This car is pretty bulletproof when properly maintained. It does have it's quirks though. Voltage must be almost perfect all the time. The car will act very strange when it's not happy with the voltage. So first things first. What is the battery voltage? It should be 12.2 or so when the car is off and 14.4 volts when running. A digital multimeter is a great tool and a cheap investment. Get one and use the DC Volt scale. You are trying to determine if the alternator is charging.

When you say the timing belt is starting to shred did you mean the actual timing belt or the alternator belt (which you mentioned being replaced)? A shredding timing belt is a very serious issue that must be addressed by a mechanic. A shredding alternator belt is a different matter. Given your earlier replacement I would begin to suspect the alternator itself.

 

 

Something is terribly wrong if the timing belt is being shred. There are 6 things that touch the timing belt. The two cam gears, the idler, the tensioner, the water pump, and the crank gear. I would start taking the timing cover off to find the problem. Timing belts are supposed to last for years and years.

The car not working could also be the ignition switch itself. When mine started to fail the car would sometimes not do anything when I turned the key. I would rotate the key back and forth until it finally cranked over and started. Replacement is a PITA but fairly inexpensive for the DIY person. A shop is going to hit you for labor so it's not cheap. Just my guess.

 

 

When the serpentine belts (alternator belt) goes on these cars it sometimes fouls the timing belt. Could this be what happened to your timing belt?

 

 

totally confused by your issues - there are two different belts - the accessory belt and the timing belt (which is under the timing belt cover on the nose of the engine near the right front wheel well). Which did you inspect? When you say the car doesn't start up when you hit the gas - are you saying the car will start and idle but has no power or will the car won't even start at all? If it won't start at all, does it turn over with the starter motor? If it turns over does it sound normal?

 

 

Had a similar issue with water pump freezing and throwing timing belt off, destroyed all the valves, so if your even jumped a few teeth, likely you have no more ability to start with bent valves.

 

Sorry guys but I can't get a handle on what's going on. There seems to be confusion over a timing belt versus a serpentine belt.

 

I'm also having a lot of trouble with the description of the symptoms. Bottom line is, if the timing belt is "shredding", there's something seriously (and terminally) wrong. The OP mentioned that one of the "gears" is stuck. I suppose he could mean that one of the cams is frozen, and that is keeping the engine from turning over (if so, it can only be a blessing in disguise, since turning over an engine with a stuck camshaft is a quick ticket to bent valves).

I'm kind of at a loss as to how the position of the gas pedal or fuel getting where it needs to go has any relevance though. Being able to clearly and accurately articulate the symptoms can save a boatload of money at the shop (or if you're a DIY'er, looking for advice on forums).

 

Thread from the dead. This just happened to me. 2013 S60 T5 2WD 109K miles. Im upside down in this car and hurting for money due to corona virus. I depended on this car f*** me. I havent bothered putting on a new belt. Instead I just borescoped the cylinders to see the shiny new marks on my pistons. I've got shots of all cylinders accept no.4 because it was pretty much top dead center and it was too high for my camera.

 

a nice set of valve dings. is the timing belt intact? if this was a recent event (running nice them boom...) you likely have bent exhaust valves. If the belt is intact you may have jumped timing - check the timing marks, then do a compression test. a turbo engine should be 150 PSI, NAs about 180.

 

yup. Driving roughly 35mph. Slowly accelerating from a stop light in traffic and power went gone. Timing belt is intact. Im not going to bother with a compression test. Motor totally had a bad day. Good news is no broken valves on the pistons I guess?

 

Yep, that stinks. FWIW, that mileage / age seems awfully "young" for a timing belt to slip like that. Maybe something else failred (tensioner?) or it got oil-soaked at some point?

The good news is that you don't have to spend more time troubleshooting the engine - it's a paperweight. I guess it might be possible to do a head swap but I'm betting you will spend less time and money just finding a good boneyard motor and swapping out the whole enchilada.

 

It is young. I suspect the tensioner failed like others and the rest was a chain event. I've since contacted Volvo for help. I don't know what they are going to do with it if at all (I won't blame them really, car is over 100k). They wrote back and asked me to have it officially diagnosed by a dealer. I think the $150 to spend towing and paying for an inspection might be worth the investment in the long run if something can happen. I'm waiting on the call for an appointment right now so I can drop it off and pay them to tell me what I already know. Well see. I guess if Volvo has asked me to do this thus far there might be a chance for some help right?

If this doesn't go through I also SERIOUSLY lucked out. My neighbor is a mechanic and saw my now Swedish driveway ornament sitting there with the hood popped. I've never really talked to him much outside of chit chat. He stopped by yesterday and offered to help me out and fix it in the driveway for $Beer.99! Were going to even take the turbo and send it off to get rebuilt too since well be in there. He will forever get anything he needs if he asks for my help in the future.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath on Volvo coming through, but if it looks like a possibility, might be worth the risk of spending the tow / diagnosis fee. OTOH, they might just give you $3000 discount on the $10000 motor swap. ;-)

Good news on having a wrench-twisting neighbor. Those can come in handy (though I've never had one, only been one). ;-)

 

well Volvo's service intervals for the S40 timing belt is 10 years or 120K miles - whichever comes first (excepting for the Cali-car engines which is longer) with a replacement of the tensioner at the servicing so it was probably the original tensioner that failed after 14 years. If you swap the engine you can probably rebuild the old one's head when its out of the car and sell that to defray some costs. A lot easier to rebuild an engine on a stand...