Timing belt seems off by a tooth on Volvo 240

My wife and I had one of these Volvo's, our very first brand new car. I replaced the timing belt 3 or 4 times on that engine. It's a straightforward job. Align the timing belt pulleys with their respective notches and you're good to go.

I think you may be making an assumption relative to the timing belt's pulley position on the crankshaft. Are you sure that indicates TDC? Or is it instead a mark used to set the timing belt pulleys orientation relative to the others?

I'm a bit suspicious of the harmonic balancer shifting that much on the rubber. For $85 I would have replaced it for peace of mind and to verify the job was being done properly. That said, I'm sure your profit margins are thin. I'm not throwing stones. Ford turned Pintos into death traps because they lacked a $2 gas tank shield.

Scott
 
Last edited:
A little backpedaling now? From,

to,
No backpedaling.

Now that I’ve looked it up, my recommendation on how to install the belt is still good.

The part that I wasn’t clear on (and I said if) was if the #1 cylinder was at TDC with the crank timing belt pulley on the casting mark. Turns out that it is.

The part that I am, and remain, clear on: cutting a dremel groove instead of replacing a failed part is hack work.

Even if your dremel groove is accurate for now, you yourself have stated that the rubber failed, and the pulley has shifted. It will continue to shift, rendering your groove useless, and misleading.

You might get the ignition timing right if it doesn’t shift much before you set it, but the next mechanic that works on this will curse your butchery, because it will certainly be inaccurate by then as the pulley continues to slip.

You have left a ticking time bomb of poor work in this engine, and you’ll advertise it as having a new timing belt when you flip it.

Will you also disclose that you cut a groove in the pulley?

Will you disclose that you deliberately put a failed part, a part that you knew was failed, back on the car?

That’s not just bad workmanship, installing known bad parts in order to sell a car is unethical.

If a real mechanic, like @Trav or @clinebarger , considers this dremel groove on a failed harmonic balanced to be a good fix, one that they would charge a customer for, one they would warranty, then I’ll walk back my criticism of your dremel “fix”.

But my description of installing the belt remains good.
 
I’d replace the harmonic balancer just because it would bother me too much not fixing it the right way. $85 is not too much to feel satisfied that’s it’s done right regardless of what I got for it if I sold it. Imagine the next guy wondering why it has 2 sets of timing marks? Mechanics karma….
You should see some of the dangerous hacks you find on old gas inboard boats…like using a car starter, alternator, distributor or carburetor. Just because it “fits” a small block Chevy it doesn’t mean it’s safe…if there’s ever a fuel leak!
 
I have had vehicles with that B230/B230FT for about 15-17 years now and I’ve never had the misalignment in the pulley markings by that much. I usually line up the crank pulley and intermediate pulley, the cam pulley is occasionally ever so slightly off (less than a tooth when comparing markings on pulley vs back cover).

On the crank pulley itself, the key way lines up with the dimple/notch in the flat washer which lines up with the mark on the block. And I’m guessing you also double checked single stripe on belt to cam pulley, single stripe on belt to intermediate shaft pulley and double stripe on belt to crankshaft pulley?

If it’s all lined up, I think a junkyard harmonic balance is in order. The guys on Turbobricks have reported less than stellar life with aftermarket parts.
 
Took just about an hour to get towed 160 miles home from the middle of nowhere in rural PA a few years ago.
Every call is different. For my last AAA tow, I waited six hours... And that was just to tow the car three miles from my business to my home. They're having the same staffing problems everyone else is having nowadays.

+2 on needing a new balancer, if the rubber has cracked or deteriorated enough to move the marks. Even if you time it correctly today, the marks will be wrong the next time you or the next guy tries to check it.
 
This thread was about a installing a timing belt on a Volvo 240.

Not AAA towing.

The tone has become unhelpful and unproductive.
 
OP;
based on the pictures you took, the timing was spot on, but the engine was rolled just past mechanical TDC. I am generally skeptical of harmonic balancer timing marks, either do to slippage or incorrect timing tabs.
 
Last edited:
At least the B230 and its predecessor are non-interference engines.

I've had an experience driving a B21 after a botched timing belt job. Felt down on power on the way home, and by the time I made it there, the belt had slipped off, or completely broken. Turning the ignition resulted in a free-spinning engine. Towed backed to the shop, fixed properly, and lived happily for many miles thereafter.
 
Back
Top