... 1985 244GL B230F.

I was about to put it in the shop Monday to address all of the belts including the timing belt (even though not all need to be replaced), but the damn thing went ahead and broke Saturday.

I have a Haynes repair manual (which isn't great), and have seen that the part itself at places like O'Reilly and AutoZone is about $15, but I shudder at the labour charges I will have to replace it, although I'll be calling my repair shop on Monday to look into it.

Thx.

 

Timing belts are do-able in your driveway. If you're not afraid to take the radiator out, then you're probably confident enough to go a bit farther. The worst part, as I'm sure everyone will agree, is getting the crankshaft pulley bolt loose. This is more of a problem if you have an automatic; with a manual tranny you can put the car in gear to hold things in place. An impact wrench was all I needed to break mine loose, but if you don't have one there are alternatives, like the tool IPD sells, or a procedure they call "the rope trick". Mine took most of the afternoon and about 3 beers.. If you're a guy who puts his car in the shop to get the belts changed, I'm thinking you might want to just bite the bullet and let the shop do it. The good news is that they should have it back to you the same day.

 

I agree with Joesph/TX.

I did my first one in November, I did have an impact wrench, and the crank holder tool, so the it was really not a bad job, except for one self induced hiccup.
http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/volvo/...lt_change.html

Go over to http://www.brickboard.com/FAQ/700-900/ there is plenty of 200 series info also.
Do a little research, there is a wealth of information there, something I should have done!

Keep us posted on your progress.
Good Luck

 

Thanks to all of you. I'm going to wait until after Christmas (I usually walk to work because it's a block away) and after another paycheck comes on the 30th and then just take it to a shop, mostly because I don't have the appropriate tools to address removing the crankshaft pulley (and yes, my Brick has an automatic transmission). It's too cold to work outside on the car (yes, even in Oklahoma) but while it's sitting idle in the driveway it will give me a chance to look some other things over under there. It's a very, very good car for its age and mileage (196,000), but things break.

 

Yeah, and a local small Volvo shop here in Des Moines only charged like $75 to do a timing belt.

 

$75 is a great deal... hard to find it for less than 200.

 

On a side note, I had already purchased the timing belt, but the small time local volvo mechanic in Des Moines is probably one of the best, fairest, and down to earth Volvo mechanics around haha, he's definitely not in it for the money.