1998 Volvo S70-T5 TENSIONER ALMOST DESTROYED ENGINE

[800artfreed]

Recently I put my 1998 S70 in the carport to do some maintenance. When I started the engine to warm up the transmission fluid I heard a strange rattle coming from the timing belt (TB) area. I shut down and removed the TB cover. Starting up again the noise was louder. I shut down and began a careful inspection. The result was horrifying. A plastic ring was at the bottom of the TB cover area inside the path of the belt. This was being picked up by the belt and bounced against the TB cover. Further inspection found a flat piece of plastic at the bottom of the TB area below the crankshaft pulley. This came from the fixed TB cover and the location can be seen in photo #3. The TB was loose coming off the intake cam pulley and the idler pulley! Lastly and most horrifying was the condition of the tensioner. The indicator finger that is supposed to be centered between the reference "pointers" was now actually below the timing belt. The reference pointer was all the way counter clockwise in the 10-11 o'clock position. Not at the top of the tensioner.
I removed the plugs and spun the engine by hand. Fortunately the timing marks all line up. The engine had not been destroyed.

I tried to adjust the tensioner but the first restart put it back the way I found it. THE TENSIONER HAS FAILED! This part was installed when I bought the car with 159K miles on it. The car now has 209K miles. It is the standard part in the FCPEuro TB kit they sell (Volvo Timing Belt Tensioner - INA 30638277). I ordered a new tensioner and will submit the old part under their Lifetime Guarantee. I still have to pre-purchase a new part and pay postage return postage.

While I am grateful the problem was discovered before serious (destroyed) engine damage occurred, I was not looking forward to having to change out the tensioner in the midst of fixing an oil leak, flushing/bleeding brakes, adjusting parking brake system, etc on my 26 year old car.

[Sveedy]

Probably should have bought a lottery ticket that day......

[scot850]

Strange failure. I know they fail, but the plastic from the cover being broken off is to me the stranger part. It looks like the bolt hole internal plastic.

You might want to just check the engine mount under the crank pulley to make sure it is not separated and the engine moving around.

Neil.

[abscate]

I lost an InA tensioner on Elizabeth the 99 V70 and was not so lucky. I got to repeat a valve job and replace all the valves. Luckily. All the parts were FreeCP