HELLO
CURIOUS to KNOW ... HOW difficult is replacing TIMING BELT?

Our 1993 volvo 850 GLT (manaul - 'stick') ran GRRREAT until the other day We had just stopped @ GAS STATION - put fuel in the car & drove a few blks ... drove UP a mild incline (on ramp) & heard a muffled POP! o_O the CHECK ENGINE light appeared & the car stalled "cut OFF" as we came to a complete stop... tried to restart. ZERO success.

NOT knowing the CAUSE or what the muffled "POP" noise was (which didnt sound like a backfire) we pushed the car backward & attempted to JUMP START w/ the clutch "pop" the clutch to START car while rolling down hill in REVERSE. ZERO success.

TOWED the car to MECHANIC and was told TIMING BELT broke!

SHARING our experience, in the event someONE else seeks suggestions to a similar "POP NOISE" & fail to START experience.

THANK YOU in advance for comments @ DIY timing belt replacement.

 

Well suffice to say you are most likely gonna need to replace more than just the belt buddy you will likely need a new top end since this is an interference engine. Mine is still good by about 40,000 miles or another year by time but I still get scared that this will happen sometimes. Good luck !

 

An interference engine is a type of 4-stroke internal combustion piston engine. Depending on the design of an engine, piston and valve paths may "interfere" with one another as a result of incorrect timing in their movements.

Your mechanic will tell you this. When one of these (interference) engines has a belt break it's almost certain you bent a valve. If it's really bad you bent a number of valves, damaged the pistons and also damaged the head from the valve stem bending inside the valve guide.

The cylinder head will need to be removed and repaired if possible and the valves that bent replaced. Depending on the mileage it might be a good time to have a valve job done and not just replace the damaged valves and slap it back on. Machining the head surface is pretty much a necessity as it will insure the head is flat and that the heads "finish" will grip and hold the head gasket in place and give you the best reliability out of your $$s. Saving a little money on something like having the head machined can bite you in the butt if it's warped enough to let the head gasket blow out in five, ten or twenty thousand miles and you have to go back in and do it again.

Both IPD and FCP sell kits. I would recommend doing the kit, belt idler and tensioner assembly along with water pump. If anything that touches the belt fails, you lost the belt and end up "here" again.

Timing Belt Catastrophe - The Importance of Changing Associated Parts When Changing a Timing Belt

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...pic.php?t=8803

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/for...hp?f=1&t=32834

 

From your history it doesn't look like you posted here for assistance. Where was it you received the "helpful" advise to do the tune up ??

 

Thanks a million! This 850 was our first Volvo and its taken us everywhere been such a great car to our family we purchased and second volvo . Our intentions are to fix the 850 and family also willing and interested in investing time in doing the repairs ourselves thanks so much for the resourceful response and information. Happy New Year to you & yours...

 

Are you going to answer Kiss4aFrogs question?