Newbie t5 owner

[bunka T5]

Hello chaps and chappettes,

A week ago I purchased an 850 t5, I'm not new to volvos however, 1st vo' was a sluggish (as hell) v70 2.0 manual, sounded good though. Then a blue 2.5t 1999 v70, drove it home 300miles from purchase and it spun a rod bearing, then for some reason bought another 1999 2.5t v70 in olive(?) green had that the longest, great car but a tad too tame for me.

Then the 850, must say so far I'm in love with it. Its apparently had a 'Rica 304bhp map', whether those figures are correct, I dont know but it certainly pulls extremely hard even with a standard exhaust / intake setup.

A few issues I wanted to address is I think I might have a boost leak, when its warmer I'll get round to it (sod working on the street on a main road in this cold, yeah I'm a pussy), change all spark plugs / HT leads because why not and most importantly ; replace the Cam belt.
QQ ; when changing the cambelt is it best to get a 'kit' that does water pumps, pullys and the lot or what is the general consensus on this?

Here are some pics (mainly from the Ebay ad as my phone is terrible..) :

[M-R-P]

Welcome aboard
The "304" on the Rica thing is always over-optimistic, expect to see nowhere near that on the road.

I've heard a lot about the water pumps and many say, if the one you have is fine, leave it be. Avoid pumps with plastic impellers.

[t5 pete]

Hello and welcome you can buy a timing belt kit from volvo it doesn't come with a water pump what mileage does the car have

[kmb]

That looks very tidy, particularly like the anthracite wheel refurb :-)

[bunka T5]

Cheers chaps, quite fond of the wheels also. Wanted to get something a bit thicker (ooer) alloy wise but the look of these side on is so attractive.

The Odo stopped working at 189k so I'm assuming close to 190-195k maybe. Still ticks over beautifully but after driving the idle can raise a bit but then go back to normal, I believe this is called hunting ?

[M-R-P]

ICV may need a clean if it's hunting a little.

[stribo]

[bunka T5]

ICV, is that like the MAF sensor ?
What brand of timing belt/kit is best? I'm looking at ContiTech on Europarts

[M-R-P]

Idle Control Valve, it's near the throttle body.

No idea about the belt kits, many would say go genuine on something so critical.

[expolicev70t5]

Welcome, looks a very Tidy car, I like the colour scheme

[jamesy12345]

Hello & welcome

I got the timing belt changed and left the water pump alone, that was on a 90k-miles S70 T5 auto

[bunka T5]

I'll have a look at the ICV later when I'm out then ! Re re the timing belt, is it a pig of a job, leave to mechanics or DIY if youre sensible? I've done it a few times, but I'm talking noob mechanics on my '306 D Turbo' phase in life..

[M-R-P]

Personally, I'd rather leave it to someone with insurance - if it went wrong for some reason, I wouldn't want to fork out for a new engine.

My trusted garage did mine for £183.

[jamesy12345]

I'll have a look at the ICV later when I'm out then ! Re re the timing belt, is it a pig of a job, leave to mechanics or DIY if youre sensible? I've done it a few times, but I'm talking noob mechanics on my '306 D Turbo' phase in life..

Don't know where you are based but Shemtek near Nottingham did mine, he's a member on here. Another garage I've used is Scotts Bank Motors in Southwick (near Sunderland)

[RollingThunder]

Cambelt is a piece of cake on these, I did mine a couple of months back. Ideally you need the aux belt tensioner tool and a cam gear locking tool (see http://www.ipdusa.com/products/5830/...tine-belt-tool ).

Re the water pump, when you get the belt covers off take a look at the bottom of the pump - if its dry and its a Volvo unit, leave it alone. If its damp, showing signs of leakage (trace of coolant etc) or a non Volvo unit then fit a new Volvo one. They're not cheap but they last and last.

Cambelt - I'd only fit Volvo or ContiTech, but I'd always change the tensioner and idler and only fit Volvo parts. I'd also suggest you renew the PCV hoses and oiltrap, clean the throttle body, IAC, and check all the vacuum hoses for perishing and splits. The vacuum hoses are shocking, they disintegrate into black rubber dust in your hands and are prone to snapping when old. Just buy a length of silicon hose (I think I used 4mm internal dia) and replace the lot.

Allow a morning to do the cambelt (minus waterpump) if you've done one before. The hardest part is getting the new belt around the crank pulley - you CAN do it without removing the pulley, you just have to wriggle it through a tiny gap. Have a look at Roberts video on you-tube . I use his videos a lot

HTH

[bunka T5]

Haha! I was wondering how long this thread would go before a RobertDIY video would be shared. This legend!
I'll get a ring around for quotes on labour alone before deciding, I cannot stand doing work on my car on the street, let alone major stuff like this (major for me..), Thanks for the info though I think I'll try get a kit then!

[WillT5]

Welcome mate,

Worth giving the cambelt a go if you are not bad mechanically. I did mine, easy enough but dont forget to get a strong pin to hold the tensioner piston in place for reassembly as i snapped quite a few drill bits

Will,

[WOODY T5]

Welcome aboard mate nice ride

[bunka T5]

As said I have done it before a few times, but that was on an old 306 D Turbo, we got one of the teeth out / mis aligned by accident and took it for a spin, it jumped into its correct position of its own accord, dont ask how, it just happened..

[hemihusky]

welcome! i do like the anthricite wheels on this. and you got the chunky rails on like my T-5R =) also with the idle issue if you plip the throttle does it settle back down for a little bit then start to raise back up? i had this and it turned out to be a small air leak (i still have one somewhere i think. rather intimitent on mine!)