I got my 343 from a German lady about 2 years ago. She hadn't used it for 8 years (died 6 years ago). I've been working on it on and off since then and have finally got round to the CVT as the last thing to get it on the road. It has only done about 20 km since I bought it as the revs seemed very high.

I'm trying to put on new belts. The book says "speading the pully halves is by pulling the belt downwards'" (I cannot get the Volvo tools on the Canary Islands). All this does is open the primary pully but did allow me to get the old belts off. They were worn down about 5 mms. I tried to force the secondary pully halves apart with a block of wood and a jack. All that did was lift the car off the axle stands!

I might be able to get the new ones on but am afraid that as soon as I put some load on the belts I might damage them. Alteratively I can put the old worn ones back on and tension them up so that they no longer slip in the hope that a little road running will free up the pulleys.

Does anybody have any suggestions?

Incidentally the surfaces of both primary and secondary pulleys are nice and shiny (with a few scores) for their full depth so I think that the pulleys have been working but with considerable belt slippage as the revs seemed abnormally high. Trying to set the inter pully gap last night (and failing) I tensiond up the belts so they were no longer slack. Driving the car 100 meteres to where I am now working on it the revs seemed more what I would expect ( no rev counter yet!) but I don't suppose I got out of "bottom gear".

if you feel like the revs are too high, have a read through this: http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/v ... =6&t=12314

there is 250kg spring pressure in each half of the secundary pulleys, if the axle they slide over is a bit stuck/out of grease this will be even harder.
correct way to spread the pulley's is by the original volvo tool; or a replica (C-clamp); there's also a trick where you switch the EMV's output hoses to the gearbox, put the low gear hold switch on and it when you slightly let it rev it will get the belts in the highest gear making the secondary pulleys spread

it might also help to put new oil in the pulley chambers, for the secondary gearbox you can put around 50cc in each side with a suringe through the rubber seals

Hello Volvodspec,

thanks for that advice. 250kg axially is a lot of pulling when you are doing it at 90 degrees from axial and the slope you are pulling is about 30 degrees from the vertical. I wonder why the books and Volvo's Genuine Parts leaflet that they used to issue with their new belts say 'Another way of spreading the pulley halves is by pulling the belt downwards'. Worked for the primary pulleys though so I was able to get the belts off but slill left with the problem of spreading the secondary pully to get the new, wider belt on.

A couple of poins for clarification, please:
Are you referring to pipes A and B in the diagram in the web page that you recommended I should read?
Are you recommending injecting the 50ccs THROUGH the large seals that are on the inboard side of the inboard pulley?

thanks in anticipation of your reply

Peter Drake

He is probably meaning to wriggle the needle between the rubber seal and the metal housing.
One doesn't want to puncture the seals.

sorry, been busy

i do ment that you puncture the seals, the rubber bellows are a few mm's thick so it will actually seal itself, well the oil is too thick to come out again anyway. i normally place the suringe somewhere in the middle, keep away from the edges as that's where the bellows get the most stress while moving. the oil to use is normal ATF (50cc in each half)

you can get them off with pulling the belts downwards, i personally don't have the weight to do it so i first check if the belts are still looking strong/mostly intact, then grab the belts; flip myself upside down so that my feet are touching the bottom of the car and then pull the belts up. then stick a piece of metal/wood whatever inbetween the slot so the pulleys remain spreaded, something around 20 mm is what i mostly use

the web page is a complete diagnostic for the cvt, if you feel like it's doing more revs then it should; it's worth reading through the whole article, quite a few repair tips in it aswell. and if you find the EMV seals to be broken you can contact the mr above for a BornBuiltBeauties refurb kit