2005 Volvo V50 2.4i Repair

[Gojira94]

Poor car... alternator belt failed and murdered the timing belt. I've done this entire job before on a 2008 V50 2.5 t5. Diagnosed it yesterday and realized I'd be doing what I'm about to do again...

 

 

Oh man...

 

 

 

A few hours later...

 

 

We got this car for my oldest daughter in 2018. I did a bunch of additional work to it and it was a great college car for her. Soon after I spotted a 2008 V50 turbo on Craigslist and got it for $1100. Broken timing belt, bent valves, etc. That one only had 110,000 miles on it and was a beautiful ice blue. Final cost on that one, including purchase, tow to my house, upper end parts and machine work was $1910. I was going to flip it for about $6500 but my daughter really liked it and wanted it. My middle daughter is only 17 months behind her so the 2005 went to her and my oldest took the turbo. They're my step-daughters but I love them like I made them myself, so this seemed like a good arrangement to get them both in reliable cars.

 

This car survived the Asheville floods from Helene, being parked on high ground at the Lookout Observatory. Sat there for 5 weeks undisturbed, miraculously, and fired right up after sitting. Before we gave it to my middle daughter in 2021, I went through the interior and made it as nice as the other one. The door panel skins on these Volvo P1 platform cars eventually peel into a sticky mess. I had a local interiors shop re-skin them (almost $700) and the darned thing has brand new tires and brakes, and only 220,000 miles. Everyone calls this car "Valerie." So I'm saving her... The MJ is a secondary concern for the moment.

 

Big thanks to JT in Newport, NC for letting us use his shop space to work on her. Love to Kenli and AJ for the extra pairs of hands, and to Klara who's patiently waiting for this all to be done.

 

[Gojira94]

Dropped the head off at my machinist in Raleigh on my lunch break. Won't be nearly as cheap as the last head for the turbo 2008 car. But he thinks he can have it ready by the end of the week. w00t!

[Pete M]

that is a mess of a belt.  

 

you should probably share a pic of the car  

[Gojira94]

10 hours ago, Pete M said:

you should probably share a pic of the car

Oh, duh. Yeah.

This is it

 

 

here’s the 2008 t5 as well:

 

 

[Pete M]

good looking cars for sure   I love wagons!

[Gojira94]

On 8/22/2025 at 5:49 PM, Pete M said:

good looking cars for sure   I love wagons!

 

Different world working on European cars... not the world I prefer lol

[Gojira94]

Friday:

 

 

Saturday: