Hey, someone from another forum is telling me that I should've also gotten my water pump and tensioner done when I got my timing and serpentine belt and 2 pulleys replaced.

I've read that the water pump lasts as much as 200k but that's a moot point, total mileage is unknown on my car, it reads 107k. I just did got the timing belt kit done two weeks (~100 miles) ago.

My question is do I have anything to worry about, this is what they told me,
"the water pump and the tensioner are the ticking time bombs in your car and high probability they will go and kill your head and valves with them if you don't swap them out."

Is this a fact, if so, how long can i drive around until this may or may not happen? Should I put these at the top of my list of things to do next? Or do I have maybe 20k or so miles before needing to change these?

Thanks.

 

While it is good preventative maintenance to replace them while doing that job, I wouldn't go back into it just to replace those. A water pump is usually going to go bad slowly (weeping coolant when it does) versus a catastrophic failure, and yes I have heard of these Volvo water pumps lasting a long time. The tensioner is (oversimplified) really just a compressed oil chamber with the piston that applies pressure to the tensioner pulley. If it compressed ok, met specs, and didn't leak any oil, it should also be fine. When I did this job on our 850 (at close to 110k miles) while doing the head gasket, I reused the pulleys and tensioner. The tensioner passed muster, and the pulleys were smooth as silk, but not wobbly or loose. I would venture to guess you would be fine until the next timing belt change.

Tracy

 

Hey Tracy I feel alot better, I wonder why in the Continental Kit they did not offer the timing belt tensioner as well if it were as important as the other poster on volvospeed said.

Here's what came in the kit: A timing belt, a timing belt tensioner pulley, and a timing belt idler pulley. No timing belt tensioner.


Thanks for taking the time to respond so quickly!

 

Wow, that's odd. I ordered my kit from FCP and it came with the belt, tensioner, tensioner pulley, and idler pulley.

 

Don't loose any sleep over it Vmax; agree w/ycartf; you got the critical components...

 

Yea maybe continental knows something we don't. (sarcasm) I saw that fcp had more things, I did not know that my indy would not have changed the tensioner when he did everything else. I did not see the original tensioner or water pump, i'll probably have to take off the cover and check to see if they look decent?

I hear you gdog, this guy at volvospeed is trying to scare me I guess. Here's his most recent post:

"Dude, it's your car, your risk. I'm simply telling you what many have encountered including me personally. Will the water pump fail on you? Maybe but less likely. My indy has one hanging on his wall that failed catastrophically. So it does happen that the pulley on it seizes. Will the tensioner fail on you? Maybe and more likely. Roll the dice, I hope you get lucky. Just understand that others haven't. Especially since you don't know the actual mileage on the car since the odometer is broken."

 

I never change a water pump that isn't broken or leaking. The water pumps are designed to leak before they fail. If you decide to drive 100,000 miles on a leaking water pump you MIGHT suffer a shaft break and toss a timing belt. Truth be told, if it happens, call a tow truck and get another $2,000 car. Not the end of the world. I have heard of water pumps lasting over 250,000 miles. The tought thing is, there are a couple of different pump manufacturers. Get a good one and it may last longer than the car.

As for the tensioner, I do replace them if I don't know their age but I have NEVER heard of one failing and causing a belt to jump teeth and mess up the engine. I know it may happen to 1 in 250 cars but the odds are so low that you are likely to have a telephone pole fall on your car while driving down the freeway. If the person that changed the t-belt knew what they were doing, they would know to change the tensioner if it was leaking oil. I actually replaced one that leaked some oil when I compressed it, simply stopped where I was, went and got one. Other than that, if it works for 1,000 miles, it will likely hold you through 70,000. Most of the t-belt problems are from worn out belts and bad rollers. If you replaced the rollers you are likely OK. FCP actually sells the rollers for the tensioner pulley without the actaul tensioner bracket. My last 2 t-belt jobs were done with the roller only, saved me about $30 I think.

When I think of these parts like water pumps, rollers, etc., things with seals and grease, I also consider age. Seals and stuff age in time as well as miles. I think a 4 year old water pump with 200,000 miles on it is in better shape than a 13 year old pump with 80,000 miles on it. I feel the same about belts and rollers. I just did the t-belt on our S70 and did replace the tensioner and both rollers. I did it because I had them, both seemed in awsome shape as well as the belt. I just really didn't know when the stuff was last replaced, the car has 150,000 miles on it and I had to replace the cam seals. I had a roller on my 960 that I could hardly turn by hand (actually 2 hands) and the other roller rolled like an old skate wheel (spun around about 10 time with one spin). The tensioner also leaked when compressed. The car only had about 87,000 miles on it (about 20,000 on the belt). The reason I did the job is the noise that was coming from the belt area when the motor was cold (tip from Tech) and the water pump started leaking a little.

