Hello everyone. I have a 1992 240 that decided to stop running in the middle of the road last night. Got it towed back to the house and have since found that the rotor and timing belt are not turning when cranking the engine. I am able to turn the over head cam and the rotor does turn then, so it doesn't appear to be frozen.

Now does anyone have any ideas what the problem could be? I need to know if it's worth digging into this motor or if I should be looking for another car.

Thanks for any help in figuring out the problem.

 

sounds like a broken timing belt. totally non-destructive on these motors.

its one of the easier timing belts of any car to replace, should be done every 60K miles as part of regular preventive maintenance.

pretty easy to fix if you are mechanically inclined, but if you were you'd know that. if nothing else needs replacing (water pump, engine shaft seals) its a few hours of labor at a shop and around $100 in parts (belt, tensioner). many shops will replace the water pump when they do the timing belt (Volvo suggests a new water pump every other belt) and when you do the water pump, you usually do the thermostat and hoses too on principle, so that can inflate the costs.

 

Just do the timing belt; no need to replace anything else unless necessary... "they" tell you so you buy more parts. Absolutely not needed to change the water pump or hoses "just because".

 

my experience is, water pumps last 120k or so miles. so every other belt, Volvo's factory recommendation, is not a bad idea.

that said, these water pumps have a little weep hole under the main shaft bearing. if water starts to drip out this hole, you're going to need to replace the pump, but you don't need to be in any hurry until its running out at a steady stream. Typically, its like 20K-30K miles from when it starts to drip til it gets bad.

 

Looks like I'm going to be ordering some parts, but before that I think I'll tear it appart and make sure that the crank shaft moves correctly. Once I know that I'm going to get the belt, a tensioner, the seals, a water pump and all the radiator hoses (the ones on there now are in need of replacement anyway). I figure as long as I'm in there I might as well get it all done at once.

Thanks for the help everyone.