Timing Belt Breaking just after warranty expires.

I have a '91 740 and was always told it was an interference engine. How
can I know for sure?

 

[ ... ]

Determine exactly what type it is and post it here. If nothing else, I
think the engine type is encoded in the VIN, so you could call a dealer
with that and see if they'll check the database.

If in doubt, change the timing belt early.


Gary

 

Is it a "GLE" model? If so, it's likely to have the B234F engine, which is
an interference engine. There are several ways to check which engine your
car has. One way is with VIN, as another poster pointed out. The VIN can be
decoded by referring to the brickboard site. Another, easier way is to
look for a sticker on the timing belt cover on the front of the engine.

For model identification using VIN:

http://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-900/700ModelData.htm


For other issues, including the differences and care between the various 740
engines:

http://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-900/BuyingUsed7xx.htm#Buying_a_Used_740


Bob

'95 Volvo 944t
'92 BMW 325iC
'00 MB ML320 (wife's)

 

Everybody here is overstating the amount of damage, if not the cost of
repairing it. On the interference type Volvo engines, the only damage
is bent valves. The valves do leave little marks in the tops of the
pistons, but they can be ignored. There's no damage to connecting rods,
or any other bottom end parts. Repair involves removing the head,
replacing all bent valves and maybe valve guides. The rest of the
engine can stay in the car, although on the all aluminum motors this
repair is quite expensive do to the amount of labour involved. The B234
16 valve cast iron block engine also has this problem, but is a little
cheaper to fix. Only B230 engines that have high lift camshafts (no
B230 in North America had one of these) have to worry about this
problem.

 

Re: broken timing belt:

Hi, everybody,

Don't forget the colateral damage you have when your timing-belt stops e.g.
in the middle of nowhere.
Transportation costs, for your car and for yourself and your family, the
disappointment, perhaps fear of driving a car, and you don't know if your
garage will handle this disaster in an honest way.
So, take a new belt in time: pound foolish, penny wise is the proverb, I
thought. So you have less risks, driving already is dangerous enough.
But I enjoy the answers of Mike F. Very good.
Yours sincerely,

Gijs van Herpen

A user of www.mailwasher.net against spam and also a little against
virusses.

 

Well she finally got her car back. The bill was just under $2900.00 and
now the air conditioning does not work. She is not a happy camper.

 

I assume the Volvo dealership wouldn't budge on defraying some of the
repair costs. That's too bad.

If that's the case, it speaks to Volvo's willingness to stand behind their
products, to address defects, etc. If it were me, I would certainly let
them know that this will be my last Volvo purchase. One lost customer.

That may all you can do, unless you communicate with Volvo directly to see
if they can help.


Good luck,

Bob

 

I think you should get some kind of relief from Volvo.
The manual says to change the Timing belt only at (100,000 miles). 40,000
is premature and they should cover it under warranty as a good will gesture.
That's my 2 cents.

 

Did they unhook the AC when they did the work? Perhaps they forgot to charge
it again. $2900 is about right for a timing belt breaking, this is why it's
so important to have the belt changed on time.

 

The engine had 42,000 miles on it. The timing belt is not scheduled
to be changed till 70,000 miles. So it broke well before it should.

 

Given that it is an interference engine, you would think that Volvo
would put a time limit on the belt as well as a mileage limit. My
recollection is that you said it was a '98 V70. We change the timing
belts on our '96 850 and '99 S70 every three years. For the 850 this
works out to being about 60,000 miles. For S70 about 30,000 miles.
On the 850, we got the water-pump and tensioner replaced at 110,000
miles, with the timing belt. Its a small price to pay for considerable
peace of mind.

Bev