Guide to changing the Aux belts and tensioner.

[tt82]

Hi all

I changed my Aux belts and tensioners the other day and here is a guide to what I did. I tried to do this using my Haynes manual but it was completly wrong for my car. This guide is for my car, a 2009 V70 D5 R-Design (D5244T4 185bhp engine)

Tools needed.

Jack
Axle stands
Wrench
19mm Scoket
10mm Socket
TX25 Torx bit
TX40 Torx bit
TX60 Torx bit
Torque wrench

Parts Needed

31330379 Tensioner
31330380 Aux Belt
30757613 A/C belt
(From Rufe, these came to about £100.)

Process

First off you need to loosen the O/S/F (Drivers side front) wheel, jack up the car and supprt on axle stands, then remove the wheel. Once you have the wheel off, you need to remove the wheel arch liner. (Haynes suggested to remove the floor tray as well but I did it without removing it.) To remove the wheel arch liner you need to remove the 3 plastic nuts pictured with the 10mm socket -



Then you need to remove the 8 Torx screws, 3 on the rear arch and 5 on the front using the TX25 bit.




The arch liner clips onto the top of the arch and you need to push it up and inwards to remove it. Once you have the liner removed you will be able to see the A/C belt (on the right) and Aux belt and tensioner.




This picture shows the routing of the belt as seen from below.



To undo the tension on the Aux belt, place the TX60 Torx bit in the tensioner and rotate anti clockwise, following the direction arrowed. You can then slip off the aux belt.



Once you have the aux belt off, you need to remove the A/C belt. There is no tensioner for this and it is a stretch belt. I removed it by simply rotating the pulleys whilst pulling the belt towards me, gradually working it off.

Next up is removing the tensioner. The bolt inside the centre of the tensioner is a TX40, however access is very limited and as you can see from the photo, my Torx bit wouldn't fit inside the tensioner becuase of the pulley. In the end, I had to place a TX40 bit in a 8mm socket as this would be the only thing we could fit inside. I reckon L shaped Torx keys - as seen here - would be the best bet for removing the bolt.



Refitting is the reverse of removal. Make sure the wheel nuts are tightened up correctly and to the correct 140 Nm Torque setting after you finish.

Notes

Back in Febuary of this year, I got my car stuck in mud. When removing the wheel arch liner there was a lot of dirt build up behind it. I took the opputunity to hose of the liner and inside the arch to remove this. Also doing the same with passenger side. If I do this again, I may treat the inside with a coat of waxoyl to help prevent corrosion, though with Volvo build quality I would hope it would not be neccesary.

[jp11]

Hi TT82. That's a great looking guide. But I got lost at the point where you take off the tensioner:
How many fixings hold it onto the engine?
And why did you remove the bolt from the centre after you took it off (surely you just throw the whole thing away?).
And is there not an idler to replace also?

[tt82]

Hi jp. The tensioner is held on by one bolt which goes through the middle. There is a locating pin on the opposite side which holds it in place. Access to this bolt is tight due to the inner wing and struts, thats why I took the photo with it off the car, just to show access to the bolt is restricted due to the pensioners pulley. If your TX60 bit is to wide you will struggle to get at the bolt. I did mean to write that it would be a good idea to change the bolt, as it would be a nightmare to remove if the thread got chewed up. The idler is changed along with the main cambelt change.

[GrantA]

Many thanks tt82, yet again you have come up trumps with an excellent guide and loads of photos!!

One question, is the tensioner bolt right hand or left hand thread? I did the belts on my sons's Audi a couple of years ago and snapped the tensioner bolt as it was a left hand thread - don't want to make the same mistake again!!!

[MartinK]

I'm planning this job soon...but the PHOTOS don't seem to be there any more on the guide???

[rogerb]

Photos gone for me aswell
Roger

[tt82]

I need to re-upload them as Imageshack have spat their dummy out and won't host for free anymore. It may be possible to ckick on them to get taken to the site in the mean time.

[tt82]

Hi all

I changed my Aux belts and tensioners the other day and here is a guide to what I did. I tried to do this using my Haynes manual but it was completely wrong for my car. This guide is for my car, a 2009 V70 D5 R-Design (D5244T4 185bhp engine)

Tools needed.

Jack
Axle stands
Wrench
19mm Socket
10mm Socket
TX25 Torx bit
TX40 Torx bit
TX60 Torx bit
Torque wrench

Parts Needed

31330379 Tensioner
31330380 Aux Belt
30757613 A/C belt
(From Rufe, these came to about £100.)

Process

First off you need to loosen the O/S/F (Drivers side front) wheel, jack up the car and support on axle stands, then remove the wheel. Once you have the wheel off, you need to remove the wheel arch liner. (Haynes suggested to remove the floor tray as well but I did it without removing it.) To remove the wheel arch liner you need to remove the 3 plastic nuts pictured with the 10mm socket -



Then you need to remove the 8 Torx screws, 3 on the rear arch and 5 on the front using the TX25 bit.





The arch liner clips onto the top of the arch and you need to push it up and inwards to remove it. Once you have the liner removed you will be able to see the A/C belt (on the right) and Aux belt and tensioner.





This picture shows the routing of the belt as seen from below.



To undo the tension on the Aux belt, place the TX60 Torx bit in the tensioner and rotate anti clockwise, following the direction arrowed. You can then slip off the aux belt.


Once you have the aux belt off, you need to remove the A/C belt. There is no tensioner for this and it is a stretch belt. I removed it by simply rotating the pulleys whilst pulling the belt towards me, gradually working it off.

Next up is removing the tensioner. The bolt inside the centre of the tensioner is a TX40, however access is very limited and as you can see from the photo, my Torx bit wouldn't fit inside the tensioner becuase of the pulley. In the end, I had to place a TX40 bit in a 8mm socket as this would be the only thing we could fit inside. I reckon L shaped Torx keys - as seen here - would be the best bet for removing the bolt.



Refitting is the reverse of removal. Make sure the wheel nuts are tightened up correctly and to the correct 140 Nm Torque setting after you finish.

Notes

Back in February of this year, I got my car stuck in mud. When removing the wheel arch liner there was a lot of dirt build up behind it. I took the opportunity to hose of the liner and inside the arch to remove this. Also doing the same with passenger side. If I do this again, I may treat the inside with a coat of waxoyl to help prevent corrosion, though with Volvo build quality I would hope it would not be necessary.

[ampmaster]

Hi,
Thanks for doing the write up. Did you notice any way of locking the tensioner to make fitting the belt back on easier? On the older tensioner you could wind it back and insert a 4mm bar or small screw driver through a hole to hold the tension off until you had fitted the belt.
Thanks,
Ampy.

[tt82]

No, I had to use a wrench with the torx socket to ease the tension and hold it until the belt is in place. I had help and found it easier to to have somebody align the belt on the top pulley and hold it there whilst I did the bottom pulleys.