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?

 

If they're not leaking don't do them.

 

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the double post. Not sure how that happened???

 

I'd agree with Gilber here. dont replace the cam seals if they arent leaking. It would add another dimension of complication to your water pump and timing belt job...plus it's always something you can go back and do later if they DO leak.

 

"If it aint broke don't fix it!" Keep that right in front of your mind most of the time. I would NOT. Those things may NEVER leak. I had a car with over 400,000 miles that never leaked a drop of oil from them.

As for the T-Belt, if you are not sure about the last change, do everything in there including the water pump. If the pump is dripping it's only a matter of time before it goes bad. That is the 1st sign of wear. It may leak a little for a year but since you have all that stuff pulled apart do it. I'm not big on replacing water pumps for no reason but if it's leaking, even just a little, it should be done.

I did a t-belt write up on my 960 and the 850/S70 is almost exactly the same short of the lack of space in front of the belt. Very little space. The most important thing I could say is MARK your TDC and get a GOOD QUALITY T-45 bit to remove your tensioner roller. I will post pics of a good bit later but it should NOT have a beveled tip, it will cause you to strip the bolt. Since I was not sure of the condition of the tensioner and rollers I replaced those as well. Heck, I figured that I saved so much by doing the job myself I should do those to. Some things are just not worth risking.

 

Thanks a lot for the feedback all. Belt was done in 99 with 74k on it according to the sticker, dealer job I think. Has 167k now...GULP 23k over recommended! Been reading every post regarding this job and saw your info regarding the torx mod. Funny, I did the same thing to get Rh bolt out when I broke the thermo lower housing. Planed to do the roller & tensioner also, that's why I was wondering about the seals. Didn't know about their failure rate. I'm glad to hear your advice, going to leave them alone. Over & out. ..for now!

 

Oh man sorry, I forgot to ask about what brand / quality level of belt, tensioner, rollers & water pump you would recommend? FCP all Volvo is a little pricey... (Thanks again!)

 

Rickford: the timing belt kit from FCP is actually VERY reasonable. I doubt you will find all the parts you need for anything CLOSE to that cost.

 

Maybe I am the only one, but my thought process is, "I'm already in here with the belt off and it doesn't cost that much to replace the seals or require that much extra work." To replace them later requires removing everything again to get the belt off of the cam pulleys. Replacing them just seems like cheap insurance (to me) on an item that you "know" will wear down and that undergoes a lot of revolutions while maintaining a good seal. Rubber/plastic and springs don't last forever. I am a firm believer of the adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but I do not apply that to things that are hard to get to later and cheap to replace now. Just my 2 cents worth (for free lol).

By the way, I have a lot of timing belt pictures and torques / fastener sizes on the tutorial I wrote for replacing a head gasket on this engine.

 

I agree.

IMO if your going through the effort go all the way. It's not like these cars and their parts are 4 or 6 years old. Just imagine doing the timing belt and a month later it has to come off because some $10 seals started to leak.

I'm in the process of my 3rd, down to the mains, rebuild and when it comes to replacing things like rod and main bearings on engines I have no experience with, I just do it because the investment of getting to them is way higher than the cost of purchasing new ones. Even when you're doing it yourself. Just plastigaging the mains and torquing all of those IM section bolts, breaking them loose, checking and cleaning the plastigage, reinstalling and torquing is a major effort and this is only if you get the right plastigage readings the first time.

 

I enjoy a healthy debate and it looks like this one could continue forever and stay 50/50 all the way. Thanks a lot for the all the thoughts. I have found that some jobs that were supposed to be "easy" ended up being a bitch, and some "hard" jobs not as bad as I thought they would be. I guess in the long run it's kind of a job by job decision depending on skill, TOOLS, experience, ingenuity and perception. I'll have to decide when I get the belt off and the water pump on if I want to continue. Thank God I have another car I can drive if the job ends up being a nightmare. Might start it between X-Mas & NY's. Thanks again for all the input. Hppy Holidays all. Rockford

 

If you can afford it, purchase all of the parts and replace the ones you need. That is, if you plan to keep the car more than 4 years. You can always use the parts next time.

Here are the instructions I did for the front cam seals. These instructions are for our S70 GLT, but I can't imagine them being different for the 850.
http://www.atthetipwebs.com/technolo...als_s70glt.htm