How to Kill a Volvo D5 Engine!

[@thewaywardgrape3838]

I have a 09' V70 D5 - All belts and tensioners are changed at 50k mile intervals. It's not a weakness of the D5 engine, it's the owners negligence!

[@TheFallibleFundi]

I've had four belts snap. I wasn't aware of the potential catastrophic damage to the head. The first snapped shortly after buying the car. It was three years old. Luckily there was no damage. The belt and tensioner were replaced. This happened again, within the service interval. Again, no damage. The belt and tensioner were replaced. The third time it snapped and again there was no damage. The tensioner wasn't replaced as the work wasn't done by the usual garage due to time constraints. The replacement belt was non OE and I was still blissfully unaware of the risk involved. Seven months later, the fourth belt frayed and a slither of it caused the timing belt to jump a few teeth and the head was trashed. I'm in the process of replacing the head. I'm not a mechanic, so it's been a real trial as there's not too much space to play with. I've taken the rear bulkhead out which has made things more accessible. I'm replacing the water pump, the idler pulley, belt tensioner, timing belt, air con belt and the auxiliary belt. I've cleaned the egr valve and cooler in the process. The design of the lower timing belt cover is a less than robust, plastic half moon affair that wouldn't deflect a broken belt. I'm in the process of fabricating a guard to protect the lower timing belt cover in the hope that it will prevent any damage should there ever be another belt failure. A great engine let down by it's habit of devouring auxiliary belts. I bought my recon cylinder head from Autotech in Cornwall. They are doing a roaring trade supplying reconditioned D5 heads. Great Channel by the way!!

[@jagvolvo33]

hello m8 did you get round to fabrecating something ? also how much was the recon head from that firm?

[@Unpiero]

Thank’s for very informative videos! The problem with the aux belt is also the quality. This belt had multiple cracks and whas to dry on my Volvo V50 D4 after only 40000 miles. This earlier also happened on an S60 D5 2003 I owned. Still it’s the nicest diesel engine I know.

[@nickclark6001]

The Aux belt must be changed every 54000 MILES or 10 years which ever comes first , Cambelt every 108000 miles or 10 years which ever comes first. Always use volvo parts... From 2010 to 2012 volvo had several recalls to sort the problem out with a different hydraulic tensioned ,, but reverted back to the mechnaical one ( one of the recalls) *.They used a better kevlar reinforced belt after that so make sure you always use genuine Volvo belts and tensioners. I have found most of the failures I come across now are down to neglected servicing or non volvo belts. * Volvo found the cause of the AUX belt breaking is the massive tug the belt gets when the first cylinder fires at start up that's why they reduced the change interval by half to 54000 miles and improved belt Quality ( Mileage is the important part not time)

[@summerjunk929]

great info, thanks

[@GerardB2023]

You only need to go through the wheel arch. No need to take anything off up top. Just drop it in from above. Did it a month ago. A pain but doable yourself.

[@aniva9020]

I managed to do it in my workplace parkinglot in about 40min, i found the ac belt to be difficult because its a strech type. If i remember correctly the tensioner had a tx45 bit.

[@jagvolvo33]

@@aniva9020 yea got be carefull with that torx 45bit az its easy strip it then your in load of pain, carefull undoing and dosnt need be more than 20nm tight .

[@simon8864]

Sorry if you've been unlucky but it's NOT an achilles heel, it's just the same on all engines. With proper maintenance it isn't a problem. I've never had a belt snap in 30 years of driving!

[@airfrancerider]

Been there on MY2012 S80 D5204T3. Had a squealing noise coming from the alternator pulley. I noticed the aux belt running the alternator was disintegrating at 86k miles (7.5 yo) ! Sure enough, the previous owner had done the cam belt but not the auxiliary belts, I was fooled by the cam belt repair bill, I thought "who changes a cam belt without the aux belts ?" Right, should have checked if the parts still had a Volvo marking on them. With their low resale value, few owners maintain these cars in dealerships (or at all) so an OEM part, without any bill to prove there was a repair, probably means it was never changed. The old OEM part had a white marking, the new ones (I always buy OEM parts for the engine) are BLUE and YELLOW if I remember well.. IDK when the color was changed or if it is a voluntary move from Volvo to highlight the maintenance done but that's a tip that can be useful to spot lack of maintenance. Ended up changing the aux belts, belt tensioner and alternator pulley. I think my non Volvo mechanic took 2hrs. Nothing to report since, I check the 3 belts every now and then, just to be on the safe side !

[@walther89]

you can see it or let it inspected there are signs of new or old belts, but its a must to change it anyway if you get used car to change major things

[@yzfdunc]

My auxiliary belt snapped and was just sitting on the pulleys snapped luckily. Had the alternator fail earlier this year. Top tip. Turn everything electric off and you can manage at least 20 miles. Dont bother with anything other than a bosch alternator

[@myname7284]

I've done loads of these never needed any special tools and quite easy on a ramp. also rebuilt a few where the belt has snapped and gone in behind he crank pully and slipped or snapped the timing belt destroys the head the casting breaks off around the lifters. if something could be designed to stop the belt going into the rear of the pully that would be good brilliant engines though sound great the 5 cyl very tuneable too

[@mudza2723]

Sometimes its not the aux belt tensioner which is the cause but I do change my belt every year or 20k miles now I have started using the Kevlar belt by dayco for some extra strength for peace of mind. Recently I found the alternator pulley was a cause for my aux belt snapping. Great video as it is a common cause for killing otherwise bulletproof engine.