The thing that stinks is not knowing the history of the car. IMO, if it's the 1st change you are taking on, replace everything except for the pump if it's not leaking. Or should I say, have all parts on hand. If you are doing the job yourself, you can inspect each item and use the parts needed. Keep the other parts for the next time. If you drive 10k to 15k per year, you will likely never see the job again. If you drive 40k per year like I do, you will be back . Not many people keep a 14 year old car another 6 years.

As for checking parts that relate to the t-belt:
Tensioner - should be compressed very slowly, process should take about 5 minutes with a c-clamp. Do 1/2 turn every few seconds. If oil comes out of the shaft, replace it.
Rollers - You can turn them by hand. If you see grease coming out of the joints, replace them. Also, if you can spin them with your fingers, like spin it and it rotates more than 2 revolutions, it is probably out of grease and will not last much longer. Replace it. Also, if you can't turn it, it is likely already seized, replace it. It should turn very smooth and quietly, not freely.
Water Pump - Replace it every 200,000 miles or when it is leaking more than a few drops per day. I would also replace it every 15 years or sooner. My 850 has about 107,000 on the clock and it is starting to leak a little.

 

Well said, RSPI. When I did mine, i replaced EVERYTHING. Belt, both pulleys, the tensioner, and the water pump. about 150K on the car, and it was a job i didn't want to have to do again. My water pump was weeping a little bit of coolant, so i was glad i ordered it. I took tech's advice and ordered the Hepu pump.

I can definitely see the point you're making about "go buy another $2000 car" ....however, if i can prevent having to do that by replacing a $30 part, I tend to err on the side of caution.

Generally when I buy a used car, especially an older used car, I tend to plan on doing all the standard maintenance, because that way i KNOW when it was done. On mine, I did the timing belt, water pump, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, ignition coil (it was not putting out good voltage), coolant flush with t-stat, transmission fluid change, PCV system, etc. You know all the maintenance items on this car. LOL

 

haha, thanks for giving me your opinion as well rspi. Regarding the tensioner it seems "the odds are so low that you are likely to have a telephone pole fall on your car while driving down the freeway." rofl! I hear you.

Regarding the water pump, i'll check under the car for leaks slowly. Last time I was under there nothing seemed out of place.

 

Can you get the actual mileage from the OBD-ll port like you can from the under hood OBD on my 94 850 NT? Just thought I'd mention it!

 

Forgot to ask... Ibfied, you mentioned a "Hepu" pump suggested by Tech, what is that? You may recall that I'm going to do this job soon. (I was the guy asking about doing the front cam seals at the same time).
Rickford

 

Hepu is the brand of water pump, fcpgroton.com has them, maybe ipdusa.com

 

What he said. I bought mine through FCP

 

Here are my front cam seal replacement instructions for our S70 GLT. I'm sure it's the same for the 850. Maybe the seal part number is different.
http://www.atthetipwebs.com/technolo...als_s70glt.htm

 

Stage 1 baby. I wish I could afford to do that every time. I have to slowly work my way towards it. Maybe I need to budget better before I purchase.

I have heard of a few belts going on cars in general. It's usually because they have not changed the belt at all or the rollers seized up. I'm sure mechanics see all kinds of stuff blow these belts off. I just think so few blow from water pumps and tensioners that it is blown out of wack. One out of 200 is low odds.

 

No you can not. Do you need a certain OBD-II gauge?

 

Actually I was asking if you could. I didn't say you could get the milage on a OBD II. On a 94 w/obd under the Hood you can get the actual milage if the odometer gear is broken from the A6 port. Starter of this thread said he didn't know actual milage. I can give sequence used for OBD to get the milage but it does appear elsewhere on this forum, very easy.

 

Hey rickford, I have a '97 which is obd2. I'm guessing my miles aren't that high from what the odo stopped at b/c my belts looked as old as the car. I'll guess she's at 110K no more or less.

Next i'll get the odo gear from fcp on ebay $20 which has instructions listed in the listing as opposed to ipd asking $32 for gear and instructions.