missing or is damaged, there’s not case there and i would take what they are willing to give…..

Hope this helps.