S80 Cambelt

[Kelvyn]

On the way to Derby last monday my 1999 s80 2.5 Tdi suddenly cut out (while I was in lane 3). Being an auto it coasted long enough for me to make it safely to the hard shoulder. The AA arranged getting the car and myself back home.
Today I decided to strip the engine down to see if I could find out what had happened.
The first thing I removed was the cam belt cover, all looked OK initially but on closer inspection I found that the belt was totally smooth on both sides, (not too good for driving the cam). Ater a bit more dismantling it looks like the water pump seized which subsequently stripped the cam belt. Is this a common failure on these engines?
I assume these engines are interference which means I'm presumably looking at bent valves and possibly damaged pistons? Does anything else usually get damaged?
In order to get the head off I will obviously need to remove the diesel pump belt. If I manage to get it all back together will the static pump timing get me to a dealer for dynamic setting? Any idea how much I am likely to need to spend getting the pump timing done? Or maybe given that I am probably looking at a very large bill I would be better off just scrapping the car ?
I have a receipt from the previous owner showing that the cam belt was replaced at 90k, the car has now done 110k.

[Martin Cox]

Unfortunately coolant pump failure on these engines is not unknown and if the pump seizes, there's often a fair amount of collateral damage. Looking at other posts on the forum, it's usually seems to be bent valves and broken camshafts. If the pistons have survived then it's probably worth trying to repair it if the costs are reasonable.

The 2.5Tdi engine although perhaps now a little long in the tooth has a reputation for economy and reliability compared with later engines. Mechanical problems were usually due to cambelt failure caused by not changing the belt and tensioner at the recommended interval (8 years or 80,000 miles absolute max) or by the coolant pump expiring. Otherwise the engine has a good track record. In fact many others on this forum will recommend changing the coolant pump as a matter of course when changing the belt. It adds little extra to the cost.

Most other running ills were commonly due to the dynamic pump timing being adrift. Although I'm no expert, I'd have thought if you can get the static pump timing close enough to get it to run, then you can probably get it to a dealer or specialist to get it set dynamically.

I run a 1998 V70 Tdi auto with over 176,000 miles and have a rather soft spot for this engine. The coolant pump failed on mine at about the 100,000 mile mark. I was lucky since it started squealing when I started the car one morning. I switched off straight away and the AA towed it to my local dealer before any damage was done.

Hope you manage to get it sorted.

Martin

[Kelvyn]

Well I managed to get a replacement engine from a breaker on which I have replaced the timing belt and water pump (not the easiest cambelt replacement I've done and thats with the engine sitting outside a car). Over the past weekend I managed to get the replacement engine into the car, so now its just a case of trying to remember where everything goes and what fixes it there.
There are some strange design features on these engines, for example neither of the sprockets on the camshaft are keyed in place which means you can't make any useable timing marks unless you intend not replacing the water pump when you change the belt (not recommended in light of what happened with mine as I suspect that when the previous owner had the belt changed 20k ago he didn't get the water pump done).
This lack of keying the sprocket to the cam wouldn't be such an issue if you didn't need to remove the belts rear plastic cover to gain access to the water pump. As it is the only way to get to the pump is to remove the cover and to remove the cover you have to remove the cam sprocket.
It would also appear to me that you really do need some of the "special tools" used by Volvo. I didn't have any of these but fortunately I was able to fabricate some bits and pieces which did the job for me.
I have to say that changing a water pump and timing belt with the engine in place must be an absolute nightmare.

[dannyKay]

Originally Posted by Kelvyn

Well I managed to get a replacement engine from a breaker on which I have replaced the timing belt and water pump (not the easiest cambelt replacement I've done and thats with the engine sitting outside a car). Over the past weekend I managed to get the replacement engine into the car, so now its just a case of trying to remember where everything goes and what fixes it there.
There are some strange design features on these engines, for example neither of the sprockets on the camshaft are keyed in place which means you can't make any useable timing marks unless you intend not replacing the water pump when you change the belt (not recommended in light of what happened with mine as I suspect that when the previous owner had the belt changed 20k ago he didn't get the water pump done).
This lack of keying the sprocket to the cam wouldn't be such an issue if you didn't need to remove the belts rear plastic cover to gain access to the water pump. As it is the only way to get to the pump is to remove the cover and to remove the cover you have to remove the cam sprocket.
It would also appear to me that you really do need some of the "special tools" used by Volvo. I didn't have any of these but fortunately I was able to fabricate some bits and pieces which did the job for me.
I have to say that changing a water pump and timing belt with the engine in place must be an absolute nightmare.

