1996 960 Front Engine Squeal (Result)

kenneth_moorhead · Post by **kenneth_moorhead** » 18 Sep 2006, 19:58

Well, Saturday was Volvo repair day.

It turns out that the front end squeal was indeed coming from the timing belt assembly. It was the idle pulley. The poor thing had seized solid and was spinning no more

Further, the tensor pulley was both noisy and spinning rough, but was at least working.

So, when all was said and done I replaced the timing belt, the idler pulley, and the tensor pulley.

The car now runs great. Better than it has in a while

The actual task of changing the timing belt was easy enough. But if you need instructions a really good set can be found here: http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/EngineS ... BeltChange However, these are the things that popped out to me:

* Remove the radiator fan. It makes life easier... three torx screws across the top, one set of wires and it lifts right out.

* A pipe wrench is a wonderful thing to move the drive belt tensor. A bit odd, yes... but it works very well.

* The timing marks on the cams are self-evident. They line up with notches in the upper plastic guard - about 45 degrees in-board.

* The marks on the crank are, well, stupidly hard to see in my opinion. Remove the drive belt and you will see the mark on the engine block. The matching mark on the crank gear looks, at first glance, like a chip missing from the back of the gear. This chip would be on the raised part of the tooth. The chip and the block mark should line up when the cams are lined up. Once this happens, everything becomes clear. Before that you wonder a bit...

* Once you remove the tensor piston the belt can be slipped past the drive belt pulley and the engine block. So there is no need to remove the drive belt pulley from the crank.

* Removing the tensor piston is do-able only with an ignition wrench. The lower mounting bolt is slightly behind the drive belt pulley - no way to get a ratchet in there, much less a torque wrench. Now, the torque specs for these bolts are 18 - 20 lb., which isn't much, so guess.

* I found some argument over replacing the tensor piston. Mine in excellent shape, so I saved myself the $100+ and put it back. However, I can see the argument for replacing it. If that thing goes the whole engine goes with it. Like I said, mine was good, so I simply made a note to check it every so often... but, use your judgement here. But, if it is weak - the silly thing is quite strong - leaking, or that nagging voice in your head say replace it, then replace it. It'll beat a blown engine.

* For the rest of the bolts I used 20 lb. of torque. The exact specs are hard to find, and seem to conflict, but all seem to call for 18-22 lb. or thereabouts.

Other than those points there isn't much to know. The whole task took about 3 hours from start to finish. So, if you are staring a 960 timing belt change in the face, don't fret - there was nothing difficult about it at all.

Thanks everyone for all the advice!

-Ken

Post by **matthew1** » 18 Sep 2006, 22:25

Kenneth -- thanks for the followup. this is sure to help a few people out there.

kenneth_moorhead · Post by **kenneth_moorhead** » 19 Sep 2006, 08:57

After I got to thinking about it, there is something else useful that should pass along. How to isolate the squeal...

Long story short my wife's 960 had been making this noise for about 10,000K and it was getting progressively worse until it became a howling screech. If yours does this, don't drive it 10,000K

In retrospect we were lucky... very lucky...

One reason was that she was told, repeatedly, that the noise was the air pump. It's a, well, air pump, that is to the left of the engine near the battery. It pumps air for reasons only Volvo knows

She was also told that it was not to worry about, and that the pump itself served no useful purpose and could complain loudly at times. This might be true, but it is BAD advice... it wasn't the air pump at all.

So, once the noise got to the wife embarrassment stage I started poking at it. In short I simply started removing things that could squeal and listened.

1: I Disconnected the air pump. (It's electrical, so follow the wire out of it and it's apparent what to unplug. In my case the connector was directly to the right of the battery) True enough the engine can run w/o the air pump. It did so for about a month. The noise persisted.

2: Upon figuring out that this beast had a direct drive water pump, removed the drive belt. No dice... the noise was still there...

2a: The car will run fine w/o the drive belt for a bit. You're on the good graces of the battery so don't do this for long. Also, you are sans power steering too.. so don't muck with the steering wheel. Turn off the A/C too... and for heaven's sake don't drive off

3: Listen for the noise with these things off... ours sounded like it was coming from the #1 intake pipe. It was a high enough squeal to make it very hard to directionally find, but it seemed strongest there. Turned out that's approximately where the idle pulley was.

3a: The squeal will fade in and out. Indeed, it will vanish in the wind noise at highway speed. It will also vanish sitting in the driveway if you let it get warm. I have no explanation for this phenomena, but I suspect it has to do with the belt heating up, or the pulley heating up and expanding a bit. Or some such

So, if you still have a front engine squeal with all these parts disabled then it is prolly the timing belt assembly; not much else (that I know of) will make that noise. At this point, with out being shrill, STOP DRIVING THE CAR until you can look at it. If the belt fails, the car goes bye-bye. Ours came really close to failing... the old belt was thiner that the new due to wear... you could feel it.

Finally: replace the belt if you disturb it. If there was one thing 99% of everyone I spoke to, or read, said it was to get a new belt.

That's it... hope this helps someone out there...

Ken

Post by **asg1986** » 10 Jul 2011, 20:46

I changed the timing and serpentine belts on a '95 965 today, and it's time I contribute to MVS... So I washed my hands and took some pictures!

