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It snowed last night in our city and I knew the calls would be coming. The first snow always makes the phone ring, but she didn’t call. Instead, she was waiting for me when I showed up for work at 7:45. I knew the car; her daughter drove it. It’s a 2004 Volvo XC70. It was overdue for service and there were several things the owner had been putting off. She told me the car had been pulling to the right during braking, and with the slippery roads last night, her daughter hit a curb.
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We pulled the car in the bay to check it out and didn’t find anything that was bent or broken, but the car badly needed tires. The tires had been OK for summer driving, but they were going to be dangerous this winter. I knew what was coming next. “It’s an old car and I don’t know if I want to put that much money into it,” she said. “It’s due for a lot of other stuff, too, so maybe I will just get another car.” I hear that occasionally. So, I told her, “Let’s see what it would take to put the car back together and make it dependable, and you can spend the weekend looking at newer used cars, and then you can make a good, informed decision whether you want to fix this car or buy a newer car.”
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The Volvo was 15,000 miles overdue for the timing belt and tensioner ($550), and add another $225 for the water pump. The rollers in the right-front window were broken, so you couldn’t roll down the window. Well, you could, but it would cost about $150 to roll it up again. The hard pull to the right when braking was not due to a problem with the brakes. It’s common on the 2000 and up Volvo S80, S60, XC90 and XC70 models for them to pull when braking due to worn front control arm rear bushings and that was the case with this car. Add $500, plus an alignment at $120.
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And, let’s not forget the tires. If we’re going to fix the car, she is going to keep it at least a few years, so let’s put on some good snow tires for the winter ($600) and she can buy some new summer tires next spring. We’ll change the oil and replace the cabin air filter. The battery is five years old and it failed a load test, plus the windshield wipers are beat. For all those items, add $300 to the bill. With tax, it was going to cost about $2,700 to make it a worry-free car. She and her daughter went car hunting that weekend and I got the call Monday morning. “There really isn’t anything nice that costs less than $10,000, and my daughter really likes that car, so let’s fix it. I love hearing those words.
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Getting Started
We’ll begin with the timing belt. Remove the cross bar that attaches to the upper torque mount. See Photo 1.
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> Cut the tie wrap on the passenger’s-side. See Photo 2.
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> Unplug the coolant level sensor (see Photo 3) and set the coolant tank (see Photo 4) and the power steering reservoir on top of the cam cover and out of the way (see Photo 5).
Photo 8
> Disconnect the top bleed hose on the coolant tank and plug it to make it easier.
Photo 9
> Remove the serpentine belt.
> Remove the two bolts and unfasten the two clips to remove the upper belt cover (see Photo 6) so that
Photo 10
you can remove the main belt cover that is held in by just one bolt (see Photo 7).
> After the main cover is removed, you’ll need to reinstall the upper cover to line up the timing marks (see Photo 8). The main belt cover has the engine serial number (see Photo 7), which you’ll need to make sure you have the correct timing components.
Photo 11
Photo 12
Note: Most of the 5-cylinder Volvo engines use one of two different setups, depending on the year and engine serial number. One has a tensioner with large ears and one has small ears (see Photo 9). The torqueing procedure is different, so check the serial number and make sure you have the correct parts.
Photo 13
> Remove the RF wheel and after removing the plastic nut (see Photo 10) on the inner fender liner, you can fold the liner up and out of the way (see Photo 11).
Photo 14
> Turn the crank pulley clockwise until the timing marks line up. Turn the crank a ¼-turn farther clockwise, and then back again until the marks are lined up. Remove the bolts that hold the crank pulley on and remove it. You can now see the mark on the crank pulley gear (see Photo 12).
Photo 15
> Now lock the cams (see Photo 13), loosen the tensioner and remove the belt, tensioner and idler roller.
> Remove the bolts that hold the water pump and remove the pump (see Photo 14). Then, clean everything up and put it back together. You don’t want any problems down the road, so install a complete timing belt kit.
>First, install the new water pump, then install the idler pulley and loosely fit the tensioner. Put the new timing belt around the crank first, then the idler, intake cam, exhaust cam, water pump and lastly the tensioner. Reinstall the crankshaft pulley.
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Note: Follow the recommended tensioning sequence depending on your engine number and timing belt kit. The earlier tensioner gets turned counterclockwise to tension the belt, and the later tensioner gets turned clockwise. Our engine serial number is after 3188689, so we have the later tensioner.
> Turn the crank slowly and carefully clockwise until the belt is tight between the intake cam, the idler pulley and the crankshaft. Hold the center screw on the tensioner so it won’t move. Turn the eccentric clockwise until the indicator passes the two marking ears, and then turn it back so that it is in the middle of the two marking ears. This should be done on a cold engine that is approx. 70° F.
> Hold the tensioner in position and tighten the center screw on the tensioner to 20 Nm (see Photo 15). Make sure the indicator is still in the proper position. Once secured, you should be able to push on the timing belt and the tensioner indicator should move easily.
Photo 17
> Turn the crankshaft two full turns clockwise and double-check your timing marks. If everything looks good, reinstall the front timing cover, the upper cover and the serpentine belt. Now would be a good time to replace the old serpentine belt, if it hasn’t been done in a while. Also check the power steering reservoir and coolant expansion tank. Make sure all the power steering and coolant hoses are routed correctly and secured.
>Install the crossbar and secure the inner fender liner. Remove the lower control arms and press in the new bushings before you put the wheel back on. It’s easy to see the rear bushing in the front control arm is completely separated (see Photo 16).
Photo 18
Down Under
> Disconnect the ball joint (see Photo 17) and remove the three bolts that hold the control arm to the chassis, two for the front bushing and one for the back. We put the control arm in the vise (see Photo 18) and use an air chisel that easily removes the old bushing.
> Clean the inner surface and move over to the press. The bushing has been in the freezer for a couple of hours so that helps it slide in much easier. Volvo has a special tool for this procedure, but a large socket and the press plate work really well. When installed, the distance between the lower part of the control arm and the top of the bushing should be 40 mm. Make sure the suspension is loaded at ride height before torqueing the control arm bolts.
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> We did both front control arms and then gave the car a good alignment. A good alignment is making sure the alignment specifications are in the middle of the acceptable range, preferably optimal and not just barely in the acceptable range. We don’t want our new tires to show any abnormal wear.
> We changed the oil, installed the new battery and put in a new cabin filter. We replaced both window regulator rollers and made sure the windows went up, as well as down. Our long-time expert tech John (see Photo 19), who did most of the work on the car, mounted up the new snow tires and put the finishing touches on the XC70. We test-drove the car and got it ready to deliver.
These days, money is a little tighter and customers sometimes fix only what they “have” to fix. Sooner or later, they’ll reach a point, especially if they have been putting off repairs, when a choice will have to be made — Do I put $2,000-$3,000 into my old car or buy a newer car? With your guidance, your customers can make an intelligent, informed decision. It seems to me more and more people are fixing up their older cars. This is good news for independent repair shop owners like us. Let’s get busy and help them.
The Aftermarket ‘Sweet Spot’
Older-age Vehicles Continue to Fuel Service Opportunities for the Aftermarket
An educational approach to inform customers how preventive maintenance can further extend the life of their vehicle, improve performance and use less gas can be a primary driver of service and repair sales on older-age vehicles.
There are 180 million “older” vehicles (6 years and older) on the road. That breaks down as: 73 million in the 6-10-year range and 107 million in the 11-plus-year range.
The aftermarket stands to gain more than $3 billion in Do It For Me (DIFM) service business over the next three to four years based on data from R.L. Polk and IMR.