First, I'd like to thank the posters that graciously shared their experiences with all things Volvo. I'm stubborn as far as always trying to DIY my vehicle repairs and y'all made it much simpler.


I picked up a 2000 S80 T6 in great condition this summer, 97K on the ODO. Had a few problems- CV joints clunking Easy replacement), a small vacuum line leak (Found and fixed), CCU lights and the rear view mirror auto dim was dead, but ran great and was overall a great deal.
Approaching 100K miles, I knew the risks of timing belt failures. I read up on it here and ordered the parts. Timing and serpentine belts, water pump (Why I'm down there...), idler and tensioner. Bought new Bosch plugs locally on a price match to save $30.


Disassembly was fairly easy. I have a shop with air tools, but it's full of cycles and 4 wheelers, so I worked under our carport using my 3/4" socket set to hold the crank pulley nut and a pulley holder made of scrap steel straps. I used the free tool loan program at my local auto parts store and borrowed a 2 and 3 jaw gear puller. I ended up using the smaller 3 jaw puller in a slightly awkward position for balancer. Lining up the cam timing marks (Marked with white paint marker) was easier than I'd expected, although the exhaust timing gear drifted a bit when I pulled the belt off.
The water pump just takes time. No sense in getting frustrated. I called it quits for the day after getting everything off. Reassembly went well, lining up timing belt is not hard at all. Getting on crank, intake and exhaust first, then taking advantage of tensioner slack makes it simple and fast.


Adventure time... Re connected battery and fired it up. Ran great. Except the AC was dead!? Actually, the entire CCU was dead. (Insert bad words).
Looked the problem up and yup, I'd cleaned the little dust turd from the Thermistor when I first got the car, breaking it, but it continued to work until the battery was off for 2 days. (More bad words).
I sent it to BBA Reman, in Mass. for repair, but they were unable to fix it. Fearing a possible reality of having to take it to Volvo for a $1000+ repair, I called an Indy shop in Edmond, OK (Sweed) and they advised to ship it to Xemodex in Ont, Canada ccm | xemodex US
I called them to describe my problems and they were very familiar with damaged Volvo CCMs and VIN specific assemblies. Shipped it to them on a Tuesday, got it back the next Monday and all is good. No more Thermistor cleaning for me.


Lessons-
1. Really not a hard car to work on, just can't be in a hurry. No cam timing gear holder needed.
2. Despite my water pump bearing seeming good, replacing a $69 part is much easier when its all apart anyway.
3. If you mess your CCM up, bite the bullet and send it (Or a salvage unit) to Xemodex.
4. I like Volvos. We had a '94 850 Turbo years ago and didn't realize how much I missed it.