V70: Engine Engine failure on high mileage 57 plate D5 V70

[Danny c]

Hi, I was wondering if someone could tell me if there is a known fault with the Aux belt tensioners on the D5? My friend is an indipendant mechanic and has been serviceing a tax drivers 57 plate V70 D5, It first came in with 37k on the clock and had been serviced the twice at a main dealer, the driver has then taken it to my friend for the other services, all done at the correct time and useing genuine filters. At 98k the driver asked for a cam belt and tensioner kit to be fittted, which was done. At 111k he brought it in for its next service, all ws done and checked as per normal. Now at 118k the driver ran over something at road works with such force that it blew a tyre. He changed it, and traveled the 200 miles back from london to cheshire. Saying that it had been making a funny clicking noise from the engine. The following day whilst backing off his dive the car stopped and would not then restart. It turns out that the tensioner had failed causeing the aux belt to wrap its self nicely around the cam belt jumping it 5 or 6 teeth.

The owner is now after my mate for the £4k repair bill to be paid by him, saying that hee should change the aux belt as a matter of course on a service. I saw the belt at he last service and it was in mint condition. the owner has tried it on with volvo, and told he should had the serviceing done by them whilst under warranty, now they did say that there was a service update for the aux belt and tensioner to be changed at 78k, then again at 108k. and if the car had come to them for even a bulb it would have flashed up that this car had not had it done at 78k. It did go into them around that time from rear brake pads as my friend could not get the correct soft wear to do the job. So it wasnt picked up there.

Many thanks

[Rascal]

Yes - there is a fault with the Aux Belt Tensioner, which Volvo have decided to fix during your next Dealer based service!
There are a few threads on the forum relating to the disasters caused by this component failing and apparently in some cases, VOLVO have picked up the bill for the very expensive repairs.

I have just had mine replaced under warranty during its second service, but I was totally unaware that there was a known issue with this component, until the dealer mentioned that it had to be replaced.

I know that dealer services are expensive, but at least you don't end up in the position that you mate has now found himself in.
Hope he can find someone to cough up all (or part) of the cost for repairs.

If VOLVO had made this issue an official recall, all of the failures could have been prevented.

[Frank B]

Are we saying that these tensioners should be changed at intervals less than the cam belt change interval, that is, between cam belt changes ?

Mine was changed following a call to Ryebrooks at Warrington, I have my car serviced at an independant garage who were not aware of these problems. The cost would have been about £150 had the car not still been under warranty.

There is another longer thread on this subject under the heading catastrophic engine failure at 26,000 miles, a lot of which was lost ( including my post) when the system failed recently.

Frank