S60 T5 AWD timing belt issue
 

Looking for some advice on 2016 s60 t5 awd timing belt problem. Liked car, bought 4 years ago in Canada with 17k km, car regular serviced every six months and now 65k km. Last week pulled out of driveway and hear rattle in front end, drove 100 yards, engine stalled and would not restart. No previous indication of a problem. Towed to dealer and received call next day from service stating belt breaking caused severe engine damage, car now needs engine rebuid minimum $5000+ estimate. Dealer sent service info to volvo canada to see if they will cover cost? Now waiting on response. Car 6 years old and been babied never abused, guarantee only covers 4 years. Anyone out there had experience dealing with a similiar issue?
Bob

I have fixed many (unfortunately) Volvos where the timing belt came off earlier than expected and bent all the valves. Usually either a timing belt tensioner or idler pulley fails pushing the belt off or the serpentine belt shreds and pieces get caught under the timing belt making the cam timing incorrect.

Most cars simply need a valve job. Remove head, send head to machine shop for new valves and whatever else is needed, new timing belt, tensioner and idler, new serpentine belt, clean oil, new antifreeze, etc. Yes there will be little dents in the tops of the pistons but those don't create any problems. You may be getting an estimate for an "engine rebuild" because they plan to remove the oil pan and replace the piston rings and or pistons (with new rings). There are some newer (2012+) Volvo engines that have oil burning problems and perhaps your service provider wants to eliminate that possibility. Does your engine use any oil?

You could ask an independent local Volvo specialist what they would recommend (just a valve job or?) and what it might cost. A few years ago at my shop that would be a $2800- $3500 job (not including pistons or rings)

Sorry for your loss.

I went through a phase of buying up Volvos for $400 and I had one that spun a cam bearing. The cam runs directly in the head, no removable bearing, so it just smeared metal in the head itself. Lubrication problem. So anyway that's not unheard of (by me). I suppose the belt breaks always in response to something else.

Those timing belts should be changed before the time limit. I told customers to hang a new belt every 65k miles on the aluminum 5 and 6 cylinder engines. Included was the tensioner and idler.

If it leaked oil, then we did the seals too.

A component coming apart or getting loose is probably what happened. Unfortunately, yours had a lot less than 65k miles.

65k miles is overkill. On those engines, the drive belt tensioner is what fails. The serpentine belt then slowly walks off the pulley, shreds and gets caught in the timing.

Do you know if Volvo ever issued a TSB on this issue? .

I know two people who have an S60 and one of them had it fail leading to a $9000 bill for an engine rebuild. I'm encouraging the other to have her tensioner replaced as a preventative. She's wondering if Volvo would kick in for the cost since there does seem to be a high rate of failure for the tensioner. Having a TSB in effect would probably help her make the case. Finally, do you know if the new timing belt kits (which include the tensioner I think) use a metal tensioner instead of the failure-prone plastic one?

Thanks

Not aware of any TSB on this issue. I received no aid from Volvo Canada, Long story, in the end cost $8K for repairs, I still have car, runs great but; decided to move from Volvo because of this issue.
Bob

I have a 2016 S60T6 with 47k miles on it and the exact same thing happened and Volvo doesn't want to do anything, but this is a known issue, I have discovered several cars with the exact same failure.