Another Failed Auxiliary Drive Belt-B4 Mild Hybrid

[gedger]

You only need the belt to start the engine and charge the battery. Once started if the engine is not stopped (by the auto stop/start) then a broken belt will not prevent you driving the car to a safe place as the engine will still be running. I'm not say this a solution merely a way of lessening the impact.

[JFDIT]

You'll also lose Power Steering and Air Con. Not sure what drives the Water Pump.

I don't know how exactly the engine behaves when a serpentine belt fails. Does it Stop immediately? The debris could cause further physical damage?

[Felindre]

What is more relevant though is the B series engine has been around getting on 4 years, mine's over 3 years, 28k plus miles and no issues. So it's only a recent batch that is the problem.

So whether they've changed the design recently, it's a batch from a specific factory, or a specific supplier, because it's not every recent B series.

[poleposition]

When mine failed shortly after its first service, I contacted my supplying dealer who said "it wasn't unheard of". They had the parts in stock, but the car could not be transported to them as it was more than 50 miles. The car was taken to the nearest Volvo dealer, and when I asked why I had not heard back from the garage after they had received the car they said they would not even look at the car "till next week" as they were fully booked, and had had 6 cars recovered to them on the same day as mine.

When they did get to look at my car they had the parts in stock and repaired it the same day. When I asked the service department why this was happening to nearly new cars, he said that Volvo did not really know. That was worrying. My belt and tensioner failed when the car was stationary. He did say if the car had been moving at the time the belt could have caused more damage.

It would be good to hear something from Volvo about this issue.

[ChrisLF]

If this was in the US I think action would be being taken more quickly. Trouble is over here I doubt many folks are reporting these issues to the DVSA as it's a potential safety issue as most folks aren't aware of this.

[iainh124a]

Sadly my 24 plate (delivery 1st week of April, approx 1200 miles) B3 Mild Hybrid has also suffered the failed auxiliary belt and tensioner issue last week and had to be recovered by Volvo Assistance.

What are the symptoms when this issue occured? Mine is 3 months old/6200 miles and the rubber surrounding the front grill is peeling already

The day before the issue occurred the car didn't start but then did start and drove & restarted fine with no issues. There was also no abnormal noises at that stage.

The next day when the car was first started it was the noise on ignition that alerted me to a problem.

Opening the bonnet showed that the belt was frayed and falling apart, you could also see bits of the belt hanging beneath the car.

[jonnier]

Just had the same happen to ours too. 23 plate b4 mild hybrid less then 20k miles, owned from new, always serviced. Left stranded half way out of a junction onto an A road with the car stuck in park. No way to contact volvo as was out of hours. Took several attempts (and telling fibs to the automated system) to actually be able to speak to someone. Then wasnt able to confirm location with Volvo assist as their system kept saying Failed. Offer location by what3words but they wont accept that. Was all a bit of a palaver. Then took 4 hours to send a recovery truck. They did send a representative to look at car to diagnose the problem, even though I was holding the snapped serpentine belt in my hand and had already told them that.

More than 24 hours later, no update, no replacement car (despite calling twice today). Based on this experience (and a similar one with my Polestar) I am wishing I had stayed with with my old brand of car.

[poleposition]

Been reading a bit more about this, it seems if you are unlucky when the aux belt breaks it can in rare circumstances foul the cam belt and cause severe engine damage. One post mentioned 3 belt failures for no obvious reason, the last one damaged the engine and Volvo UK offered no goodwill with the repair costs.

[Felindre]

That sounds strange as the drive belt is outside the engine, the cam belt is inside under covers.

[poleposition]

Yes, it appears that the failed aux belt can get under the cover, must be a space and can interfere with the cam belt. A few reports of this happening.

My car was in for a service today, I asked if they had any further feedback from Volvo as to why this was happening, but they have not.