98 V70 T5 Anyone tried this timing belt kit?

[songzunhuang]

Well, my Beck Arnley kit arrived today. It looks to be pretty good quality stuff. Here's pics of all the parts. I won't get to install this for a while, but I'll be sure and update this thread when I do.

First comes the box that it all came inside.

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Open up the box and this is what you have. It's got some pretty nice instructions included.

The idler pulley looks and feels great. I can't find any markings of any kind on it though.

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Next comes the tensioner pulley. It's made in Slovakia by INA. This one I have heard of and I hear it's a great part. So that makes me happy.

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The actual hydraulic tensioner doesn't have any cast markings on it. There's only a stamp on the end. That looks like a part number or a manufacture date.

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Then there's the main attraction. The timing belt itself has a "Made in USA" stamp on it and an indicator that it's a 252 teeth belt. I like that it's American made, but there is no brand on it. What do you guys think? Who in the USA makes timing belts with no brand markings?

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So that's what came in my kit. It was a steal at just around $100 as an "Open Box" item from a seller on Amazon.

[precopster]

The 8630590 pulley on Amazon made by URO has brand name NTN bearings that are full diameter just like the style that was implemented BEFORE the cap type idler. If you peel back that cap on the idler it may reveal what brand of bearing is fitted.

Personally I don't like the newer style idler pulley with a cap as it has a greater wear rate than the outer cicumference bearing however the trade off is better tracking due to it being a needle roller design with greater depth than a ball bearing race. I've replaced 3 OEM INA idlers with the cap recently and found them all lacking in grease.

You can see the earlier OEM idler on the right of this pic.

Volvo used the earlier style in 2004 as my 2000 V70 had an OEM idler fitted at that date on the foil sticker and 209K kilometres. After 10 years and almost 100k kilometres the bearing was still lubricated and tight.

The belt could be made by US company CRP industries.

[Redneck]

You won't know the quality until you install them and drive for 70,000 miles to prove to yourself that they were great parts. I want to know it right away, thats why I buy OEM and I pay extra for that.

[confused_al]

You won't know the quality until you install them and drive for 70,000 miles to prove to yourself that they were great parts. I want to know it right away, thats why I buy OEM and I pay extra for that.

+1

Volvo does not use Gates as OEM. Unless Gates uses AISIN, Continental and others as their suppliers.

Just FYI, for P2 cars Volvo TBs are made by Gates.

[mecheng]

Confirmed what I thought, tens pulley is INA. I wouldn't worry about idler, bearings provide lots of warning before they fail. Even the belt rarely fails, if it does it's usually cuz something seized. Gates makes decent belts.

The hydraulic tensioner on the other end is clearly a no name, but I'm not sure if they fail what issue they will lead to. I think the white plastic piece prevents it from losing complete tension, not sure though. I think it would be gradual and the belt would make more noise. My mech tensioner starting making noise, but never completely failed thankfully, it was oem

[JRL]

Your biggest worry is the tensioner.
That's what commonly fails

[precopster]

Your biggest worry is the tensioner.
That's what commonly fails

And if it ain't Aisin it ain't on for me.

[songzunhuang]

I saw on one of Robert DYI you tube videos that if the original Aisin is not leaking after you compress it down, that it's ok to reuse. Curious what you think of that. Are hydraulic tensioners prone to failure?

Heck I got 228K miles from this current setup so I ain't complaining.

[rspi]

I recently put a Gates belt on a car because the belt was missing from my $700+ FCP order. When I called FCP the guy blamed it on me even though it was checked off on my long list of parts sitting on my desk. Anyway, if you are the type of person that replaces all of the parts every time, I believe any part will do.

When I read Gordon's story about his 3,000,000 miles, I'm pretty sure he said that he only replaced his water pump like 5 times. That means those things are lasting him 10 years and about 600,000 miles. I've seen after market water pumps leaking in 2 years/35,000 miles. My last Asiain pump last 256,000 and 20 years. I like that.

[songzunhuang]

Well, today I did my belt, pump and had a surprise - the engine mount was broken. I just wanted to share some pictures of my Aisin water pump. There was NO sign of any leakage and it was super solid. No play, no leaks, no sign of anything bad. Even the gasket looked good still! I replaced it anyway. I've got 228K miles on this one so it was time to update.

Here's the old and new pump. I noticed the gears on the new pump is different. The old one had groups of 3 teeth. The new one is solid. I wonder what prompted that change?

Looking at the backside, you can see that it's in really good shape.

Here's a closeup of the engine surface. Note there are 2 locator pins. I used these pins to hang the new gasket before I put on the new pump. It was super easy.

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Also, the Beck Arnley kit went on without issue. About the only thing that gave me fits was the "Grenade Pin" for the tensioner. That was very hard to pull out! It pulled out partway and then was bent. It took a long time and lots of weird leverage with tools to finally get it free. I'm glad it's done.