does volvo cover cam belt breakage?
 

thinking of using Volvo to do the cam belt on my 850 rather than my local indy I use. he will use probably a gates kit and covers if the belt snaps. if I use volvo does anyone know if they cover for early failure?

covered for a year certainly no longer , If they service it every year , you may have some good will . However if it is done by the dealer there is no chance it will break on an 850 ...

I think the only way you're going to find that out for sure is to ask the Volvo garage what their policies are for an event like that. Bearing in mind of course that if a breakage did happen.. would you have to prove it was the fault of the Volvo parts and the Garage. Insurance being insurance.

I actually did have a cambelt snap on my V70 TDi that wrecked my engine.

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=85720

It snapped because the water pump seized. The belt was changed six weeks before by a local garage. When I told them what happened they just turned around and said.. " Its not our fault, you didn't ask us to change the water-pump". I didn't have a leg to stand on, even though as an experienced garage they should have known that its good practice to fit a new water-pump at the same time as changing the cambelt..

Dave..

unfortunate you had the VW van engine , the volvo engines are totally reliable in the 850 .

Cambelt and waterpump and tensioners
 

You need to ask your local Volvo dealer how much it would cost to change the above as they would all need doing at the same time to last another 70,000 miles for 1994-96 850 turbos (1993 is only 50k and later 1997-2000 models are 90-105k miles). Probably no change out of £5-600, plus some kind of guarantee until the next service.

If you've come to the 140,000 or 210,000 miles mark, it's got to be done, though looking at the blogs some say the cambelt should last well over 120k miles.

But what about the waterpump which is a weak link as that doesn't last forever.. depending on how well it was lubricated and whether the water was flushed properly every few years, it might last over 150,000-200,000 miles, but it's just not worth the risk of the pump seizing because a blade breaks or the bearing is worn unseen.... that will knacker the engine if the cambelt snaps because of that. Plenty of tales of woe from people whose waterpumps seized at the 100,000 miles mark when the cambelt change was due and those who had done the cambelt and not the pump, finding the pump seizes later and ruins the engine. It's a false economy not to change the water pump.

Having said this, the Volvo service schedule to 120k miles seems to be silent on waterpumps.

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/tech/se...ices-Turbo.pdf

Mine was the original belt at 144k miles. Changed it along with the water pump, all the pulleys and the hydraulic tensioner. The water pump was spinning like new, no sign or roughness in the bearing, no leakage and completely silent. I replaced with a gates Powergrip kit.

Your belt is not going to snap, whether you go for Gates or Volvo (which is probably Gates, Dayco or Contitech).

I go along with Clan’s opinion that the renewed belt assembly will be guaranteed for 1year irrespective of whether you get it replaced at an independent, or at the main dealer.
I always favour using main dealer parts, and you might find that there is little in it price wise if you buy the parts on discount from dealers such as FRF -Swansea -using discount code C3? If I don’t use main dealer belt kits, then I will only use Gates as an alternative.

Gates kits including water pump?
Gates don’t make water pumps! - and I recall asking about the origin of the pumps they supply in their kits, and the answer was a little too vague to intice me to use the kit inc. the pump.
As far as renewing the pump, there has been numerous opinions on here which advocate checking the current pump to ensure it is an original pump, and if it runs smoothly then do not replace it, since they are generally capable of large mileages. For me, if the water pump has to be replaced then it’s main dealer pumps only - no exceptions. Aftermarket pumps can be of variable quality, and can become the weak link in the assembly.