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240 B230F Timing Belt Play

VolvoScout

Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2012
Location
Upstate, NY
How much "play" is acceptable in the timing belt on a B230F between the Camshaft and intermediate shaft gears?
I can move mine about .25 inches with finger pressure.

Also, is it OK for the lower belt cover (plastic) to come in very slight contact with the harmonic balancer, or should I remove it and find a way to seat it perfectly? (Seems tricky to get back into place)
 
The plastic warps over the years and it starts rubbing on the pulleys when that happens. If you can get the lower cover seated on the edge it may fit a bit better.

Never measured any acceptable play since the belt is tensioned with a spring and whatever spring tension is put on there is proper. If there is any question about tension I just retension the belt and you're fine. Did you make sure to retension the timing belt 400 miles after installation? It's also a good idea to retension the belt every ten k miles or so.
 
How is the belt "retensioned?"
It looks like there is only one "setting" on the tensioner. (i.e. it's either on or off)

Drove the car for 200 miles before I realized that the camshaft seal was leaking, so I replaced the seal and redid the timing yesterday.

I replaced the tensioner & spring along with the belt and seals.
 
How is the belt "retensioned?"
...

For me, it is a two-wrench process. Pop the plug out of the timing cover. Use a 15/16 socket for your ratchet on the crank bolt to pull the belt tight from cam sprocket to crank sprocket, the long length. One ratchet click does it. With that span tight, use the 17mm socket through the cover access hole to loosen and then re-tighten the nut holding the tensioner assembly. Plug back in, and note the mileage.

Spring takes care of the adjustment, and I guess you can trust your new spring. I've never felt moved to replace one yet.
 
What are the torque specs for the 3 gears?
I've seen multiple specs in different books, videos, etc...

Also, is there a proper tool/method to loosen and tighten the intermediate gear?
I used an impact gun, because I couldn't figure out how to hold the gear, is that OK?

36ft lb. on the tensioner nut. late model cars it is 15mm instead of 17mm.
 
My belt ejected itself off the tensioner ~15 miles after installing because I didn’t re-tension it. Just pop the rubber plug off the front, loosen then tighten and I’ve been fine since. I was told 37ft/lbs for cam and aux shaft and haven’t had issues there either. Haynes manual says 44ft/lbs + 60 degrees for crank
 
36ft lb for the cam and intermediate sprocket bolts. The holes in the sprockets are for the holding tool. It's a round ring with a bolt going through. The end of the bolt goes in a sprocket hole and the tool has a square drive for a ratchet or breaker bar. That sounds about right for the crank pulley bolt.
 
44lbs for the crank pulley seems so low to me (even though it's spec)...I think the diesel (D24) is about 330lbs for the harmonic balancer.

Would it be advantageous to torque the B230F balancer slightly higher than spec?
Any risk of breaking the screw or would that require an astronomical amount of additional torque?

On the D24, some folks recommend torquing around 450-500lbs to ensure that the screw/balancer does not wobble/come loose.
(It's an interference engine, so it's more of a headache if the belts skips or breaks.)

Does anyone have the part number or a photo of the tool that is used for the intermediate gear?
Should I be concerned that I used an air gun to set the intermediate gear? (not knowing to what spec it's torqued)
 
I twist the timing belt to check the tension on it between the cam and aux gears, 90 degrees is about what you want on the twist by hand. If you can twist it more then that then it's too loose.
 
I twist the timing belt to check the tension on it between the cam and aux gears, 90 degrees is about what you want on the twist by hand. If you can twist it more then that then it's too loose.

This is the timing belt tension procedure for the 1980 924 that I had. It was also the way
you adjusted the belt for my 76 Rabbit long ago. A friends Dodge Omni also used this reference. The worst timing belt I ever replaced was that Dodge Omni. You have to remove an engine mount bracket to take the timing belt off and one of the mounting bolts goes into the coolant jacket of the engine. Terrible half ass engineering.
 
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