Hi all. Just jumped to the s60 forum after giving up on trying to put an old 240 back together after many years of neglect. I picked up an extremely clean and good running 04 s60 non-turbo w/117K miles on it on Friday. It was from a dealer and they don't know if the previous owner replaced the timing belt or not. How hard is this for the average Joe to do on this car and is there a good "idiots guide" out there to do it?

 

I bought oem parts from fcpgroton one of the sites sponser, mention this forum and you will get a discount not to mention fast shipping and it's cheaper than your local parts store...I have a friend who is a mechanic do mine cause if your off just a hair it can cause you headaches so his labor was around $175 I bought the kit without the water pump...some say if your in there you might as well replace the water pump my friend said if I wasn't having problems do change it, that if I problems in the future he would swap it out.....its the saying "if it aint broke don't fix it" good luck and if you don't want the headache take it to a local mechanic and let them do it for you!

 

Thanks, Patsfn2. That's the route I'll take if I cant verify that the belt has been changed. I spoke to the dealer where the car was originally purchased and the original owner had all req'd service done there until 90K miles in August of 09 and no records at the dealer since. The person I spoke to said that I could look at the original belt and see if it had a red stripe on it, as the factory belts were marked as such. I looked and did not see a red stripe. Does anyone have experience with this. Just want to make sure it isn't something that could have faded away??? I've attached a pic and sure am hoping this is a replacement belt.

 

look closely at the belt(using a flashlight if necessary) you should see cracking on the belt... I would caution you and say "when in doubt change it" better safe then sorry.......you really don't want the belt to go....cause if it does you will have a very expensive problem as your engine will suck the valves on you

 

I could find neither sign of a red strip or signs of cracking even when looking with a flashlight. Is the red stripe an obvious thing on the original belts?

 

I am not sure about the red stripe, I can however tell you that a genuine oem timing kit from fcpgroton the new belt DID NOT have any red stripe on it when I looked at the belt....again do yourself a favor, instead of wondering if it has been change I would change it as it will give you peace of mind and keep you from damaging your engine should the current belt you have on it go because of dry rot or cracks....spend the $200-$300 if not it will cost you upwards of $3,000 if the engine sucks a valve...good luck

 

a recently replaced belt will have markings, ie Volvo name, continental, gates, etc.

that looks like the original belt with worn out markings.

You need to replace it ASAP along with tensioner and roller, +/- on the water pump.

 

Hey dlsipe1, I recently had this to say in the sticky for S60's regarding T-belt replacement: https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...s-15164/page7/