Looking at a 2010 C30 R-Design

Revolvo · 2025-06-30T00:08:33+00:00

Hey all, I've been keeping my eye out for a C30 R-Design. I found a 2008 model local'ish to me but after a walk around, the poor thing was pretty used and a...

Major Ledfoot

laugh_like_god it had 0 visible cracks BUT the tensioner seems to have started ingesting dirt and dust, and it spun ever so slightly less smooth than the new one I bought. On these cars it usually the tensioner that gives out before the belt.

Thanks for the very detailed report. The point how the belt looks okay (& probably is itself) while the pulleys and tensioners get a bit iffy with dirt ingestion isn't lost on me. AFAIC doing an early replacement of the timing belt kit and water pump is cheap insurance against gummed up components causing a belt failure and bent valves, but opinions may vary. Good points also about the PCV and oil filter housing too.

laugh_like_god

Thought that I might as well share some photos of the old parts I replaced. Impressive stuff honestly, I think people rag too much on European cars.

Can probably thank the parts being of such good quality that there are still older Volvos on the road, as most owners are degenerates neglecting maintenance. Most parts are stamped with 06/07 date!

Thats why you buy OE/OEM not that Chinese Gates garbage.

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laugh_like_god

Few more pics, maybe it helps someone out.

One of the sheared chinesium "impact rated" T30 socket from 1 pull with a ratchet.

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Destroyed Intake Cam Positioner while drilling bolt out.

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As I said above, save yourself the time and money if you are going to take these off. A set of these Diablo Torx bits from Bunnings with an impact worked for me without an issue on the exhaust cam, send it and it will come off.

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PCV Diaphragm, wasn't as bad as in the photos when I pulled it out, maybe only about 1/3 of that split your seeing but it instantly split like that with a very gentle bend, was most likely going to fail completely soon.

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carnut222

laugh_like_god Just curious why you were removing that bolt…were U replacing the cam seals or something? I don't remember having to touch the cam pullies when I did the timing belt on my C30.

laugh_like_god

carnut222 To lock the cams and replace the seals, it was my first time doing something like this and I was following the FCP euro vid, next time I would probably skip this step if the cam seals aren't leaking tbh, but I didn't know at the time. Gotta fk up to learn I guess. Honestly wouldn't have been a bad job if the bolts were torqued to 20Nm like Volvo spec, but its 100% way more than that.

carnut222

laugh_like_god Ahh no worries. I didn't do the cam seals or the water pump on my car when I replaced the timing belt, but it only had 125k kms on it (I replaced the belt at the 10 year mark). TBH I can't remember how I held the cam pullies…I must have used a tool or ?? Hmm…

rado

I have had my c30 t5 for near a year now and been trouble free apart from the aircon still not working
Full service history including new head that im gathering was done by lack of coolant .
I bought for under 5k . Fantastic little car I'd love to keep mine but it just sits in the driveway in the way of the garage atm ...

nh2868

A/C is likely to be the pressure sensor next to the brake vacuum booster. I've had to replace it on both our C30 and S40. If the system has gas, the pressure switch will likely be bad. You can replace it easily, and the gas won't leak out when you do it.

If you replace the water pump, please use an original AISIN one. The timing belt system isn't hard but the temptation to cheap out on parts is nuts. Our S40 had a blown head gasket from a Chinese water pump and the tensioner on our C30 was butchered and about to let go. Those engines can last forever if treated well (15,000km oil changes are too long…) so I'd not be worried about high kms. We had S40 transmission "issues" well before 100,000km (which is why the C30 is manual) so whatever C30 you find will be a transmission lucky-dip potentially. I'd suggest looking more at wear and tear, missing lock button grommets, missing handbrake lever caps and dented aluminium dash/door trim. Anyone particular enough to keep on top of these will have looked after the mechanicals properly. We've owned 4 Volvos this age now and all of them have been almost destroyed by licenced mechanics who didn't know what they were doing. If you can't work on the car yourself you need to be picky and keep on top of problems, and find a good Mechanic with a decent brain. A bad one will kill your car and drain your wallet. It's not a Corolla.

laugh_like_god

nh2868 100% agree with the chinese water pump and tensioner. Heard a lot of bad things about the Gates kits that sell for 300 aud, especially from subaru owners that have grenaded their engines due to bad gates chinese pumps. In the short term you save yourself about 200 aud, but you will grenade your engine very quickly.

Revolvo

nh2868 great info! Thanks!

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