Hello!

this is my first post so bear with me!

I have a 2004 Volvo XC-90, took it to the dealer to replace a leaking radiator. They quoted me $1100, but then mentioned I need to have my timing belt replaced due to vehicle having 160,000 miles and no record of timing belt replacement; this is true, Ive had the vehicle since 100,000 miles and I never replaced it, my mother inlaw owned it previously and confirmed she hadnt either.

Anyway, dealer quotes $750 for the timing belt, I say go for it! Two days later, service guy calls me and says a cam shaft is “bulging” and needs replacement; quotes another $1100. I visited the dealership to witness the issue, the techs turn the crank sprocket, the cam shaft pully nearest to the firewall did indeed moved “out” and “in” about 1/8” of an inch. The Tech told me the spring behind the pully was bad, so the pully, and all shaft seals needed to be replaced. He says if I do not move forward with the work, he recommended ridding myself of the vehicle ASAP, as it will be a “ticking timebomb”.

It seemed legit enough, but I had zero issues with my engine prior to this. Engine start, acceleration, power, noise etc were all normal before the repair. I had no alarms or check engine warnings. Ive always stayed on top of my oil changes with high quality full synthetic etc. I cant help but to feel the dealer might be heavily exaggerating somewhere along the line.

What do you guys think? Is $1100 too much for the pully and seal replacement? I went in only for a radiator replacement at $1100, and Ill be driving out with $3000 of repairs.

Well, at least they lent me a 2019 XC60 in the meantime!


Any replies or advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you all!

 

Some movement of the CVVT pulley is normal. 1/8" doesn't sound bad. I've replaced some that moved more than that.

Are they quoting $1100 for the pulley, cam seals and timing belt kit?

 

$1100 was the quote for cam shaft pulley, front and rear seal and crankshaft seal. The charges were as follows:

$1100- radiator replacement
$700- timing belt replacement
$1100- cam pulley and seals replacement
grand total- $2900.

They noticed the supposed “bulging cam shaft pulley” when they were changing the timing belt. I thought maybe he accidentally undercharged me for the timing belt job, so tried to make up for it with thecam shaft pulley job. What do you think? Thanks so much for the reply!!

 

Well when replacing a CVVT pulley, the labor overlaps with the timing belt.

The timing belt kit is about $200 plus $70 for the serpentine belt, which I assume they also quoted.

The CVVT pulley is about $350.

Labor for cam seals is about 5 hours. I don't know what their labor rate is, but lets just say $140 an hour. That would be about $1320 parts and labor plus the seals, so maybe $1400.

Radiator pays 3 hours and the part is about $400 so around $820.

 

Very much appreciated! I did verify the part prices which are slightly higher than what you mentioned, but still in the same ballpark
so I guess the question Im left with is how necessary was the repair to begin with. As far as the cam pully having slight in and out movement. Outward when tension is applied, inward when released.. commom sense tells me that obviously that pully shouldnt have any in/out movement, but I just wonder if it was as critical as they made it seem. Any thoughts on that aspect?
thanks again!

 

Like I said, some movement is normal. There is no black and white spec though. Since the labor overlaps, the time to do it is when you are doing the timing belt. The ones I have replaced had more than 1/8" of movement.