so how long does it take to install a timing belt?
we took the car in for service and were told it was in horrible condition. we took the car back to volvo as they had supposedly replaced it 10k before.
the 2nd shop is thinking that volvo switched belts when we went back to complain, any thoughts

 

I'm not sure about a shop, but it took me 3 days (with a lot of breaks and troubles along the way)... I'd think it'd take a few hours for a shop to do though. Tech will have a better answer.

 

On my S70 the hours charged were 2.5 hours plus 1.0 hours to R&R the water pump.

I say your new shop is BS'ing you. Just because the guy is an independent it doesn't mean he is honest or even any good! I took my cars to this one indie Volvo shop for several years and had great service . Then one day my old 740 needed a new muffler, The SOB welded a $35 generic NAPA(Walker) muffler on my car and tried to charge me $230 for a genuine Volvo muffler!

Seriously no Volvo dealer in his right mind is going to fudge on a timing belt. You got an invoice on the repair I assume? If that belt was in eminent danger of failure as the new shop claims, the dealer would be risking eating a $4000 cylinder head replacement if not worse. There isn't enough mark-up in a timing belt to make the risk worthwhile .

PS : Even if the dealer had replaced the belt when you brought it back he would have told you. No Service Manager is going to do the job again for free without trying to build some customer good will and loyalty for his trouble. " Mrs XXXXX we found nothing wrong with the timing belt we installed, however because you have been a good customer and we want to remove any doubts or fears you may have we installed another new timing belt to be certain there is no problem"

 

You can usually do a t-belt in about and 1 to 1.5 hours assuming everything goes as planned.

 

Based on what you have written, I would trust the dealer more than the independent guy at this point. I agree with what Rickc10ny said.