Cambelt Condition After 10 Years

[Scooser]

I took my 58 plate V70 2.4 D5 R-Design into the indy I use for its annual service, plus the cam belt was up for its 10 year replacement. I asked the garage to keep the cam belt so I coul take a look at it.

Car had only done 58k miles, but cam belt felt almost new. All teeth present and correct, and almost no cracking when the belt was folded hard.

That’s the last cam belt I’ll do on this car, as if I still own the car in another 10 years I’ll run it in confidence, as it’ll not be worth enough to pay for another change.

Volvo obviously spec their cam belts very well

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Scooser

I took my 58 plate V70 2.4 D5 R-Design into the indy I use for its annual service, plus the cam belt was up for its 10 year replacement. I asked the garage to keep the cam belt so I coul take a look at it.

Car had only done 58k miles, but cam belt felt almost new. All teeth present and correct, and almost no cracking when the belt was folded hard.

That’s the last cam belt I’ll do on this car, as if I still own the car in another 10 years I’ll run it in confidence, as it’ll not be worth enough to pay for another change.

Volvo obviously spec their cam belts very well

Indeed they do , your experience is nothing special they are all like that when renewed .There has never been any problem with cambelts themselves especially on the older engines , they have Kevlar reinforcement you can tell when you drop them on the floor they sound solid . That's why you should get it replaced with a volvo belt .
I hope you did the tensioner too and much much more importantly got the Aux belt and it's tensioner replaced with the latest genuine parts as it is these which can cause big problems if they break , and they will break if neglected .

[Scooser]

Originally Posted by Clan

Indeed they do , your experience is nothing special they are all like that when renewed .There has never been any problem with cambelts themselves especially on the older engines , they have Kevlar reinforcement you can tell when you drop them on the floor they sound solid . That's why you should get it replaced with a volvo belt .
I hope you did the tensioner too and much much more importantly got the Aux belt and it's tensioner replaced with the latest genuine parts as it is these which can cause big problems if they break , and they will break if neglected .

As a frequent reader of this forum I know to ignore the aux belt and tensioner at my peril.

I had the aux belt and tensioner (and aircon stretch belt) done a couple of years (10k miles) ago, but my indy said he would spin the tensioner to see if all is good after a couple of years use, as he would have to slacken it to change the cam belt. Also he checked the water pump and all is good.

Indy used Volvo cam belt kit, so tensioner and idler changed as well. The indy is only specialises in Volvo and only uses Volvo recommended oil and OEM parts.

But, always good to raise the challenge as you have done.

I’m totally impressed by the car after 10 years. It was my company car for the first 3 years until I bought it from the company. So I’ve had the car for the full 10 years. Paintwork is as new. Apart from a bit of kerbing, alloys are as new. Leather is aging lovely. Everything works and nothing has failed. Here’s to another 10 years.