Consquences of S70 T5 timing belt snap and interval?

Vovlo S/V70 T5 engine. - What age/mileage is the timing belt supposed
to be changed on one of these?

Also if it snaps on one of these, is it a type of engine that will get
lots of damage of if it snaps, or is it the type that doesn't cause
damage if it snaps?

 

In <>,

Depends on the model year. I think for the '98 it was 70K miles, but
100K miles for later models.

Interference design - lots of damage.

AC

 

Yup.

 

They changed the age/mileage year on year. Get your VIN and ask the dealer.

Lots and lots of damage. Also get the auxiliary drive belt for the power
steering / alternator changed at the suggested interval - if that goes bad
and gets thrown it can head into the cambelt.

 

97-98 model = 80,000
99 model = 100,000
00 model = 90,000

It seems that Volvo could not make up their mind on what a safe belt change
interval was. Must have had problems with the 100k interval and decided to
change it back a bit. If it were me, I'd go with 80k or sooner, regardless
of year.

It's a good idea to replace the waterpump at the same time as the belt, as
a failed one can seize and strip the belt, causing the same catastrophic
results. I don't think it matters so much about the alternator belt. If
that broke it would have to get through the timing cover to interfere with
the cambelt, which seems highly unlikely.

 

Personally I'd change it at 75K or sooner, the engine will be destroyed
if it breaks, it's not worth the gamble of a few thousand bucks worth of
engine over a couple hundred to have the belt changed.

 

Having said that, we got the wife's cars timing belt changed 6 months (well
within the mileage) sooner than the recommended interval at the local
dealership.
3 months after it'd been done - the tensioner shredded the belt.
They then tried to get over £500 out of us to fix it - think I got them done
to £250. But it was clearly shoddy workmanship - never been back to them
since.

My own car was returned to be with a ticking noise after having had a timing
belt change (this fault didn't appear shortly afterwards, but immediately
while driving away from the dealership) - returned to them to discover that
the tensioner was at the point of breaking - they wanted over £100 from me
for a new tensioner - they eventually did it for free.

Point I'm trying to make is, cambelt changes scare me to death, I have a
100% record of two different dealerships mucking it up! It's not a job for
your average spotty oik employed for £5.50 an hour while the dealership
charges you £75 an hour.

I have since found 2 VERY good mechanics (specialists for the cars we now
own) who'll be getting our money instead, but finding someone with such a
reputation isn't that easy.

 

Engine is scrap if the belt breaks on these.

As others have said it is highly recommended to replace the water pump,
idler roller, and tensioner roller along with the belt on the B5xxx engines.

From somewhere like ECP, the OE quality parts come to about £130. I did our
97 S70 last year with 75k on the clock.

Tim..