Timing Belt Change - Aftermath

Post by **abscate** » 10 Oct 2020, 03:12

Being less familiar with the - 1998 vintage, I made the mistake of loosening the bolt on the timing belt idler

If You do this, you have to remove the tensioner as it has a loose nut on the blind side.

It’s tight getting to that Torx screw. A right angle tool or a mini Torx bit are your friends.

I did managed to get mine off using a large vice grip on a Torx socket

Post by **Eddystone** » 10 Oct 2020, 03:15

befarrer wrote: 08 Oct 2020, 22:33 That water pump also looks like the one that was on my 98, it had the 3rd notch missing on the pulley, was OEM Volvo. I find you can put a bunch of torque on those Torx bolts, but only if you have the correct size, the next size down usually fits, but loosely, and destroys the bolt, it also needs to sit all the way into the bolt.

I wonder if the water pump was original? I know the timing belt had been done at least once before.

I had three different T45 bits, including some expensive ones. The real issue was that none of them, even after being modified would go into the Torx bolt head far enough to get a good bite.

The REAL issue is that you just can't get in there to do the job properly, so everything needs to fit like a Swiss watch. I had a bunch of tools avaiable, and I tried them all. It was simply either a previously buggered Torx or one of poor tolerances. The new one on the replacement part had a completely different feel to it with the same tools. I tried for hours before resulting to the Dremel.

Post by **Eddystone** » 10 Oct 2020, 03:19

abscate wrote: 10 Oct 2020, 03:12 Being less familiar with the - 1998 vintage, I made the mistake of loosening the bolt on the timing belt idler

If You do this, you have to remove the tensioner as it has a loose nut on the blind side.

It’s tight getting to that Torx screw. A right angle tool or a mini Torx bit are your friends.

I did managed to get mine off using a large vice grip on a Torx socket

Among the things I tried was removing the torx bit from the 3/8 socket (retained by set screw) and both putting it into a 1/4 socket and applying vice grips directly to the bit. All three T45 bits I had fit well into the replacement part but the one on the car had no depth available.

Post by **abscate** » 10 Oct 2020, 03:45

Once the head is bad, you are screwed pretty much, or I guess not unscrewed.

More Gold stars awarded for Dremel, that was a long day !

I’m going to have about $100 in hardware replacements on Grunhilde just because badly corroded fasteners make me ill

Post by **Chuck W** » 10 Oct 2020, 10:57

I might've even tried welding a nut onto it. Space it as a premium there, but it might've worked. That is one of the first things I check and loosen before I get too deep into the rest of the repair.

callahanoffroad · Post by **callahanoffroad** » 12 Oct 2020, 05:20

Those timing belt bits are stuffed in there like Subaru's sparkplugs. I never understand why Volvo didn't move the engine just 1 more inch away from the passenger fender to give more working room. Heck even half an inch would have made it so much easier.

Post by **abscate** » 12 Oct 2020, 05:37

callahanoffroad wrote: 12 Oct 2020, 05:20 Those timing belt bits are stuffed in there like Subaru's sparkplugs. I never understand why Volvo didn't move the engine just 1 more inch away from the passenger fender to give more working room. Heck even half an inch would have made it so much easier.

Hey...I found that brake light switch! Are you still lookimg for one?

Freebie of course

850oldschool · Post by **850oldschool** » 12 Oct 2020, 07:16

It’s been a while since I did one, but I remember undoing the motor mount on that end of the engine, supporting it with a hook, and using a ratchet strap to pull it toward the driver’s side. I think I jammed a wood block in on the passenger side somewhere, which provided the extra inch.

Post by **Eddystone** » 12 Oct 2020, 21:22

callahanoffroad wrote: 12 Oct 2020, 05:20 Those timing belt bits are stuffed in there like Subaru's sparkplugs. I never understand why Volvo didn't move the engine just 1 more inch away from the passenger fender to give more working room. Heck even half an inch would have made it so much easier.

I worked on x-ray machines for years, and they are electronical, electromechanical, and pure mechanical. You could always tell if the designing engineers ever gave one second of thought to the people who would one day have to service the things. Some were extremely thoughtful. Others never gave it a moment's thought. Likewise, the last person who serviced the equipment before you or installed it stupidly (like not enough cable to open the swing out racks for service).

Generally, Volvo is not too bad in this respect. Sometimes, you can tell there wasn't any good solution as in when they added AWD to the P80 and came up with the fuel pump placement. An extra inch at the water pump end would have been appreciated.

Post by **Eddystone** » 12 Oct 2020, 21:24

850oldschool wrote: 12 Oct 2020, 07:16 It’s been a while since I did one, but I remember undoing the motor mount on that end of the engine, supporting it with a hook, and using a ratchet strap to pull it toward the driver’s side. I think I jammed a wood block in on the passenger side somewhere, which provided the extra inch.

Might do something like that on my other P80. Surely, step #1 will be seeing if I can get that Torx bolt loose, though maybe you need to release the tensioner first.