Kelvyn

I'd like to know what specialist tools you needed or would help.
WEre you in a home garage or did you have use of a garage lift.
Also if you took any photos of pulleys and timing marks, that would help.
Presumably you had the gear to allow you to lift old engine out and new one in. Was the timing info, drawings etc easy to obtain from the dealer or the internet.

Danny

[Kelvyn]

Danny
I'm Actually working outside my house on my driveway as I dont have a garage. Which means its taking me a while as I dont like working in the rain.
You are supposed to have a tool that locks the crankshaft in place. It looks basically like a piece of tapering plate. At the smaller end is like a piece of tube that goes into the sticking out tubular section of the plastic rear cover ( in there is the front fixing of the casting that carries the power steering pump and air con compressor this fixing has to be removed to accept the long bolt that holds the tool in place). At the bigger end is a ring with a cut out in it that fits snugly into the middle of the Aux belt pulley. Now I didn't have this tool but I was working on an engine not fitted in the car so I made up a paper pattern of the fixings that hold the flywheel to the crank. I transferred the position of 2 of these onto a piece of anlge iron and positioned a third hole that lined up with a fixing hole in the block where the gearbox bolts to it, I needed a couple of washers between the block and the angle iron, once bolted in place the crank was locked solid. You will need a long breaker bar to release the centre bolt in the bottom pulley as its really tight. I ended up using a 3/4 inch drive air impact wrench to crack mine.
There is also a special tool to counterhold the camshaft pulley, the real thing is like a handle with a U shape at one end, sticking out of the U are a pair of pegs that fit into two of the holes in the pulley. I turned down some bar so that it was a snug fit in the holes then drilled and tapped a hole in the middle. Then I took a length of flat bar,drilled a couple of holes at one end (spacing from a paper template again) loosely fitted my pegs, offered it up to the pulley then tightened up the screws. To make sure they couldn't move I just tack welded the pegs to the bar.
The engines were lifted with an engine crane borrowed from my son-in-law. Its a bit of a squeeze lifting the engine out but it does go as long as you get all the ancilliaries and the front engine mount (by the radiator)off. I also removed the aux belt tensioner to allow the engine to move away from the gearbox.
I think when Volvo remove the engine they lift the body off the subframe so they end up with with the engine gearbox and subframe together.
My car is an automatic by the way so I dont know if you can get the engine of a manual out this way (on an auto there is no input shaft that has to to clear a clutch housing)

[dannyKay]

Kelvyn

Where did you find the timing marks and tech info - was it easy to find?

Danny

[howie 1]

Originally Posted by dannyKay

Kelvyn

Where did you find the timing marks and tech info - was it easy to find?

Danny

i believe this sort of info can often be found in publications known as workshop manuals... however it may be just another urban myth

[Kelvyn]

Originally Posted by dannyKay

Kelvyn

Where did you find the timing marks and tech info - was it easy to find?

Danny

Actually a family friend has one of these hookie copies of Volvo's Vadis so I asked him to print me off the relevant sections. I have to say it seems much less vague than the Haynes manual but then I suppose if its what Volvo use then it really should be, after all they built it in the first place so they should know how to repair it

[dannyKay]

Originally Posted by Kelvyn

Actually a family friend has one of these hookie copies of Volvo's Vadis so I asked him to print me off the relevant sections. I have to say it seems much less vague than the Haynes manual but then I suppose if its what Volvo use then it really should be, after all they built it in the first place so they should know how to repair it

Tks Kelvyn

That confirms it.
Presumably Vadis is dealers service manual.
Is it available for non dealers or Volvo enthusiasts clubs

Danny

[Kelvyn]

I saw one on ebay pretty cheap, might get my own copy.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VOLVO-VADIS-WO...item3a60836c7d