2005 XC90 2.5T Timing Belt Info
#1
06-12-2013, 09:55 AM
2005 XC90 2.5T Timing Belt Info
I posted this on another Volvo forum but I seem to spend most my time here so thought adding it to the pile might be helpful.
The purpose of this post is to assist others who may have some variations from the different tutorials on the web for changing the XC90 2.5T timing belt. I ran into a few surprises and wanted to share those with others who might be facing the same thing. This isn't a whole tutorial, there are enough of those out there. It's just supplemental info for people who might run into similar snags.
Vehicle: 2005 XC90 2.5T
Engine Number
This made a difference for me. There are timing belt kits for engine numbers up to 3188688 and kits for 3188689 and beyond. The difference is with the tensioner. My engine number was on the sticker on the lower timing belt cover. If that's missing it's on the back of the engine block and a pain to locate from what I understand.
Below are the part numbers for the different timing belt kits.
Volvo part 30758261 (up to engine number 3188688)
http://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-timi...sioner-30758261
Volvo part 30731727 (engine number 3188689 and beyond)
http://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-timi...sioner-30731727
I personally don't care where you get the parts from but this website does a good job of showing the parts, the YouTube tutorial, and explaining the engine number issue.
I got my parts locally from this place and I definitely recommend them. They also sell on ebay and ship parts.
Swedish Engineering -Independent Volvo Parts and Volvo Service
Serpentine Belt
All the tutorials I found stated the tensioner could be moved with a 14mm wrench. Well not if your tensioner has a large T60 torx inlet like mine and this one.
I ended up taking a fellow Volvo owners advice and pieced together the tool I needed because there doesn't seem to be one out there. I bought a 1/2" drive T60 bit like this one.
However just putting this onto a 1/2" breaker won't work due to the limited clearance. So if you hammer the torx bit out of the socket you are left with a T60 torx bit that will fit into a 12mm 3/8" drive socket which barely fits in the small space. You'll have to tape the torx bit into the socket so you don't lose it. Once you get the socket into the tensioner I slid a 19mm wrench onto the ratchet for more leverage. Just push towards the front of the car and the belt should come off pretty easily.
Oscillation Damper / Harmonic Balancer / Crankshaft Pulley
I tried to get this sucker off but finally gave up. I left it on as others have and it was fine. I did however have to remove the lower plastic cover (number 1 in the below image).
It's held on by two 10mm bolts. You can't really see what you're doing but you can feel around and get a 10mm wrench in there pretty easily. Once removed it allowed me to fish the new belt around the damper and get it seated on the crankshaft gear. Make sure the belt is actually on the gear. There are a few spots it can get snagged behind the damper. You can't see so it's all by touch but it's not too bad. I'm not sure if it's easier than removing the damper but I didn't have an impact wrench so it was my only option.
NOTE: Before removing the old belt make a mark on the damper in case it moves (like mine did). The timing mark is hard to see and having the damper marked will make it easier to get the timing right.
Tensioner and Idler
I removed the old ones completely before taking the old belt off. It helped to have less for it to snag on. I also waited until I had the new belt on the crankshaft gear before putting the new ones on. This worked great and working around the new belt is easy, you just push it out of the way to install the new tensioner and idler.
Those Fun Timing Marks
I had this all screwed up during the process. Adding to the fun I moved the crankshaft trying to remove the damper so I had to make sure everything was right. The lower timing mark is the hardest one to see. This image does a pretty good job of showing it to you. I lined up the mark on the engine block, through the valley of the gear and to the mark closest to you. This lined up to a mark I had previously put on the damper so I was convinced it was correct.
The upper cams move pretty easily so I was constantly having to reset those to make sure everything was correct. While putting the new belt on it took a few times to get the upper cams in the right spot. One tooth doesn't sound like much but it will be very noticeable on where the timing marks are. Just double and triple check everything is in the right spot. Once you get it right set the belt tension and tighten the center bolt on the tensioner.
Rotate the engine twice clockwise to see if the timing is okay. After the second time make sure the timing marks are all in the right spot.
Lower Timing Belt Cover
This stupid thing is a pain. It just takes messing with it until it falls into place. It needs to sit behind the damper which means shoving the cover down there and your hand to get it to slip behind the damper. After about 10 minutes mine finally dropped into place.
Useful Resources
Some of these are XC90 specific and some are other models but they all have useful information to do this job. This certainly isn't a complete list but these helped me.
YouTube tutorial:
Timing belt procedure PDF: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1621802/XC90%20Tim...20Procedure.pdf
Timing belt info: https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-xc90-9/...cautions-15171/
Timing belt articles: http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/volvo-rep...repair-database
Final Thoughts
Take your time and you should be fine. Just remember before you button everything back up and turn that key triple check everything. It's not a hard job but if done wrong it can be very unforgiving and EXPENSIVE to fix. Good luck!
