98 V70 T5 Anyone tried this timing belt kit?

[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.

[joe_pinehill]

I used the Beck Arnley Kit last year, I purchased from Rock Auto for about the same price. 15K and no issues so far.

[erikv11]

... Beck Arnley does not mfg anything typically, they source. ...

This.

It may not matter if someone had bought it before, because you really don't know if you would get the same parts. Beck Arnley buys stuff, puts it in a Beck Arnley box, and sells it. They don't commission manufacture of anything, they are a reseller. Over time they will switch sources. B-A can be a good way to buy parts if you can open the box and inspect the brand name on the item, like at the parts counter; you might get a high quality part for a good price.

You can't really compare different purchases from Beck Arnley unless you note the manufacturer of each part, each time.

[JimBee]

Does anybody know if Volvo makes its own timing belts? I doubt it. Most likely they contract the TB and other specialty components to a trusted supplier and brand them with their name. One of the most trusted names in auto belts is Gates. I wouldn't be surprised if they make Conti's, as well—probably not vice versa. Those are well protected industry secrets.

[songzunhuang]

Does anybody know if Volvo makes its own timing belts? I doubt it. Most likely they contract the TB and other specialty components to a trusted supplier and brand them with their name. One of the most trusted names in auto belts is Gates. I wouldn't be surprised if they make Conti's, as well—probably not vice versa. Those are well protected industry secrets.

I don't know if this is made by Volvo, but the belt I took off my car this past week had Volvo very clearly printed on it.

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This belt has been in my car for a very very long time. All things considered, it looks pretty good. I saw no signs of imminent failure and the small little stress cracks in the picture don't look bad at all. I've owned this car since new and at 228K miles, this is the first time I can recall changing the timing belt. However, there were signs that the belt had been changed before (white marks painted on the cam gears). Maybe it had been changed at the dealer and I just forgot. This was my wife's car and not my daily driver.

[songzunhuang]

BTW - I inspected the Aisin tensioner that came off my car when I changed it out. I brushed off the dirt and looked for any signs of oil leakage or any other damage. I swear it looked good as new. I almost feel bad throwing it in the garbage.

[Redneck]

Thanks for sharing and congratulations for completing the job.

Most of the parts that I replace also look like I should have left them alone. I think being on the west coast helps the car last longer because of moderate weather, humidity and temperatures.

[abscate]

In the big cities in CA you have nasty ozone levels which are the worst thing for rubber and plastic parts.

[songzunhuang]

In the big cities in CA you have nasty ozone levels which are the worst thing for rubber and plastic parts.

Luckily for me I am in the Santa Cruz area. The air is clean and the weather just wonderful.
I was amazed at how clean everything was under there. I've driven up to Lake Tahoe many winters for skiing and would have expected some gunk. All in all, everything looked great. I am hoping I'll get another 100K out of this change.