I recently purchased a 2000 Volvo V70 None Turbo. Love the car, drives great, with good gas mileage. The car is in very good condition over all. With about 146,250; I really want to replace the timing belt, tensioner, idler, and water pump. I narrowed it down to a specialty shop located in downtown Orlando.

I inquired about his $400 Timing Belt job for a 2000 Volvo V70 None Turbo. He replied back stating it includes belt (Contitech or Ruvile), tensioner (INA), and idler (INA). Great price, far cheaper then the dealer and other Volvo shop, with good reviews around the net. But when I asked about adding a Waterpump and Sytethic Oil Change. He said,"The Cam seals add a pretty good chunk of change to the price because your car is a varible valve timing car and it requires locking in the rear of the cams to hold the timing. I just worked up an estimate and it shows $750 for cam seals, Timing belt, Tensioner, Idler, and waterpump. It's nearly an additional 1.5 hrs for the cam seals and additional .7 for the water pump." Price jumped up a bit more then I budgeted...

Is the cam seals something I need to replace now? Personally I say do it if they start to leak. But I'm not the expert and if it's something that needs to be done or am I being taken for a ride? I was originally budgeting $600 give or take for Belt, Tensioner, Idler, Water Pump, and Oil Change.

I depend on this car allot and need it to be reliable. I am just trying to get the preventive maitance up to date. To well, keep it on the road.

Thanks,
Niall

 

If they aren't leaking, the choice is yours. Just know that if they leak in the future, you'll be paying for the whole job again basically because the belt usually gets soaked in oil and will need to be replaced. Of course, you wouldn't need the idler, tensioner and water pump again though.

I do timing belts quite often and I never recommend the seals at the same time if they aren't leaking. I don't see a lot of water pump problems so I usually don't recommend that either unless it is the second timing belt change. At your mileage, it isn't a bad idea to do the pump.