Volvo Maintenance Hints for 7xx/9xx - Bill Garland's Nuclear ...

yourself.
Start by removing the electric fan. Take out the two screws and then pull the wiring loom
connectors from the shroud. Then you can just put the fan on top of the overflow reservoir/ac
dryer and you don't have to take the battery out etc.
Remove the accessory belt (I use a 3/4 in adapter on my 1/2 drive breaker bar). Take off front
cover. I changed the plugs at the same time; leaving the plugs out makes it is easier to turn the
crankshaft pulley to align the timing marks on the cam pulleys. I used a 1-1/4 socket to turn the
crank. The notch on the crankshaft pulley is hard to find. You have to look straight down; its on
the back side hub of the pulley. The matching mark is on the back of the plastic timing belt cover
(which is not removed). Be sure to mark the slots for the bolts and then mark the gear to the
cam. If you don't you will have three choices for each gear as to the correct position. Get them
all lined up, then remove the top bolt from the belt tensioner. Then back out the bottom bolt
about 1/4 to 1/2 inch (see below for tool tips). Then you can twist the tensioner which will pop
the plunger from its position. Then you can take it off and remove the belt (there is a metal
guard held on by two bolt behind the crankshaft pulley that must be removed from under the
car). [Tip from Robert Reagan] When I changed the belt, I ignored the reference marks and
made my own marks with solvent-based Whiteout or white paint on the cam gears, the crank
pulley and the existing belt. I made sure the replacement belt was positioned exactly like the
one that came off, and everything went smoothly Put the new belt on. The manual says start at
the crankshaft pulley then work up and around in a counter clockwise direction. You have to
compress the tensioner before installation. I put it in a vise (the vise has to open about 6 inches
to hold the tensioner. If you were hard pressed, I think you could do this in a large c-clamp. The
resistance on the tensioner is significant. I found that turning the vise about a 1/4 turn then
waiting about 3 to 4 minutes before the next turn worked well. When you get it compressed,
there is a keeper hole (make sure you line up the hole before you compress the tensioner) into
which you must insert a pin to hold it in the compressed position. I used a 1/16 inch drill bit.
Then you put the tensioner back on. I found that putting the top bolt in first worked best. You
can push the bottom of the tensioner to get the bottom bold lined up. If you do it the other way,
you have try to pull the tensioner (working from the passenger side of the car).
Now you rotate the engine two revolutions and check the alignment. Guess what. Mine didn't
line up as well as I would have liked. The cam pulleys were fine but the crankshaft pulley was
slightly "advanced" (maybe 5 degrees). I did it all again.
Same result. I took it off and did it a third time making doubly sure I had all the belt lugs where
they should be.
Same result. I spun the engine with the starter (with the plugs still out). All seemed well. I bolted
her up, put in the Bosch +4's, started the car and went for a test drive. Runs fine.
Two notes of caution. If you leave the plugs out for anything, put the ignition coil cover back on.
Those openings look just like a funnel designed to put a dropped screw/nut into the cylinder.
Second, don't leave plugs in too long between changes. If they seize up and break off when you
try to remove them (as I have heard happens fairly regularly), you got real problems. I put
penetrating oil around mine before I removed them and even so, they were uncomfortably tight
with only 50 k on the car. More 960 Timing Belt Instructions [Procedure from Larry Jacobson]
This has play by play instructions about the 960 timing belt. Today was the day to attack the
timing belt on my 1996 965. I've changed lots of timing belts on lots of cars, but this was the
first time I dug into the 2.9 ltr Volvo. Apparently there are no worthwhile aftermarket manuals for
this car. I am grateful to an herein unnamed (for his own protection) list member for snailmailing
me a copy of the appropriate section on a genuine honest-to-goodness, bona fide and sanctified