which timing belt kit to buy?

ronleroux · Post by **ronleroux** » 20 Jun 2010, 17:12

i see there are a few options on buying a timing belt kit. some are inexpensive like groton or ipd. my first instinct tells me not to save money and buy real volvo parts.. water pumps too, some are cheap in price and i wonder if they are reflecting the quality, anyone care to share thier experience with the cheaper kits and what would be reccomended to do the job correctly? any others besides the ones i mentioned that are compatable in quality to volvo? i just want to do it right, and not worry about it for a while, or the 70k miles till i change the belt again. thanks

Post by **pkc303** » 20 Jun 2010, 17:19

I bought the parts at Volvo. They told me that they only use new water pumps, not rebuilt ones. Don't know if it makes a difference, but I was picking up a bunch of other Volvo only parts, so I grabbed what I needed to do my timing belt. Ended up with a belt, water pump, tensioner pulley, and idler pulley. I will also do the cam shaft seals, after I make the part to hold the cam shafts steady.

ronleroux · Post by **ronleroux** » 20 Jun 2010, 18:47

i know the volvo parts are much more expensive, but it seems to make the best sense. some of the kits i saw from others were only 129.00, for the belt, both pulleys. just seems too cheap. anyone try any of these others for parts? they holding up to what the claim was?

whoa · Post by **whoa** » 20 Jun 2010, 19:42

Check tascaparts.com for genuine Volvo parts at pretty good prices.

Brazuca_ny · Post by **Brazuca_ny** » 20 Jun 2010, 20:20

save money vs peace of mind, bro trust me go OEM when dealing with any timing component, after reading some threads about the possible outcome of a failed TB I went OEM cost me a bit more but knowing that the parts are the best out there ant that they will perform accordingly its priceless.

ronleroux · Post by **ronleroux** » 22 Jun 2010, 11:41

thanks for the advice. id rather spend more than have something possibly fail, seeing it could really mess up the engine if the timing belt were to fail...

Post by **bigdaddylee82** » 22 Jun 2010, 12:13

I put this timing belt kit on my "new" junk yard motor in my 850 GLT back in December, I've had the car on the road since mid May. I know that's not a long time, but I'm confident that there will be no issues with this kit. I went through the whole cost vs. quality questioning myself, and after shopping around decided to go with the FCP kit. The belt is OEM, but the rest of the parts aren't, I also went with whatever the cheapest new water pump I could find was. I believe I got my water pump with gasket and new bolts from IPD. So far so good.

- Lee

Post by **bigdaddylee82** » 22 Jun 2010, 13:03

This is the IPD water pump I used, it works, and was cheap, seemed to be just as good or better quality than the one I replaced on the junk yard motor, but who knows the water pump on the motor may have been the same model

. I was broke, well still am, and really needed my car on the road again, I made what I fee were justifiable "sacrifices," to be able to afford getting my Volvo on the road again. YMMV.

- Lee

Oldrfguy · Post by **Oldrfguy** » 22 Jun 2010, 19:53

This is simple for me- Volvo parts from Taskaparts.com for 203.00 or IOP for 199.00.. Just picked up an 96 850 today 133,000 mi, it's parked until new compressor- kinda noisy-bearing kind and Volvo timing kit arrives.

Post by **MNCO1** » 23 Jun 2010, 09:23

I had great results with the kit from IPD. Would have gotten my water pump from them as well but I didn't plan ahead on ordering that. Went to my local dealer at last minute instead and paid dearly for it.