2.9 liter timing belt removal

Post by **IdahoBob** » 08 Jul 2012, 22:11

I have an '02 2.9 liter (straight 6, no turbo) S80, due for its second timing belt change, now that's it's at 210K miles.

Just spent two weeks' worth of evenings, broke $40 in tools, and spent some time bouncing on a 5' cheater bar: the 30mm nut holding the pulley on the end of the crankshaft will not come off. Two mechanics said they would not (even when offered $) try to remove the nut, citing the possibility that the end of the crankshaft could come off instead of just the 30 mm nut.

Have any of you figured out how to get the serpentine belt and timing belt off without removing the pulley? Is there some combination of removing motor mounts and lifting one end of the engine that sets enough clearance?

Please Advise.

Post by **chrism** » 10 Jul 2012, 16:40

I've done it on a 5 cylinder by just removing the plastic cover that runs under the damper pulley. I don't know if that works for the 6 cylinder though.

Post by **boosted5cyl** » 11 Jul 2012, 08:31

Impact is one way to get the nut off. Its torqued to 300Lb Ft (or at least should be) so even with a cheater bar its a tall order to get it off. Another way is to use the starter motor to crank the motor over while you have a socket on there.

Back to your question, I would say that getting the timing belt past the pulley is going to be a nightmare. There is just about enough clearance from what I remember, but I would worry that you might have to mangle the new belt getting it on there.

Try the starter trick to get the nut off if you havent already. Be smart and be safe in doing so. Injectors and ignition system disabled.

Post by **IdahoBob** » 11 Jul 2012, 21:31

Thanks guys, but no joy so far.
1) The in-line 6 cylinder 2.9 engine is too long to allow squeezing the timing belt or serpentine belt around the pulley, and something that looks like an engine mount is wedged in between pulley and block on the back side (towards the firewall).
2) The pro mechanics are concerned that hitting it with the impact might snap off the end of the crankshaft, and me (180 lbs in car-fixing trim) bouncing on the end of a 5-foot cheater bar is probably generating at least 300 lbs of torque. I didn't pay attention in that class, so not sure, but I'm thinking the 5-foot bar, and the bounce (rather than constant pressure) would multiple the force on my 180 lbs somewhere north of 300 ft. lbs....someone help me out with the calcs here....

Has anyone found some method of disconnecting engine mounts and jacking up the engine, etc.

Or, what's the longest anyone has driven on the same timing and serpentine belt before they blew?

Dextrobrick · Post by **Dextrobrick** » 17 Jul 2012, 22:34

I'm in the midst of putting the '02 S80 T6 back together after its recent timing belt replacement and had no issue removing the original crank nut with an impact wrench.

The important news is that, according to Volvo, the correct torque spec, metric of course, for the new crank nut is 300 N·m (~221 lb-ft) NOT 300 lb-ft (~407 N·m)!!!

That said, I used a digital torque wrench with a 250 lb-ft (~339 N·m) maximum rating to torque the crank nut to spec after I dialed it in via its metric scale to the required 300 N·m.

Dirtbag454 · Post by **Dirtbag454** » 17 Jul 2012, 22:52

Did my belt @ 178k Used an impact wrench to remove the offending nut. No problems. Didn't try to manually remove the bugger. An impact wrench will only loosen the nut. Don't see how it could possibly take the end of the crankshaft off...if that were the case, even the cheater method would do that. Good luck, whatever method you settle on.