Volvo 850 Restoration - Timing Belt Alignment Fixed

We had some trouble with the timing belt alignment on our Volvo 850 and we had some bad luck with faulty idler pulleys and possibly the timing belt itself. Here is the full story on how we managed to fix it and hopefully save you from making the same mistakes.

[@donmoore7785]

The timing belt fiasco was insane.

[@bjornlillpers498]

Good to see that OEM parts fixed it. In my experience even "simple" parts are often bad from aftermarket manufacturers, for example parking brake shoes for the RWD models at least. NOTHING else than Volvo original parts fit inside the discs. As for the knocking noise, it's propably just the hydraulic lifters making noise. It's normal on a cold start, even says so in the owner's manual. But if the oil is old, it can make it louder. New oil is always a good thing, can't remember if you changed it in a previous episode. :)

[@MusTRitch]

@Björn Lillpers Yeah, we are going to use OEM parts even more often 😅 Regarding the knocking noise, it went away by itself once the engine was a little more warm so good change it was indeed the hydrolic lifters. We did replace the oil in the beginning of this restoration but that is almost 2 years ago by now (we did flush the engine in the meantime but thats for the next video😉).

[@jellestevens5732]

Well at least now you guys are very specialized in the whole Idler pulley department 😅😂

[@MusTRitch]

Haha, well, you know where to find us🤪

[@markusandreassen5601]

Ok i bought a kit from HEPU, and it contained the SKF tensioner pulley, when i were to install it today i imediatly saw the problem. All the SKF units are defect, if you look at the bearing cylinder at 1:50 you can see how much side to side play there is on the bearing/cylinder. There is a huge amout of throw, not allowing the pulley to be secured tight even when torqued to 25nm. This slack allows for the belt to «dance» when running. Sadly this problem is not fixed by SKF, i will be writing them a mail about this issue. If you want more information DM me. So the problem is 100% the SKF tensioner pulley. 1:50

[@MusTRitch]

Very much possible indeed. Maybe in our case it was a combination of the SKF idler pulley, tensioner pulley and timing belt. As you probably saw we changed all SKF parts one by one and kept having trouble. Only after we replaced all of them (except the water pump) did we get the timing belt to align nicely. We would be very interested in the response from SKF so please do let us know!

[@markusandreassen5601]

@@MusTRitch Finished the timing job, using INA idle pulley and Gates timing tensioner pulley. No walking of the belt👍

[@MusTRitch]

Good job!😄

[@Duyf]

Can it be that one belt is needing a bit more time than another one just to aline? I'm not talking about position left rigth middel but about the wobbling. Great vid by the way!

[@MusTRitch]

Well, we've heard that before but can't say for sure... and we we're not willing to take that risk😅 and thanks!😁

[@Stratoszero]

Hi, I have watched your series from start to end now as I have a 1996 850 T5 that needs light restoration in places. I need to do the timimg belt in the next few days - this video has not filled me with confidence! Did you ever find out any more about the belt alignment problem from other peoples commenst afterwards? I have a very expensive Gates kit whcih I hope is good, I also notice my current belt (only the second one on the car) also runs to the edge of the pulley nearest the block. Is this just an acceptable variation? Oh yes and some people have real problems getting the belt on the small crank pulley, with some removing the large pulley (the book says to do this) or jacking up the engine. Yours seemed to walk on by iteslf, which seems to be a first!

[@MusTRitch]

Well, first of all, thanks for watching our restoration series! Means alot!😊 As for the belt wobble and running all the way to the engine side, we are pretty sure our problem were the idler pulleys as only the old one together with the other new parts did not have any problems. But it might also be the case that the SKF timing belt was faulty aswel. The problem only went away completely after using an OEM set. The belt is still nog perfectly centered but it's not touching anyting or dancing around and that is the important thing. I have heard good stories about the Gates timing belt kit though so hopefully you won't run into any problems. Good luck with your repair! Oh and the restoration series is far from over😉 new video coming up this sunday😄

[@Stratoszero]

@@MusTRitch Thanks I felt your pain with the multiple changes, I wonder if practice made it quicker at the end? 🤥 My trouble is I work alone, two heads and hands are definitely better, not least for remembering what went where.........I used to do my maintenance with my very experienced father in law but he is too old now, my stepson is keen but no knowledge!

[@Zaharath7]

Today had the same problem with Gates set. The new tensioner pulley pushes the belt towards the engine and tears the rubber against its bracket. I hope they will accept the refund.

[@MusTRitch]

Ah man, that sucks. Hopefully they accept that refund!

[@Zaharath7]

@@MusTRitch They accepted the complaint.😀It seems that such defects do happen. Not cool.

[@KKlepacki]

You should have liten to me on OEM parts from yout previoues video. Anyway nice work.

[@MusTRitch]

Well we sort of did😉 (exept the cheap ridex pulley but that was suggested by someone else). Some footage of this video was allready shot when the previous video came out so yeah, thanks for the suggestion!

[@vulk86]

Lesje geleerd…

[@Trump1776]

Penny wise , pound foolish, lesion learnt, buy only original parts.

[@MusTRitch]

Well, yeah... lessons learned😅😊