Fear and Loathing with the Timing Belt

[Zahn1138]

I took my 2001 Volvo V70 XC 2.4LT in for a fuel pump recall, and they told me the timing belt was worn and it was past due for replacement - the car is currently at 138,000 miles. The belt was due at 105,000. Hence, I found myself rather concerned. I bought an OEM kit from FCP Euro and commenced my first timing belt swap two days before a 200 mile road trip.

Saturday morning, in the cool New Mexican sun (it ceases being cool about 11 o'clock) I began the job, ill-prepared and ignorant of the many dangers. I aligned the shafts properly under my wiser and more experienced father's direction (I had no idea what I was doing - I was going blindly), and removed the tensioner, idler pulley, water pump, and lower guard from the timing belt casing. Removing the lower guard allowed me to eschew the use of the 999 5433 counterhold tool. I left the crankshaft pulley on. I slipped the timing belt off and went about removing parts.

One big mistake? I sentenced the neighborhood's stray animals to an excruciating death from bleeding in their kidneys when I emptied my radiator onto the street after removing the water pump (God pardoned them with a heavy rain that night). I recognize that I should have drained it and taken it to a recycling center. This was the least of my incompetencies.

I set about replacing a seal that look busted. There was oil residue all over the water pump, tensioner pulley, and idler pulley, as well as the inside of the timing belt cover. I cleaned this off with degreaser and rags and swapped the pulleys and pump. The intake cam seal look oily so I swapped that out. I made sure to pop that gear on correctly, I looked under the exhaust cam gear and found no evidence of an easy way to access a seal . . . but foolishly paid no attention to the direction of the gear. The gear and cam got moved quite a bit - there are three possible configurations to that gear, and I had no idea which way of the three it went back on the gear. So I guessed.

I also didn't know to align the crankshaft (which had been turned a lot by my attempt to find other things to use as a counterhold to remove the crankshaft pulley).

I tensioned the belt and cranked the engine. It made a strong whine but didn't start or turn over. I cranked it again - no response.

It started raining and was 11 PM by now, so we gave up and retired, nearly convinced that we had destroyed the engine.

The next morning I made an educated guess to the direction of the exhaust cam - I popped the gear on and saw where it naturally "popped" into into the center of its rotation and was also aligned at 12 o'clock. I also wasn't certain I'd put the intake cam gear back on the right way. We manually cranked and aligned the crankshaft.

I put it together and cranked it . . . it started. No nothing but a slight non-metallic grinding noise at 1400 rpm. Gunnning the engine no problem. No pops or clicks or snaps or bemt valve sounds.

Put the whole thing back together and test drove it. The throttle has been sticking so acceleration is poor unless I gun it (I cleaned the ETM a few weeks ago and it gummed up again right away). I drove it across town and back. No problems. Runs great.

I drove it 300 miles today.

In undergrad I would drive to school 17 miles each way, mostly on expressway and interstate. I'd also go to church and visit friends cross-town - similar drive. Well, I would get about 22.5 mpg. I moved cross-town and my drives became much shorter and more city driving - I get about 18.5 now usually. It's rated at 16 city and 21 highway with premium - I use regular.

I drove it on interstate today at 70 for half and 76 for half. I was low on oil a third way there (so I popped in a quart - I hadn't checked the oil since I changed in April) so I put in a quart.

I got to my destination and filled up. I drove 293.2 miles on 10.77 gallons. I even topped off the tank like I always do. 27.2 mpg. It's a 2,000' drop in elevation, so slightly downhill, but this is unprecented.

Well, I made some terrible mistakes and nearly destroyed my engine and poisoned a few stray cats, but God was kind to me.

Do I have anything to fear now?

Some advice:

1) Be VERY careful with all three timing marks.
2) Properly drain your radiator.
3) When you remove gears from cams, MAKE SURE you put the gear back on EXACTLY as it was before, and do not mess up your timing mark.
4) Put the car on a jackstand - don't go under it while it's on a jack.
5) Cross yourself everytime you go under the car or crank your engine, and a few Hail Maries do not hurt either.

I got away with gross incompetence and am surprised the durn thing still runs.

[precopster]

Hey welcome to the land of back slapping after completing your first TB change.

I think it was more careful and slow methodical work than a fluke in your case (12 hours on a TB/ water pump is not a world record )

Next time to gain a full understanding of the CVVT system look at Volvospeed's YouTube video as he has an engine on a stand and goes through it in fine detail. There are also lots of great descriptive tutorials here on Matthews regarding CVVT install.

[Zahn1138]

Mike,

I took breaks in the work (had to help my father run some errands and while I was in there, I decided I wanted a new serpentine belt as well), so it wasn't a full 12 hours. However, I promise I wasn't careful. It was lucky I didn't blow my engine. I had no idea how to put back on the rear cam pulley. When I tried cranked it before and it was misaligned, I'm lucky I didn't bend any valves.