98 V70 Serpentine belt tensioner question

[cn90]

Re INA bearings.

Over the years I have had good experience with INA bearings. They last 100K+.
I am surprised the INA bearing in your mechanical tensioner failed so quick. I wonder if it is a counterfeit or somehow INA manages to sneak a Chinese bearing in there.
That particular bearing is RS6203 type.

[98v70dad]

Tip: Do not buy INA tensioner assembly which is supposedly OEM. Example below:
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... m-1275380s

Ten months old and it's chafing the belt ribs because the bearing in the roller has play (rocks back and forth) and so it does not track straight. Notice there is one review from April (I purchased the previous January)--one star--and returned for the same reason. I will be returning this one which I just pulled off the car today.

Better to pay $33 USD for the Volvo OE roller and put it on your existing tensioner mechanism.

Thanks. I made my choices and paid my money. All OEM equipment for me on this job. I've had very good luck with aftermarket stuff on my Toyota's and Honda, but bad luck with it on the volvo. Lately I've been use OEM parts.

I don't particularly LIKE wrenching on cars so I tend to over replace parts on jobs that will take all day so I won't have to "go to the trouble again" if something I didn't replace fails shortly thereafter.

I've got two followup questions for the timing belt and serpentine belt replacement procedure, though.

1) What type of loctite do people commonly use on the threads? I tend to use blue medium strength stuff, but I'm wondering if this job calls for red? Any thoughts?

2) Do I have to drain the radiator or can I just catch the flow under the water pump when I knock it off. Also, how much fluid can I expect? I have a catch pan but its not real big. The whole system only holds about 2 gallon .... does most of it that 2 gallons drain out when you remove the water pump since its near (or at) the bottom? The fluid is less than 6 months old so I'd rather keep as much in the system as possible. I'll filter and re-use whatever drains.

[erikv11]

1. No loctite. There is a gooey sealer on the waterpump bolts (i.e. the holes will have some of the sealer in it). Just reuse the factory ones or if you did buy a Volvo branded pump it will come with bolts.

2. I've always drained the system completely.

3. Removing the serp belt tensioner takes like 7 minutes. Take off the belt, take out two very easy to remove bolts. I always remove the tensioner early in the process any time I am working on timing parts.

[cn90]

@98v70dad,

#1. Blue or Red Loctite, it does not matter. Maybe I am paranoid, but I used Loctite on the timing belt rollers (idler and tensioner bolts).

#2. I did exactly that: I didn't drain from the radiator, I simply let it drain from the WP.
Here are the tricks if you have new coolant.
a. Wash that area well so all dirt/grease is removed before the TB job.
b. Clean the catch pan so coolant is not contaminated.
c. Place the catch pan below the WP, once all the WP bolts come off, gently tap the old WP with a rubber hammer. Don't remove it right away because coolant will gush out like crazy. Let the partially removed WP sit there for 5-10 minutes, so the coolant is drained in a controllable manner.
d. Once done, cover the pan with plastic to prevent dirt/bugs. Better yet place it away from the car to prevent accidentally stepping over it!
e. Once the job is done, get some coffee filter paper and funnel and pour the "new" coolant back. It will be painfully slow but you will get it done. If you don't like to use coffee filter, then use a very fine mesh.

My preference is Aisin WP and Aisin gasket.
HEPU is good too but there are a few reports of HEPU leaking later.
To me Aisin is the king...

[98v70dad]

Thanks. Will I get all 2 gallons of coolant by draining through the water pump or at least most of it?

I bought a Volvo water pump kit. I don't have a lot of free time and its easiest to get all my parts art one place. My volvo dealer has extremely reasonable prices, although I could save some money by using the recommendations on this website.

[dosbricks]

Re INA bearings.

I am surprised the INA bearing in your mechanical tensioner failed so quick. I wonder if it is a counterfeit or somehow INA manages to sneak a Chinese bearing in there.

My thought exactly. The box appears genuine and says made in Germany, but the roller is silver steel instead of black like the OE roller and the rivets are different.

[regent]

Thanks. Will I get all 2 gallons of coolant by draining through the water pump ...

Removing the WP will drain about 75% of it; the pump is not located at the lowest point in the system.

You can drain from the block (by opening the petcock at the waterpipe) and disconnect the lower hose from the radiator. The radiator petcock is a very tricky fragile plastic piece of wonder...
I would only touch that one if I have a spare in my hand (about $3 at dealer)

[regent]

Re INA bearings.

I am surprised the INA bearing in your mechanical tensioner failed so quick. I wonder if it is a counterfeit or somehow INA manages to sneak a Chinese bearing in there.

My thought exactly. The box appears genuine and says made in Germany, but the roller is silver steel instead of black like the OE roller and the rivets are different.

Is this a new addition to FCP's Genuine Masterpiece Collection?

[98v70dad]

Thanks. Will I get all 2 gallons of coolant by draining through the water pump ...

Removing the WP will drain about 75% of it; the pump is not located at the lowest point in the system.

You can drain from the block (by opening the petcock at the waterpipe) and disconnect the lower hose from the radiator. The radiator petcock is a very tricky fragile plastic piece of wonder...
I would only touch that one if I have a spare in my hand (about $3 at dealer)

Where is the block drain petcock? I've looked for it before (although not very hard) and not been able to locate it. I really don't want to drain any more than I have to since the coolant is 6 months old, but I want to get enough out so that its not splashing around while I'm trying to carefully get the WP back on and sealed up.

[erikv11]

The block drain is on the side of the block nearest the firewall. The only way to use it is from under the car. It sticks out the side of the block, toward the water pump end of the engine and several inches above the oil pan seam. I like to put some tubing on it to direct the flow of coolant.