Now that the wasps are dead I can get to reinstalling my timing belt. There are already a number of good videos on the subject, so I won’t bother to reexplain the procedure here, but a few notes from my experience.

1. Don’t try to move the cam gear with your hand. Unlike the intermediate gear it’s very stiff. I ended up momentarily bending my thumb a weird way while trying to nudge it a bit, and while not damaged it’s now irritatingly sore.
2. The crank gear is relatively easy to move once the pulley is on. Larger moves require a breaker bar with a 24mm socket on the bolt.
3. Once all three are lined up properly getting the belt on might require some playing around with the tensioner. Mine needed to be compressed just a little but more than it was with the nail I was using to keep the spring compressed. I need to use one hand to lever the spring another 1/8 of an inch or so while pushing the belt onto the roller all while keeping it from slipping off the other gears.

To be honest, the whole affair was a bit more of a pain that I imagined it would be. I actually had to sort of back away at one point and take a break lest my frustration end in something breaking. Working while keyed up by frustration is a sure fire recipe for disaster. Anyway, everything is lined up and the new belt is on, so progress.

In the week since my last post, I’ve continued to tear down the front of the block. This includes the cam and intermediate pulleys, timing belt, and perhaps most dramatically the water pump. I did the pump first mostly to get it out of the way of the timing belt tensioner (part #463633) and the timing belt itself. I also wanted to make sure the bearing were still good. Unbolting it was straightforward, but the gasket was pretty well stuck to the block and required some scraping and peeling to get it off.

The pump seems fine. It doesn’t rattle and turns smoothly, but there was an alarming amount of crud inside of it. I’m not sure what it was – perhaps just dirt or more likely antifreeze that has crystalized over the years. I washed it out and set the pump aside for cleaning. Also, on the advice of a friend who has experience with 240s, I replaced the thermostat. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the existing one but since I was in there I figured it was as good a time as any.

Next I wanted to get the timing belt off. The first step was to loosen the bolt on the tensioner pulley and, using channel locks, compress the spring. This part was easy and allowed me to slip the belt off relatively easily. It wasn’t in terrible shape, to be honest, but the belt change sticker that was on the timing belt cover had no discernible date written on it, so I figured since I was changing all the other belts I should do this one too. I also wanted to take the cam timing and intermediate gears off to better clean them up. Do do this you need to keep both the cam and intermediate shafts from turning which it is wont to do if it’s not arrested by the timing belt itself. I accomplished this by first hitting the bolt with lots of WD-40 to loosen it up a bit. Then I took the old timing belt and fitted it to the gear, wrapped it around the tensioner peg, and used locking pliers to keep it on. This gave me the leverage to get both gears off.

Next step is to clean the front of the block up with some degreaser and WD-40, clean the gears, de-crud the water pump and replace the rubber seals, and put it all back together.

My replacement ECT sensor arrived. The time has arrived to really get serious about cleaning and reassembling this engine. First (obviously) comes the disassembly part. I’ve already got the intake section off. Next on the list was the various belts. Well, maybe the second thing. The first hing I did was put the ECT and temperature gauge sender back in and reconnect them.

So it’s been a year or so since I bought this Volvo. When I first took it home it (obviously) drove, but not well and would probably not pass inspection. It was a project from day one. Now that better weather has arrived, I’m determined to get the car running reliably well and road worthy. At that point I can pivot to making sure the rest of the car is good.

So, given a day with a few hours free my oldest son and I began taking off the intake system. These parts include (starting from the out and moving in):

• The air box and filter
• The mass airflow sensor (MAF)
• The throttle body
• The intake manifold
• The idle air control valve (IAC)
• The fuel rail, fuel pressure regulator, and fuel injectors
• The engine coolant temperature, engine temperature gauge sender, and knock sensors

The plan was to first drain the coolant system and remove the radiator and fan to provide some working room and then start removing the above listed parts. They would then be cleaned and tested for function before being either replaced or put back on.

After a long while, the weather decided to cooperate and be pleasant on a weekend day where I had some free time. So I decided to tackle the rear wiring harnesses.

Disassembly

Armed with instructions I had downloaded from our friends at iPd, I dove in. The first thing that needed doing was detaching of the headliner in the rear. I had previous dithered on this because my initial meek attempts at removal were unfruitful. It turns out that this was because I was following the instructions too closely and attempting to remove the liner with just my fingers. I had purchased a set of hooks and probes awhile back for a different purpose and decided to see if they helped. Indeed they did! Using a hook the headliner peeled back perfectly and with almost no effort. I was in! The next step was to star loosening the retaining bolts. On my car these consisted of two bolts that held the hinges to the body and two large screws that held them to the tailgate. With the help of my older son, who was gracious enough to climb inside and actually remove the fasteners while I held the tailgate to keep it from falling, we got them all out and lifted the gate from the back of the car.