’07 S40 – Timing Belt Change, Seal Replacement, Water Pump Replacement, and More…

When we purchased the S40 it had a bad PCV system.  There was such a vacuum in the crankcase the vacuum would pull the dipstick out of your hand from one inch away.  This was a factory recall and Volvo fixed it free.  But, the damage was done.  All that vacuum for thousands of miles had sucked several seals too far into the engine.  It immediately started leaking oil like crazy.  Most of the oil was coming from the crankshaft seal, and I could see a little oil around the camshaft seals.  Since I have to remove the timing belt to get to the camshaft seal I decided to replace the timing belt, idler pulley, and water pump.  Yes, the water pump is driven by the timing belt.  To me that sounds crazy, so if your water pump totally flies apart for some reason, you will lose the timing belt, thus destroying any valves that are currently open.  Not very logical, unless this is a non-interference engine; it may be.  So I ordered a ton of parts and started the surgery.  There is a locking tool for locking both camshafts in place, it was $110 on eBay, but I wanted to do this job properly.  When doing this procedure place a jack under the engine and remove the motor mount near the timing belt.  Moving the engine up and down at times will help getting to bolts that are trying to hide.  I wish I had written this back a few years ago when I did this surgery, sorry for the lack of detail. From my memory…

  1. Support the engine, I used a floor jack and a 2×6, remove the motor mount near the timing belt.
  2. Remove the two fan belts.
  3. Remove the timing belt cover, stare in disbelief that the water pump is driven by the timing belt.
  4. Remove the rear camshaft dust covers, not really ‘seals’. Had to destroy them during the removal. Remove the end caps under the dust covers.
  5. Install the locking tool on the rear of the camshafts.
  6. Remove the timing belt idler pulley and the timing belt.
  7. Go crazy marking everything, if something moves next to something that does not move, mark it!
  8. Use a puller and remove the lower timing pulley on the crankshaft.
  9. Remove both camshaft pulleys, the one on the right is a VVT pulley, it will take a bit more work to remove.
  10. Remove the water pump and install the new one.  The pump was not bad, but if you are digging this deep, just replace it.
  11. Remove crankshaft seal and camshaft seals, replace with new ones.
  12. Replace crankshaft pulley and camshaft pulleys.
  13. Install new timing belt and idler pulley, mind your marks that were made in step 6.
  14. Remove locking tool on the rear of the camshafts and install the new dust covers.
  15. Reinstall the lower timing cover and the motor mount.
  16. Install new fan belts.
  17. Crank the S40 and make sure the timing belt is tracking properly on the upper camshaft pulleys.
  18. Is it good? Reinstall the upper timing belt cover.
  19. Have a beer and marvel at the non-leaking engine.

Products used:

  • Two rear camshaft dust covers.
  • Two front camshaft seals.
  • One front crankshaft seal.
  • Goodyear Gatorback timing belt and idler pulley set.
  • Water pump with gasket.
  • Two Goodyear Gatorback fan belts, since you have to remove them, this is a good time to replace them.

endCapRemoval IMG_0805 IMG_0811 IMG_0812  IMG_0859 IMG_0818s40_markPulley s40_removeBolts40_VVT_OFF

 

2 comments on “’07 S40 – Timing Belt Change, Seal Replacement, Water Pump Replacement, and More…

  1. Hello,

    First, thanks for writing this!

    1. Normally when the PCV dies it blows oil and seals out not sucks them in right? My engine has good suction but leaky cam seals.
    2. When you replaced the VVT cam, did you have to do anything special or just align it to your marks to where before you took it off? Mine is the same as this and wondering if I should replace my seals or not and how hard it is.

    Thanks!

    1. Sorry for the late reply. I may have it backwards, it may cause compression not suction. When I replaced the VVT cam I just marked EVERYTHING, if it moves, mark it. It is not an easy job, but take your time and you can do it. There is a tool that will make the job easier, you can find it on ebay it mounts to the rear of the cams and locks them in place. So when you start removing stuff on the front the cams will not move. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Volvo-Crankshaft-Camshaft-Cam-Engine-Alignment-Timing-Locking-Tool-Fixture-Kit/353018072664?epid=0&hash=item5231844e58:g:neEAAOSw2A9eeGpL

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