Friday 6 July 2012

Guide: Volvo V70 D5 Auxiliary Belt, Idler and Tensioner Replacement

Removal

Remove the plastic engine cover by just pulling it up and off. To remove the belt, the tension must be released first. The tensioner is an automatic spring-loaded type, which can be released with a ratchet and suitable fitting. On newer replacement tensioners, there is a Torx hole on the swinging body of the tensioner, which you can put a T-60 Torx plug into on the end of a ratchet to lever the tensioner away from the belt:
Torx T-60
There is a locking hole in the tensioner body to allow a pin (or similar) to be inserted in the released position to keep the tension off the belt, which is very handy during replacement. the below image shows the (old) tensioner locked in position. You can also see in this picture the T-60 hole to the left of the locking hole on the front face that you would use to lever the tensioner.