2001 S40 Setting VVT Exhaust Cam Gear

dacfan · Post by **dacfan** » 01 Apr 2014, 02:47

First time post. Thanks in advance for any help. VVT is leaking and slinging oil and the timing belt is covered. I'm worried it's going to jump. I will be replacing the exhaust cam gear and timing belt this weekend. Water pump, tensioner and pulley changed about 10k miles ago with belt change.
I will be using a CTA cam locking tool.
What I am confused about is setting the vvt gear. I have read so much conflicting info.
Some say to just put the new gear on and line up the mark, others say go anti clockwise 1 and 1/2 teeth and tighten the gear then turn the vvt clockwise back into alignment when installing the belt.
Since different Volvo's have different vvt setups I need to know exactly what to do on this '01 S40.
I'd hate to spend two hours pulling motor mounts, etc. and then get the setting wrong.

Livens · Post by **Livens** » 01 Apr 2014, 08:49

I recently replaced the VVT gear on my 2003 S40, and I believe your 2001 has the same setup.

The conflicting info you may have read is for the 2004.5+ years, where the VVT gear is spring loaded and once you have it tightened up you need to rotate it clockwise to its resting position before putting the belt on. On our VVT gears the gear is locked into its 'resting' position and in fact will not rotate at all once tightened.

You may notice also that on the new VVT gear there is no timing mark. What you do is get everything back together, and the new belt on, but leave both the VVT and intake gear loose. Then tension the belt properly. As long as you have the cams locked from the REAR of the engine and the crackshaft aligned properly, this will set both gears neutral to the camshafts. Then SLOWLY start tightening up both gears. I was able to torque the VVT gear without it moving, you just have to go really really slow with it.

honestly the most PITA part of this job was at the rear of the engine where you have to pull off the cam position sensor and the wiring harness that is back there. You even have to take the metal turbo intake pipe apart to move it out of the way, just to get at the back of the camshafts to install the locking tool.

Just post back if you need any help.

Post by **jimmy57** » 01 Apr 2014, 09:54

I'll add something important. The intake gear has the slotted openings for the bolts. It is very easy to install that one and when belt is tightened the slot is bottomed on the bolts. After you tighten the belt, which is done properly by overtightening using the allen wrench in tensioner and moving it until the indicator swings to the right past the vertical indicator "goalposts" on the tensioner and then relaxing it until the indicator is within the "goalposts", then you remove one of the installed but loose intake cam bolts and see that the bolt hole on end of cam is not all the way to the right. If it is then loosen belt and turn the cam gear one tooth to the left and repeat the tensioning and then torque the intake bolts and exhaust bolt. The overtensioning of belt is done because the friction of the gears on cams can easily leave the section of belt from crank up to intake gear loose and once you've run the engine the timing belt is now loose.

Livens · Post by **Livens** » 01 Apr 2014, 10:23

jimmy57, that is a very good point!

When i did mine I scratched lines around the intake gear bolt holes. After over-tensioning the belt like you said, the scratch marks lined back up almost perfectly. I guess I got lucky, but I never thought about the gear being able to rotate around and get stuck on one of the bolts!

dacfan · Post by **dacfan** » 01 Apr 2014, 14:10

Thanks guys. This info is invaluable. I can see how I was confused since the newer S40's have a spring loaded vvt. I already understood that there was really no way to do this right without locking the cams and now i understand loosening both cam gears and tensioning the belt to bring the alignment marks back to true .
I suppose I should scribe a timing mark on the new exhaust gear for future reference?
Also, is there really a need to break the crank bolt loose to remove the accessory pully? I know the timing mark is behind it but couldn't I just mark the accy pully to a point on the block? I've never really seen crankshafts move much anyway.

Livens · Post by **Livens** » 01 Apr 2014, 17:29

dacfan,

Once I had everything back together I used some fingernail polish to make a new mark o the VVT. You will want to turn the engine around twice by hand and check that the marks line back up with the slots on the upper timing cover. This will save you from accidentally destroying your engine.

I did not pull off the crankshaft pulley. Its a tight fit but you can wiggle the timing belt around it. Also looking down the side of the engine there are timing marks on the back of the crankshaft timing belt gear and on the engine side that also need to be lined up. Just get a good flashlight and you can see them pretty good down there. If you are unsure you can get the timing pin that locks the crankshaft in place, but getting to its access point was too much of a PITA for me, so I just eyeballed it

dacfan · Post by **dacfan** » 01 Apr 2014, 22:33

Thank Livens. I'll be sure to turn it twice. I've done a handful of timing belts on various cars just never dealt with a vvt issue. My wife's '05 F150 vvt has been making a ticking noise for 60k miles and all the ford techs have told me to leave it alone but she has a chain so oil leaking in the system isn't really an issue.
I will post back when I'm through...or stumped and confused. I think I have enough info to go with now to get this done and save a very good running engine for another 100k miles.

dacfan · Post by **dacfan** » 07 Apr 2014, 01:15

Finished up around midnight. Moving the wiring harness and the cam sensor housing to get the locking tool on was the biggest pain. Followed all the advice I had been given and everything went pretty good. The tab that holds the spring on the belt tensioner had broken off and the spring had lost all pressure. The measurement armature was clockwise to about 3 o'clock. Surprised the belt hadn't slipped already. It was really loose. Purchased an new tensioner and everything worked out fine.

Took the car for a test drive. Ran great. No more slinging oil from the vvt gear. No more chirping sound.
Restarted the car 5 mins later and it ran rough like a misfire, low idle and ieventually cutting off. Rechecked timing. All was still good. Must have messed up a sensor somewhere along the way.
THEN the really bad news.
Checked under car to see if there were any more leaks from the passenger side. Dry as a bone but now I have a very big leak from the drivers side. Looks like the back corner of the seal that mates the engine to the transmission. That's where oil was forming and dripping from. Never had any leaks there. Gotta get under there and see what's going on if I can find time this week. The leak is pretty major. Also need to plug in and see what codes the car is throwing.