2001 S80 T6 - Need to remove drive belt / V belt

markrsullivan · Post by **markrsullivan** » 02 Jun 2009, 06:27

I need to remove the drive belt from my car (so I can ultimately replace the voltage regulator).

Unfortunately, the one source of information I have shows I need a special tool (999 7109) to release the drive belt tensionner.

1> Is this really the only way to do this?
2> Should I just take it to the dealer?
3> Will most (non-dealer) mechanics already have this?
4> Can I/should I purchase the tool?

Any guidance most appreciated.

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 02 Jun 2009, 08:10

Here are directions to change the belt. I'm not sure why they say to remove the vibration dampener - that seems like a lot of extra work to me, but I haven't done the belt change yet, so I can't say if you really need to do that or not.

For what you are trying to do, I would think that you could just loosen the belt and slide it off the alternator pulley, then put it back when you're done with the alternator. You need a 15mm wrench to relieve the pressure on the belt tensioner.

S80AuxBeltChange2001T6.pdf: (82.98 KiB) Downloaded 1336 times

537playing · Post by **537playing** » 03 Jun 2009, 17:09

When I decided to change my belt, I definitely needed to remove the dampener.

markrsullivan · Post by **markrsullivan** » 05 Jun 2009, 15:52

Vegas,

Thanks! So I'm just digging into this thing today. A few tidbits I've learned so far.

1> You do need a "spanner" aka really long wrench. This is not the type of thing a network engineer has in his bag so I went to purchase one from O'Reilly Auto (low and behold - they'll lend you one), that's $32 bucks saved!

2> I have no idea if this is common on all 2001 S80's but the nut on the tensioner is actual 14mm (at least on mine).

Stay tuned...but I wanted to express my thanks before I forgot.

markrsullivan · Post by **markrsullivan** » 05 Jun 2009, 20:05

OK so I'm sure I'm not doing this right, but the alternator is now out. Any "this is how you should do it" advice is welcome.

Basically after releasing the drive belt, I detached the power steering pump. This requires the removal of 3 bolts and is fairly straightforward. Next, I pinched off the upper low pressure hose for the power steering pump and disconnected it from the pump to get it out of the way. After that I detached the upper radiator hose at the block. All of this to make more room.

Following that and using pictures of the alternator I found on a parts site, I identified the four bolts necessary to remove the alternator. Two are from the fender side and above and below and toward the front of the car from the tensioner. Incidentally thus far everything was a 12mm hex nut.

The next step was to locate and remove the 5" bolts at the base of the alternator. These are a bit tricky and for me I removed the air intake hose in order to make enough room (the bolts did not have enough room to extract unless I did). These too are 12mm hex nut heads.

Now the "real" work started. Getting the alternator out. This involved wrangling the thing for about 30 minutes solid until it finally came unseated. Next, a 13mm socket to remove the positive (red) electrical cable and then the connection to the voltage regulator (which was a major pain - be careful on that one).

The next hour was spent trying to find a way to actually remove the alternator out of the engine compartment. After about an hour, I finally used a 8mm hex socket to separate the alternator housing and take it out in two pieces.

Once out of the vehicle, you cannot simply put the two halves of the alternator back together, because the contacts on the voltage regulator are fully protruded. You have to (fairly self evident) remove the voltage regulator from the alternator shell (strongly recommend scoring the shell first so you know how it goes back together) and reassemble the alternator and then put the voltage regulator back. Finally tighten everything up.

Tomorrow I'll take the alternator to the parts store and have it tested. I'm hoping its the voltage regulator (got the low voltage message on the dash).

We'll see.

I'm sure there are the experts on this site that are probably laughing out loud right now, but since this is my first task seriously repairing a Volvo perhaps I get points for effort.

Side note...all of this done with the help of my 13yo daughter who was quite interested and helpful (especially hands that can fit in small spaces).

Pointers welcome.

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 05 Jun 2009, 20:27

S80-2001-PowerSteeringPumpRemoval.pdf: (185.76 KiB) Downloaded 349 times

S80-2001-AlternatorReplacing.pdf: (62.51 KiB) Downloaded 368 times