Is the D5 Aux belt issue really that common?

[19jacobob93]

Hi everyone,

I have a couple of D5 powered Volvos on my shopping list, and I really like the look and sound of them.

I'm not familiar at all with the D5 engine, having never owned one, so all I know is what I've read and watched online.

I have read a LOT about the most common serious issue, which is of course, the aux belt and tensioner failures. I have read of this happening 3x within 100k miles to one unlucky owner (lucky that none hit the timing belt though), yet I've also seen these engines with around 500k miles still running mint!

I generally keep my cars for a very long time (usually until someone drives into me and writes it off) and I do a lot of driving (700 miles weekly).

Are there any tricks to preventing this from occurring, other than frequent belt and tensioner replacements? What causes this issue to occur and are there any updated or upgraded parts now?

Apologies if this topic has been flogged to death on this forum already!

Cheers