Hi all,
I'm the new owner of a volvo s60 t5. I got a good deal on the car but I bought it knowing that it needed to have the timing belt changed. Now the car has 122 thousand miles on it and by the book it says it needs to be changed every 105,000 so I'm already on borrowed time. What I'm wondering is, is considereing it's going to take me 4 or 5 weeks to get the money up to have it changed, how big of a risk am I taking. I'm going very easy on it right now but I am driving it. I probably put 200miles a week on it so I need it to hold for another 1,000 there abouts. Does anyone know or have ever seen a timing belt break on a 2001 s60 and at what mileage did it break. Any comments are welcome. I am very concerned already I just need some more information and if I go easy on it will I make it another month. Will be replacing the water pump as well. Engine and transmission is running great but the A/c is not working. Found one leak and fixed it but apparently the expansion valve is not working. Has anyone had a compressor go out on them?? I hope not. Anywho, thanks in advance.

Reid

 

I was also wondering if the engine had to be pulled to do it or can the tensioners and belt be replaced without pulling the engine i.e. have a freind whose a master tech do it for me.......even if he has to pull the engine. I've been reading around here on the forums and I'm extra nervous now about it. I inspected it myself but it honestly doesn't look that bad as far as cracks go. Obviously it needs replacing I just don't have the loot to do it with as this very moment. Thanks

 

I'm not sure exactly what the T5 engine is, but I have an '02 S60 2.4T and had the original (as far as I know) timing belt up to about 129,000 miles before I changed it. It's a pretty easy job and took me about 2.5 hours. I had never done a timing belt before that, so your master mechanic friend will probably whiz through it in an hour and a half. I'm not sure how much more time is involved when you swap out the water pump though. No need to pull the engine, everything is accessible from above and from the passenger wheel well.

 

Thanks MTNBKR! I think I'm going to be okay. He's trying to do this on the side outside of his work so he's taking forever. I would try it myself but I just don't feel comfortable messing with it when I've never done it before. Thanks again though!