Changing the timing belt on B6304S -- Wikipedia says they were used from 1990-98 on Volvo 960's, S90's, and V90's -- is pretty much the same as changing the timing belt on an 850 or an S70. Except... it's MUCH easier! One, you don't have to move the computer housing out of the way to get to the serpentine belt tensioner. Two, there isn't car blocking your view of the timing belt tensioner and tensioner pulley. The tensioner pulley was a PITA last time I worked on my 850, and I had to lower the subframe to get good access to the torx bolt holding it to the engine. This was was my last resort because I knew if I had kept trying to get that bolt loose I would have stripped it and that would have been a big PITA! So, if you own a 960 remember how much harder it could be...

Tools you need:
- 1/4" rachet
~short (or long) 10 mm socket
~short (or long) 12 mm socket
-3/8 rachet
~short (or long) 12 mm socket
~short (or long) 13 mm socket
~27 mm Torx socket
~30 mm Torx socket
~45 mm Torx socket
-12 mm box end wrench preferably (I used a regular "flat" wrench)
-3/4" breaker bar
-anti-seize compound

Other things you might need:
-PB Plaster (I didn't need it)
-a torch (I didn't need this either)

Procedure

1.)Place blocks behind rear wheels, and put the car into Neutral.

: Neutral

2.) Disconnect the negative battery cable because you're going to be messing around by the fan.

: Battery Negative Terminal

3.) There is very little room to work around-- so you need to get out the 25 mm Torx socket, and remove that fan! There were two screws on either side of the fan. Once these are removed you can lift the fan up, without disconnecting any wiring, and lay it over by the battery.

: Screws Holding Fan

: Fan laying off to side.

4.) Using the 12 mm socket, remove the bolt holding the timing cover to the engine. In this image you can see the location of the bolt. Sorry I don't have a better picture, but you get the idea.

5.) Next remove the spark plug cover. These are all 30 mm Torx screws.

: Spark Cover

6.) Now you can remove the retaining bracket that is wedged beneath where the spark plug cover was. Just remove the metal bracket with the hose clamps on it.

: Bracket

7.) Now you can go after the serpentine belt. Get out your 3/4" breaker bar, and insert it into the square. Pry it towards the left side of the car, and you'll see it letting off the serpentine belt. Before doing this is a good time to make a drawing or take a picture so you remember how to put it back on.

: 3/4" Breaker :)

Sorry, no "in-action" shot, but you put the breaker bar into that...

: Serpentine Tensioner

8.) I took off the Serpentine belt tensioner to make more room. There were two 12 mm bolts holding it on. I put most bolts back from where they came so I don't get them confused later on.

9.) At this point you need to get under the car and take off the metal cover beneath the timing belt. There are two 10 mm bolts holding it on. Once the bolts are removed you have to wiggle it out.

: T-Belt Lower Cover

10.) Now is a good time to line up the marks on the camshaft pulleys w/ the plastic cover. They're not lined up in this picture. These marks are very hard to see, even when you know where they are... Once you're lined up, go ahead and remove the top plastic timing belt cover.

: Cover- Lining Up

11.) When the camshaft pulleys are in place, the crankshaft pulley should be in the right spot (unless the last person installed it wrong!). I double check, but you really don't have to. Here is the crankshaft pulley lined up w/ the line above it. Again, the marking on the pulley is hard to see-- you might need a flashlight.

: Crank Marking

12.) At this point I cut the timing belt, this makes things easier. If you want the hastle you can go after the tensioner. I chose the easy way. Once cut, you have to go back underneath the car to the metal cover you removed and sneak the belt down and out. Be careful not to spin the cranshaft pulley or the camshaft pulleys while removing the timing belt! With that said-- they are hard to turn.

: No Belt

13.)Free of the old belt! Now, remove: the hydraulic tensioner (2 12 mm bolts-- you have to use the wrench for this because a rachet is too big), tensioner pulley (you need to use the T-45 socket), and idler pulley (3 bolts- 12 mm).

: Tensioner Pulley w/ T45

14.) To install the new belt: start at the bottom, and snake it through by the crank pulley. Watch the bolt like thing sticking out. Get the belt up and route it properly. Make sure the tension between the intake pulley (left of car, on your right) is tight. That it's tight across from intake cam pulley, to exhaust side cam pulley. Lift up on the tensioner pulley, removing slack. Check that the belt grooves are lining up in the pulley grooves, and that there is NO SLACK BETWEEN THE CRANK SHAFT AND THE CAMSHAFT INTAKE PULLEY, AND NO SLACK BETWEEN THE INTAKE AND EXHAUST CAM PULLEYS... Then all you have to do it pull the pin from the hydraulic tensioner!

Pull this pin out:

: Hydraulic Tensioner

Now you can start putting everything back together! It seems like it always goes quicker when you put stuff back together. I made sure all the bolts (tensioner, pulleys, ext) were coated with some anti-seize so in another 70k I can do it again! It takes about 3 hours total-- but can probably be done in an hour if you've done it before. Some people re-use the hydraulic tensioner-- I'd rather spend the extra $100 on a new one to be safe. If you do re-use it you need a vise to slowly compress the piston back in (10 minutes is recommended). I also replace the serpentine belt when I do the timing belt-- usually its ready to be replaced anyways, and it is pretty cheap.

This is the kit I got from IPD:

: Kit

Overall this was very straightforward, and much easier than a transverse engine (850's & S70's). If you've got a few hours, and want to save some money - make sure you have the right tools- and get to work! Good luck everyone!