Whining From T-Belt Area | SwedeSpeed

Today I tackled the timing belt / water pump job. It started well with draining the coolant. I thought about pulling the radiator hose to drain but that is always messy and I thought I’d be environmentally conscious and use the petcock. I used a 2-ended right-angle flat-head screwdriver that came with my Craftsman screwdriver set. I don’t think I’ve ever used it before but it worked great. I carefully backed the plastic petcock out only enough to get the coolant flowing as I’ve had these break before. When the coolant was drained I carefully started closing the petcock with the same tool. DAMN-IT!, it broke anyway; half still in the radiator. I couldn’t get an easy-out to take bite and tried various screws. I thought about driving a screw into it and just screwing it back in but realized it had hardly any threads left. I stuck a small screwdriver up the drain at the bottom of the radiator and was able to push the remains out enough to grab with needle nose pliers. Of course, the local Volvo dealer doesn’t have then in stock. For reference it is part number 30647404. I thought maybe Ford Focus or Mazda 3 might use the same but no. I ordered one and will have to wait for it to arrive.

Meanwhile, I decided to continue with the timing belt. I got the crank pully nut and bolts off not problem with a Dewalt cordless impact wrench. I had a little troulble getting the pully off and resorted to a 3-claw puller (becareful to grab the back of the pully and not the harmonic balancer).

Next came the upper timing belt covers and motor mount. Floor jack was used to support the engine with a board between the jack and oil pan. I noticed some black crumbs under the top cover but the belt looked ok, not crumbling. The motor mount 15mm bolts to the frame came out no problem. I had trouble getting a socket on the front 17mm bolt so I switched to the back bolt, which came out fine. I went to the front bolt and realized it was sheered off (^&&$^#&)!

When I removed the timing belt plastic side cover I saw that a hole was worn through where it had been rubbing the came sprocket and timing belt, thus the black plastic crumbs. That got me thinking about the whining noise. Now it really did not sound like plastic rubbing a metal sprocket. It sounded like a bearing whine. I reinstalled the mount as best I could and started the engine briefly (no coolant). The whining noise was gone (double #%@#$^^!). Apparently the motor mount bolt snapped, the motor shifted and pressed the plastic cover against the cam sprocket and made the noise.

So this leaves me with: 1) just deal with the snapped bolt, put it all back together and do the belt / pump when its due in 30K miles. 2) change the belt / pump now. My days with my Red Radio Flyer are likely drawing to an end and it would be a good selling point for a future buyer.

Dealing with the snapped bolt: I could try to dril and easy-out it, which I doubt will work or the part on the engine that it bolts to is actually a removable bracket (part number 8670393). This is probably the best option since it will be all new threads but is $130 from FCP Euro and $180 from the Volvo dealer.