[@AndyCarleton-p2b]

Your description of the carnage that happens when the timing belt goes is fairly exaggerated, as I found out last year when the timing belt tensioner bolt sheared off in our D5 XC60. Yes, valves will hit pistons, but Volvo have built in weak points in the head to prevent damage occuring to the bottom end or the pistons. The valve guide castings split in half to allow the valve stems to move away from the camshafts, and the camshaft caps will split in the centre, so any excessive force transferred from the pistons doesn't damage the camshafts. Given the engine is going to stop running within a couple of revolutions of this happening, there's not enough time for any metal fragments to get down into the sump, never mind being drawn through the oil pump and up to the turbo. These engineered weak points renders the head useless unless you have the ability to weld up the guides and re-bore them. Also the camshaft caps aren't available anywhere I could find; but a complete re-conditioned head was easily found and only took a few days of work on the driveway to swap. The re-con company also took back the damaged head to repair ready for someone else. Yes, it's expensive, and yes, it's a pain having to do that amount of work but it's cheaper than swapping out an entire engine for a used one of unknown provenance (£1400 all-in vs £2500 just for an engine). I appreciate if you can't do the work yourself, the costs will be different and might even be cheaper getting the engine swapped rather than paying the labour to replace the head. I also now have a better understanding of the health of the engine as turbos, intercooler piping, injectors, piston crowns, cylinder bores, cooling system etc was all checked whilst things were apart, and it all looked remarkably clean for having 150k miles.

[@nikhilnakka]

Hey I am facing the same issue with my XC60 and I need your suggestion

[@TCBOT]

if its doing 70mph and you dont put the clutch in it will cause major issues unless its an auto most are but not all

[@estebanlacala]

It happened to my 08 D5 136kw a couple of summers ago, new head replacement and the aux belt replaced for a new one. The next week car has service

[@spookymap6533]

That’s correct it happened to me and Auxiliary belt snapped goes in from the bottom of the timing belt cover makes the timing belt jump a few notches buggers the engine Auxiliary belt was only two years old

[@MementoMori-xx5qo]

Haha, I knew what this was before I watched. Mine has squeaking at the moment but I don’t dare fix it yet as my S60 is costing far too much monthly

[@alexanderc2850]

Hi guys, i had it replaced at Volvo dealer in DE, and after 3 years, 60.000 KM it had cracks.... poor Quality. DAYCO is the manufacturer.. i have now moved to Continental belts. All fine.

[@eldodos83]

Think they recommend changing the aux belt every 50k or something

[@deanbryant2500]

Originally it was every 54k for the belt and tensioner which was more the cause than the belt. They have since changed the Tensioner to 108k but having had 2008 V70 D5 from 2yrs old with 605k miles when I got rid of recently i would recommend the Tensioner still 54k as well. Had one seize couple of hundred before that and another started chirping on cold starts around 70k. The first one resulted in bent valve.

[@mehrzahl2219]

605k miles!!! Not bad!

[@aniva9020]

60tkm is the recommended change interval

[@michaelm3906]

My Aircon pump belt on my P3 D5, 185 bhp (Dayco belt- changed just 20,000 miles ago) snapped (just goes around 2 pulleys), that got pulled into the Aux belt, then that pulled the bits into the timing belt and threw it out by several teeth, stopping the engine. Recon head about to go in, the casting was cracked around the inlet cam tappets... nightmare. EGR system totally gunked up as well... top tip- DO NOT split the EGR Cooler from the valve body, as the 2 gaskets aren't made by Volvo or anyone anymore!!

[@unusualaquariumecosystems5805]

What MPG average did you get on this car?

[@UnderTheRadar1976]

Mine snapped the other day it was a right pain to replace

[@thisisnumber0]

Blimey, I had 3 belts break in quick succession, due to a stuck tensioner. I got lucky!

[@steve7535]

Shame it was not designed with a chain it is the only thing that puts me off getting one

[@thepunisher955]

Single row chains on many modern engines is not better than belt😉 dual row chains is the only bulletproof timing setup

[@drivelife.channel]

@Fredrik Gunther Some American engines have gears, that's the most bulletproof;)

[@thepunisher955]

@@drivelife.channel true i forgot that atm

[@michaelm3906]

2.5 VW Transporter was gear driven, brilliant design!

[@CGMediaUK]

nah, to hell with chains

[@daniel.forgiven3892]

alternator overrun pulley seized, aux belt tensioner caused belt to climb off and wrap around crank pulley, breaking cambelt, pistons hit valves, bent 10, broke 7 follower pockets. not pretty.

[@snapon1948]

300,000 only 2 belts 2 tensioners

[@arnauvanachterbergh7112]

Well, I can send you pictures of what happens when this interference engine broke the top because of this exact problem.

[@DRSHANKER]

haha show me an aux belt that's gone through a correctly fitted timing cover

[@riskfreesolutionsforbusiness]

interesting point Dr Holmes .

[@k1leon]

Its not hard at all to change the belt, what are you on about