Thanks all for replying, I took the car to the dealership for a service. Apparently decision to change the belt was good as one of the pulleys was cracked (there was some rattling noise comming out for some time, don't know if it was related). With regular service, in total 1100 EUR. Quite expensive, but I guess I have peace of mind and good point if I decide to sell it in a couple of years. Anyway still cheaper than a new Volvo. 😂

L

 

I drive a 2013 D2 with quite different utilization profile. I have driven myself 25k during 9 months with a total of 250k on the odometer. First time the belt had been chanced at 110k after 5 years and now I changed it at 250k. I did the replacement myself, purchased the parts (SKF) including water pump and OEM coolant from an on line parts dealer. Total cost was around 160€ money and 6 hours time. I inspected the original parts and did not find any issue with any of them, all rubber parts intact and all bearings smooth and thi after 140k of driving during 10 years. I suppose you could extend the replacement interval by a year with such a low mileage but there are unknowns such as possible oil leak where oil gest to the belt which would shorten the lifetime.

 

And the reverse of this story could go belt broke at 5 years and 6 months destroying valves and piston requiring extensive head work as well. As they say in for a penny, up for many pounds

 

Is it worth it? I mean:

• if you intend to keep the car, why taking the risk? 800€ vs ##.000€ for a new/used car?
• if you intend to sell it, having done the timing belt would be a good selling point
• again, will you trust the car for a medium to long journey in the next couple of years if you don't change the belts?

my 2 cents...

 

Well, I was going through a similar issue (original vs OEM...) and I went for Volvo garage and original spare parts because the Volvo guarantee covers the spare parts and the labour done for the entire ownership of the vehicle (I assume that the timing belt kit will be covered for 10 years/140k km).

 

Care buying these critical parts from eBay.
Fitting correctly is super important as valves and pistons are at stake

 

Many ebay parts are more fake than Katie Price's front end!

 

Just to hijack.

What would be the complete kit.

I see them on ebay, but not always the full kit?

Anyone recently purchased on ebay and have a listing?

 

Stick with gates the full kit

 

It's often the pulleys that fail as much as the belt. Low mileage can be just as detrimental as high mileage because the belt can perish through not moving regularly. You can see the outside of the belt, but not the structural cords running through it.

Change intervals are however set on the basis that very few cars will suffer failure within that period. You may well be able to extend the interval another year or two with only a little extra chance of issues, but if someone here told you it would be fine to do that, and you wrote the engine off a couple of months later, how would you feel?