98 V70 New purchase

Post by **E Showell** » 23 Feb 2014, 14:50

I've had at least one coil pack on the '99 pack it in on me, and perhaps two. I have had to do a couple ignition tune ups -- wires, cap, rotor, plugs -- on the '98 but it isn't particularly difficult and I consider it part of normal maintenance. A set of Bougicord plug wires can have a very long life 50K miles plus.

MoneyPitC70 · Post by **MoneyPitC70** » 25 Feb 2014, 18:03

Thanks everyone for all the feedback. The "owner" stated he owned the car for many years but was unsure if he had the timing belt replaced. The Carfax showed an odometer discrepency.....so based on these two items I let the car go.

Post by **abscate** » 26 Feb 2014, 04:53

Unsure = No on the timing belt...

Post by **scot850** » 15 Jul 2014, 22:16

Hate to bust another bubble on this. Just sold the 98 V70XC and it had a mechanical timing belt adjuster, but agree with the canister oil filter and mechanical gas peddle. Also had the oil cooler in the radiator.

Typical Volvo on change overs, just through in what ever is lying around into the build!

Neil.

Post by **mecheng** » 16 Jul 2014, 06:16

I have a 98 with a mechanical tensioner as well, so I asked Volvo if I had a 100,000 mile interval for the timing belt or the 70,000 mile. They said, follow the owners manual. I'm curious on what extended the interval, was it the tensioner, or something else?

Post by **abscate** » 16 Jul 2014, 06:36

Someone typing in 100k instead of 70k....

Seriously, they probably gathered enough data to balance risk of breakage against marketing position. Remember if the service interval is 70k, my guess is the accepted value of the MTBF was at least 105k or more. After driving cars around, they well have found the actual MTBF to be 150k or more.

However - just to make you really cynical - I just found that a subset of the P80 cars has a 'PZEV' timing belt service interval of 150k miles/15 years. This is solely to comply with PZEV requirements to meet MFG quotas in North America. Ill bet on Germany winning the World Cup that there is no mechanical difference between the 150k and 105k cars.

Post by **mecheng** » 16 Jul 2014, 09:50

The mechanical tensioner may dampen the torsional vibration that comes with an IC engine better than the hydraulic tensioner and therefore put less cyclic stress on the belt. Who knows for sure though.

I agree though, the timing belt intervals are based on extreme statistics like Weibull R90C90 and rightly so. This way they are ensured close to statistically 0% failures at the interval they recommend. My 850 had the belt changed at 70,000 miles and it looked as close to perfect as possible. I split the difference and change the belt at 85,000 miles (or 140,000km) unless I hear abnormal noises. I also do anual inspection of the belt which takes 5 minutes.

98 V70 New purchase

Re: 98 V70 New purchase