which belts do you prefer

[jpliddy]

hi all i ask this question as here in the UK the genuine volvo belts are no longer available and i don't know who made them for volvo ,
the general feelings here i read its either GATES or CONTITECH,
which belt woud you like to fit theres others but these seem to lead the pack over here ,your valued opinion as soon im getting mine as defiantly changing as mine has done over 54000 miles and been on the car 0ver 5 years and 6 months
now

[RedArrow]

Both of those brands are good quality belts.

Coincidentally, I have just opened one of my Volvo boxes to look for a relay and here's what I saw.
See pictures attached...



All of these belts were manufactured by Continental (Contitech):

a timing belt for the old version d24t, an injection pump belt, an alternator belt and a power steering/accessory belt.


In fact, now that I am looking at the date stamps, I would like to ask the pro dieselers this: are these still good? Do these expire (even if kept in good cond?)?

According to the labels on the original boxes, these belts were manufactured in 2015 Sept and 2016 Jan, which was a long time ago... but I had them stored in dry storage, they were not bent or twisted or loaded upon, no light/sunlight, no extreme temperatures, no UV exposure, etc, "not even air" as they were stored in a lockable gun case. I know they don't belong there except maybe the timing belt... that can be a dangerous weapon against the interference engine.

I was supposed to use these belts up several years ago for one of my spare engines but I haven`t finished those.

The belts still look perfectly new but I will dispose (or keep) them according to the replies I receive here. ACTUALLY IT ONLY MATTERS FOR THE TIMING BELT, the other belts are much easier to replace and there's no damage when/if those fail.

If the part numbers are not visible, I can modify my post later to include them. JPliddy, is your car a later year, euro model d24t-TIC with the hydraulic tappets? Your car *might* need a different belt from what I posted.

[jpliddy]

hello red arrow
your belt kit looks very nice i woud do what you said all the belts are fine to use
but get confirmation regarding the front belt , i woud be surprised if it not ok as its had no stress and been stored ok , but see what the lads say and post it on the forum , im stuck here between the 2 makes i mentioned ,a company here who do just VW parts list the contitech in there sales so tempted,
my car is the 940 TIC auto 1995 , so the later engine ,the front belt has 120 teeth and the rear belt has 75 teeth i have a tiny oil leak which wets the front outer edge of the front belt its only tiny and i wipe it so keeping a eye on it ,
i could send you various photos if you woud like my email address ,
i haven't learned how to post photos on the forum ,
keep in touch !

[RedArrow]

I think, if any signs of oil are visible on a regular basis anywhere *on* the surface of the timing belt itself, I suggest tracking the leak, the sooner the better. It is not good for the belt to get in contact with chemicals such as fuel, wax, coolant, oil etc. I hope you will find the leak and stop it.

Does your timing belt area still have the timing belt cover? Oil leaks from above (from the valve cover area) also can make their way into the belt area, by running down then through not-so-perfect sealing at the edges of the tb cover.

If you learned uploading some good pictures with your posts, we could also take a look and maybe help you to identify the problem. Taking a longer video is probably the best idea then it would be easy to share the link here after you uploaded your video on Y()utVbe.