Group, It is time to replace the camshaft belts on my two Volvo D3 5 cylinder 220 hp diesels.  They have now done 10 seasons and about 700 hours.  The book says 8 years or 1400 hours whatever comes first.  Thank goodness it is an easy job and not too expensive.  The same engine is used on automobiles.  The same part number for the replacement kit is used for both the car engine and the marine engine.  The kit of a belt, replacement idler and replacement tensioner  is about $170 from a Volvo auto dealer and about $340 from the marine parts people.  I will use the auto replacement since the past numbers are the same.  Now to my question Along with this I will replace the engine drive belts, one drives the water lift pump and the other drives the engine alternator, water pump and 110amp 24 volt auxiliary alternator so this one can be relatively highly loaded.  The existing belts look fine but must come off to do the cam belt replacement.  I have one set of replacement belts that I have carried as spare for 10 years.  In they have been stored out of the sun and away from excessive heat.  What facts or opinions are out there about using these belts for my replacement and expecting 10 years of life from them.  Do you think it is a safe thing to do or am I likely risking a failure if I use them? It isn't a giant economic decision but wonder if anyone knows one way or the other..   Gary Hagstrom Crackerjack a MaineCat P-47 in bed in heated storage for the winter Iron River, Wisconsin

Here is a link to Gates website and an article that suggests that 8 years is the shelf life of their belts. Might be worth the peace of mine to use new belts. https://ww2.gates.com/IF/facts/documents/Gf000280.pdf Frank Burrows On 2/10/2021 3:12 PM, Gary Hagstrom via Trawlers-and-Trawlering wrote: > Group, > > It is time to replace the camshaft belts on my two Volvo D3 5 cylinder 220 hp diesels.  T

So Gary, This is my thinking. All of my spares are wrapped in stretch wrap, double wrapped and stored out of sun. Even belts. Since you only have one in spares (I would have bought two) I would open and inspect them carefully, bending and twisting to see where the cracks on. If check sat, then restore and use as a UNUSED get-home part. Keep the old parts as used, get-home parts and buy two new kits. Just to complete this thought, if I were you and had two kits in spares, properly wrapped, sealed and stowed, I would have used those and bought two new one for spares. My spare belts lasted the required hours and were replaced with the new spares from stock. Two new ones were bought for stock and the two old used one were inspected, sealed and return to stock. I will never use the used ones gain unless the new ones break and I need to get home. Lee Levent Marina, Izmir Turkey On Wed, Feb 10, 2021 at 11:13 PM Gary Hagstrom wrote: > Group, > > It is time to replace the camshaft belts on my two Volvo D3 5 cylinder 220 > hp diesels. ……… >