I'm about to do the cam shaft seals on our S70 GLT. I will do a photo write-up and link it to this thread. I do have a question before I start.

Do I need some grease for the seals or can I just oil and slide them in? If I need grease, what kind do I use?

Second question: Do I need a tool to keep the cam gears from turning before I break the bolts loose on them?

Front Cam Shaft Seal Instructions: http://www.atthetipwebs.com/technolo...als_s70glt.htm

 

I have always used grease (regular old multi-purpose moly grease) to lubricate oil seals, but I know a lot of folks use a bit of engine oil. I just like being able to place the grease and it stay where I want it.

Yes, you need a tool to hold the cam pulleys still while you break the bolts loose. Otherwise, you can rotate your cams out of timing with your crank. I would honestly recommend doing the whole timing belt job while at it (unless it was JUST done and the seals weren't). I have/use a tool that is like the one in the picture below. I wrote a tutorial on doing the head gasket, and this seal is covered/shown in it (http://www.tracystruesoaps.com/tutorials/850hg/p1.html). I have since seen someone mention on here a good way to push the new seal in. They said you get the new one barely started into where it goes (greased up of course), then place the old seal on it backwards (with the flat edge of the old one inward instead of outward - against the flat edge of the new seal), then put the cam pulley on backwards (where the flat edge of it is inwards) and tighten it on - pushing the seal in. I have good luck just greasing it and pushing it in evenly with my thumbs and fingers myself, but that sounded like a cool idea that would work.

HTH

 

Well, I do have all the stuff to do the tbelt as well. I did look over your instructions and I started getting a little confused as to what I actually needed to do since you were doing so much. I think I'm going to try to make a tool to hold the cam still, maybe a 2 x 4 with a couple of bolts in it, I'm pretty broke right now and don't want to spend another $20 on a tool. I know it sounds bad but things have never been tighter.

Thanks for the tips on getting the seals in. I'm also doing a full tune up on it so hopefully I'll get it all done today. It's suppose to be cold tomorrow. Today it's 60 (perfect).

 

I tapped my cam seals in with a piece of PVC pipe and a rubber mallet. It's really not that hard a job to do, you just need to take your time and follow directions and you'll be fine.

 

What directions?

I forgot to clean out the front of the motor where the t-belt is from all the oil that the cam seal dumped. Is it ok to spray that ENGINE DEGREASER from the auto parts store on a new T-BELT? I would like to clean it out with that stuff then rinse it down.

 

Personally, I would be too afraid that the degreaser would be likely to possibly degrade the new timing belt, not to mention contaminating it with grease.

 

Well, I have bigger problems than that. When I went to install the belt, and when around the intake cam then to the exhaust cam, my belt was 1/2 of a tooth off. So I was trying to figure out what happen??? Did I not align a cam on the shaft properly, did one of them move a little, do I spin a cam just a little to get it on and wham! The exhaust cam rotated clockwise about 2 teeth. So I'm wondering if I should take the thing back the 2 teeth, did it slip on the shaft because I didn't tighten the bolts good, I'm not sure what happened. So now I'm playing teeter tooder trying to figure this out.

My guess is (and I know this is not a guessing game), the exhaust cam moved clockwise and DID NOT slip on the shaft. So I did find a shaft scratch on both shafts that match the sprockets. I'm going to go with them, align the freeking sprockets to the top rear cover alignment slots, tighten the belt, turn it two or 3 times over with the wrench and pray that God has mercy on me as he does DAILY.

If anyone else has suggestions for me please let me know. Other than that, all that pray, please do.

 

Well, I finished the t-belt. Everything looks good. I guess I should start it before I do any other work on it. I wont be worth doing any of the othe work if the motor needs to come back out.

 

I need to do my T belt soon and you have just experienced my worst fear...you got my prayers brother...did it start ok???

 

Well, I haven't gotten up the nerve to start it yet but I think it's going to be fine. The thing I had the problem with was pulling those cam gears and trying to get them tightened without the spanner tool shown above. I have done a few t-belts with no problem, just make sure things are MARKED before you take things loose.