The purpose of this post is to assist others who may have some variations from the different tutorials on the web for changing the XC90 2.5T timing belt. I ran into a few surprises and wanted to share those with others who might be facing the same thing. This isn't a whole tutorial, there are enough of those out there. It's just supplemental info for people who might run into similar snags.
Vehicle: 2005 XC90 2.5T
Engine Number
This made a difference for me. There are timing belt kits for engine numbers up to 3188688 and kits for 3188689 and beyond. The difference is with the tensioner. My engine number was on the sticker on the lower timing belt cover. If that's missing it's on the back of the engine block and a pain to locate from what I understand.
Below are the part numbers for the different timing belt kits.
Volvo part 30758261 (up to engine number 3188688)
http://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-timi...sioner-30758261
Volvo part 30731727 (engine number 3188689 and beyond)
http://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-timi...sioner-30731727
I personally don't care where you get the parts from but this website does a good job of showing the parts, the YouTube tutorial, and explaining the engine number issue.
I got my parts locally from this place and I definitely recommend them. They also sell on ebay and ship parts.
Swedish Engineering -Independent Volvo Parts and Volvo Service
Serpentine Belt
All the tutorials I found stated the tensioner could be moved with a 14mm wrench. Well not if your tensioner has a large T60 torx inlet like mine and this one.
I ended up taking a fellow Volvo owners advice and pieced together the tool I needed because there doesn't seem to be one out there. I bought a 1/2" drive T60 bit like this one.
However just putting this onto a 1/2" breaker won't work due to the limited clearance. So if you hammer the torx bit out of the socket you are left with a T60 torx bit that will fit into a 12mm 3/8" drive socket which barely fits in the small space. You'll have to tape the torx bit into the socket so you don't lose it. Once you get the socket into the tensioner I slid a 19mm wrench onto the ratchet for more leverage. Just push towards the front of the car and the belt should come off pretty easily.
Oscillation Damper / Harmonic Balancer / Crankshaft Pulley
I tried to get this sucker off but finally gave up. I left it on as others have and it was fine. I did however have to remove the lower plastic cover (number 1 in the below image).
It's held on by two 10mm bolts. You can't really see what you're doing but you can feel around and get a 10mm wrench in there pretty easily. Once removed it allowed me to fish the new belt around the damper and get it seated on the crankshaft gear. Make sure the belt is actually on the gear. There are a few spots it can get snagged behind the damper. You can't see so it's all by touch but it's not too bad. I'm not sure if it's easier than removing the damper but I didn't have an impact wrench so it was my only option.
NOTE: Before removing the old belt make a mark on the damper in case it moves (like mine did). The timing mark is hard to see and having the damper marked will make it easier to get the timing right.
Tensioner and Idler
I removed the old ones completely before taking the old belt off. It helped to have less for it to snag on. I also waited until I had the new belt on the crankshaft gear before putting the new ones on. This worked great and working around the new belt is easy, you just push it out of the way to install the new tensioner and idler.
Those Fun Timing Marks
I had this all screwed up during the process. Adding to the fun I moved the crankshaft trying to remove the damper so I had to make sure everything was right. The lower timing mark is the hardest one to see. This image does a pretty good job of showing it to you. I lined up the mark on the engine block, through the valley of the gear and to the mark closest to you. This lined up to a mark I had previously put on the damper so I was convinced it was correct.
The upper cams move pretty easily so I was constantly having to reset those to make sure everything was correct. While putting the new belt on it took a few times to get the upper cams in the right spot. One tooth doesn't sound like much but it will be very noticeable on where the timing marks are. Just double and triple check everything is in the right spot. Once you get it right set the belt tension and tighten the center bolt on the tensioner.
Rotate the engine twice clockwise to see if the timing is okay. After the second time make sure the timing marks are all in the right spot.
Lower Timing Belt Cover
This stupid thing is a pain. It just takes messing with it until it falls into place. It needs to sit behind the damper which means shoving the cover down there and your hand to get it to slip behind the damper. After about 10 minutes mine finally dropped into place.
Useful Resources
Some of these are XC90 specific and some are other models but they all have useful information to do this job. This certainly isn't a complete list but these helped me.
YouTube tutorial:
Timing belt info: https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-xc90-9/...cautions-15171/
Timing belt articles: http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/volvo-rep...repair-database
Final Thoughts
Take your time and you should be fine. Just remember before you button everything back up and turn that key triple check everything. It's not a hard job but if done wrong it can be very unforgiving and EXPENSIVE to fix. Good luck!
Last edited by ses_volvo; 06-12-2013 at 09:57 AM.
#2
05-01-2020, 03:07 PM
I'm having to do a crank seal replacement and I am down to the crank pulley. Currently having trouble getting that nut off. (Probably need a new air gun as mine is a hand-me-down, tired and old) Eitherway. I believe I moved the crankshaft counter clockwise by 1 or 2 teeth on the timing belt. I had a cam locking tool on and tried turning the nut off and ended up loosening the timing tensioner and the crank moved. If I remove the spark plugs and timing belt, how easy is it to reposition the crank to the proper position?
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