The main problem that I continually have on t-belts is getting the T-45 loose on the tensioner roller. I have stripped 2 of them on 2 different cars. I ended up taking the roller off the bracket and installing a new roller torqued to about 2 ft lbs. In both cases I ended up putting liquid steel and silicone on the bolt threads in an attempt to keep the bolt form backing off and causing the roller to fall off or coming loose. I check it ever 5,000 to 10,000 miles to make sure the nut is not coming off. I'm not 100 percent sure what my problem is but I suspect that my T-45 driver has a inset that is to shallow. I probably need to file the end of it down so that it seats deeper in the bolt on the front of the motor. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when it's time to replace the roller again in 70k, maybe sell the car. LOL

 

RSPI: that is EXACTLY what you need to do. I couldnt get that thing to turn for the life of me, so i took the bit and essentially cut it in half and it came out easily.

 

Thanks. I'll grind the tip off and maybe it can get the bolts out next time. Still haven't started the car yet. Can someone come turn the key for me?

 

I was able to wedge my T45 socket into that bolt and then held a prybar against it between the socket and the fender - holding it in tight while I broke the bolt loose. I have seen other folks say you can drill a hole through the fender (inner fender, won't show from outside) and get a good, straight bite on it.

As far as starting the car, if you have turned it over by hand a couple times and it stays in time every time, it seems like there should be no fear of starting it up. I hope it all goes well.

 

Yes, i turned it 3 times. I'm really not worried about it. Thanks for confirming my thoughts though. I need to get another cam seal for the rear and do the brakes, then the tune up. The stealer here only had 1 of the rear cam seals so I order another one. Then I remembered that the dealer in Charlotte usually has parts for a LOT LESS than my local stealer. So I called them and sure enough, they charge 1/2 what mine does for the cam seals. Our location wants $23 per seal and the one in Charlotte only wants $11.50. So I ordered two from them and will get back to work on it when they get here tomorrow or Wednesday.

I have so many irons in the fire I'm going to explode one day. I put everything together yesterday morning before I went to church at 7:30 and by the time I got home it was 2:30. Then I stopped by a friends, bla, bla, bla, and when I finally settled around 4:30 I found out that my heater/furnace was out. So I had the pleasure of tinkering with that for 2 to 3 hours before we went to bed around 10:00 (Steeler football game). So went to bed with NO heat. So, I may not get back to this thing till Thursday.

When someone has a cam out of alignment and turns the motor over, and it's out of adjustment, what happens? Does it stop? Do you hear the tapping? Why do they hit the starter without getting it right?

 

Hurrah! The car started and drove around the block. I had a hard time removing the cam sensor from the rear cam. Broke the 1st bit, started to strip it on the 2nd bit so I went and purchased a good bit from the local auto parts store. Finally got it out.

The car started fine, I'm going to replace the seal on the back of the motor, replace the fuel filter, brakes, then change the oil and be done with this car for a while. I'll post instructions later.

 

Awesome! Congrats on a successful job.

 

Awesome, I'm gonna have to shoot you a line and maybe some green once i get the parts to do mine. (myron cope voice) Yea dem stillers arrr startin to cawss sum nOOIIze!! lol

I suck at lining things up IE my turbo shaft and turbine

 

Turns out that these seals were replaced before. I can only imagine it was because the PCV was plugged up and they put some aftermarket seals in. Not sure how long ago it was but I had to replace them. The front aft and the rear fwd was completely blown out. I will post instructions within a day or two.

 

glad it worked out for you. It always seems the little jobs turn out to be the bad ones.

 

Whew... that's Great!!! Not so afraid to do mine now. Quick question, my front cam seals are not leaking at all, but my h2o pump is starting to drip so the T belt job will be soon. Should I do the cam seals too? You've all herd the saying, "If it's not broke don't fix it ". What's the vote Yeas or Nays? ??
Hope I can offer some good info one of these days instead of just taking.

BTW. 94 850 Sedan, 167k. PCV, rear cam seal (Ex) , FP relay & filter, EGR solenoid, all 4 calipers, pads & rotors, dash&console bulbs, rear door speakers & pwr antenna and plugs, wires & cap...So far. Runs showroom ,new! My first. Volvo but not my last! Thank you all. In case you forgot...should I do the NOT LEAKING seals?