Ticking/blowing exhaust?

[Nick0]

Hello All,

I gave my brother (a mechanic for 11 years) a lift home the other night. When I started the car it was doing it's usual ticking/tappetty noise from cold. When he got in he said 'your exhaust is blowing it sounds like it's coming from the engine' I explained that it's got variable valve timing and he remained absolutley adamant that it was blowing. I couldn't hear it and when we got to his place it had gone (the motor was warmed up).

Question 1 - have any of you guys had this?
Question 2 - should a Volvo service have picked this up?

[M-R-P]

The exhaust manifold gasket went on mine just after it left plod @123k miles. The garage that fixed it (Volvo indy) said it was probably where the old bill gave it a thrashing :( and yes, if it was blowing, they should have spotted it.

[Nick0]

The exhaust manifold gasket went on mine just after it left plod @123k miles. The garage that fixed it (Volvo indy) said it was probably where the old bill gave it a thrashing :( and yes, if it was blowing, they should have spotted it.
Mine hasn't even done 50,000 miles yet could it just need re-torqueing? (yours hopefully!)

[volvokid]

The engines do tick, and I know the exhaust is quite loud when you hear it from the back of the car some people may think its blown. Never heard it from the front though

[M-R-P]

50k and not been thrashed? Very unlikely to be blowing imo

[Nick0]

The engines do tick, and I know the exhaust is quite loud when you hear it from the back of the car some people may think its blown. Never heard it from the front though

Thanks Martyn, I think it was the ticking that alerted him it doesn't give of a blowing sound

[Nick0]

50k and not been thrashed? Very unlikely to be blowing imo
I've only had it since last October (it's had 5 or 6 previous owners) and I don't really thrash it. Much. Honest Sir.

[M-R-P]

It can puff and burble a bit from the back end and with the ticking too...
Aah - she's probably ok, if not, it'll only get louder till you hear it properly :)

[Nick0]

It can puff and burble a bit from the back end and with the ticking too...
Aah - she's probably ok, if not, it'll only get louder till you hear it properly :)

The ticking you hear from the front, and when sat in the car.

....I had wondered why it is so "chokey" when cold - the tickover is high (about 1500RPM) from cold too for about a minute or so and then settles to a normal (about 750RPM) now I'm wondering if it is all connected!

[volvokid]

That's normal. It will rev high for about 30 seconds

[M-R-P]

Nope, the high revs from cold is normal and like you say it settles down to (650 on mine) idle after a couple of minutes. that's the engine's way of getting a bit of heat into itself. and if it's cold enough to do that then you'll definately get some (quite a bit) condensation from the exhaust. here's mine from cold...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiYm9-eV55Y&context=C4a37a99ADvjVQa1PpcFOJ5WhJZ0vk2yqNqoT6tO2S YkB9vUmTU3E=
Nice and ticky :)

[Nick0]

thanks chaps

[volvokid]

If your worried about a ticky engine go listen to a cold M3 :-)

[M-R-P]

lol, I was gonna suggest Vauxhall Vectra ecotec ;)

[LiamT4]

Sounds like the exhaust gasket manifold to me, it does get quieter as the car warms up.

[LeeT5]

Hello All,

Question 1 - have any of you guys had this?
Question 2 - should a Volvo service have picked this up?

Nick0...

It's quite a common fault that the exhaust manifold bolts work loose on th R engines. Mine had, when i first picked mine up and i have seen countless others with the same fault. Your brother is right. If he's been a mechanic for 11 years then he will be able to spot the difference between a blowing exhaust and a noisy tappet!!

The reason why it quietens down once warmed up is because as the manifold gets hot it expands and thus closes the gap.

Its a pig of a job to do and can only be done on a stone cold engine. You'll need to remove the turbo heats shield and undo two others (from memory) to get to ALL the bolts. Then you can tighten them up. Don't be suprised if they feel almost finger tight. Do'nt worry about torqueing them up, just 'FT' will be fine: that's FAIRLY TIGHT not ££££££££££ TIGHT :D.
Refit heatshields and then roadtest.

You should notice an instant difference...the engine will sounds 100% better and you'll hear more of a growl from your exhaust too!!

Turbo spool will also be slightly improved because of the slight increase in back pressure. Don't expect it to break your neck thou!! LOL

[kyboy]

I started getting a blowing noise/ rattling noise , its the cat breaking up I've had big chunks of it coming out of the tailpipe!!!!!,bad idea being behind me when it's getting some fist lol.

[Nick0]

Nice one thanks Lee. Did you tighten yours up? Is there an order of tightening/torque setting? I am not too bad a DIY mechanic but this does sound like a big-ish job to me...should I be daunted?

(What would you expect a garage to charge me?)

[LeeT5]

Nice one thanks Lee. Did you tighten yours up? Is there an order of tightening/torque setting? I am not too bad a DIY mechanic but this does sound like a big-ish job to me...should I be daunted?

(What would you expect a garage to charge me?)

Don't worry about torqing them up. Just do them very tight but don't hang off the bar. Try to spray lube onto the bolts, it will help get them the right tightness and feel.

Yes i did have to tighten mine up. Was blowing from day 1 but i never realised until Stuart at SWAutos told me!
Best to do it yourself but find out first how many bolts there are. I would expect a garage to bill you an hours labour MAX!!You have to wait until exhaust is stone cold thou....and that takes a while.

[Nick0]

Thanks again sir. I've never taken off a turbo or anything like, is it all simple and straightforward?

[LeeT5]

Yes it is straight forwards but you don't remove the Turbo, just the manifold and turbo heatshields.

[s_cowen]

Mine has always had a slight blow from the front & is worse when the engine is cold & I have always thought it was the down pipe, read this thread & decided to check my manifold & to do it I had to remove the OTE turbo pipe & the heat shields & sure enough all the nuts were slack & a couple that loose I could turn them by hand,

Once this has been done how long should it last before they slacking off again & is it worth putting any type of thread lock on ?

[LeeT5]

Mine has always had a slight blow from the front & is worse when the engine is cold & I have always thought it was the down pipe, read this thread & decided to check my manifold & to do it I had to remove the OTE turbo pipe & the heat shields & sure enough all the nuts were slack & a couple that loose I could turn them by hand,

Once this has been done how long should it last before they slacking off again & is it worth putting any type of thread lock on ?

Not gonna say "I told you so..." but as far as the thread lock goes, don't bother. It will be ok for at least another 50-60K before you need to tweak them up again.

Not sure why you had to take the Over The Engine turbo pipe off, i didn't! I did remove the strut brace thou, just makes access alot easier.

Anyway, glad you fixed it. How does she drive now? The improvement is normally instant.

[s_cowen]

Not gonna say "I told you so..." but as far as the thread lock goes, don't bother. It will be ok for at least another 50-60K before you need to tweak them up again.

Not sure why you had to take the Over The Engine turbo pipe off, i didn't! I did remove the strut brace thou, just makes access alot easier.

Anyway, glad you fixed it. How does she drive now? The improvement is normally instant.

The reason I had to take the OTE turbo pipe off was that the bolt that's in the clamp that clamps the pipe to the turbo was rite back against the manifold heat shield & since I had to loosen this any way to spin the clamp so just took the pipe off to allow a little extra room & yes forgot to mention I also removed the strut brace,

Yes the result is instant & turbo spool is alot quicker making the car allot nicer to drive, just fitted a FMIC aswell & it's now a different car altogether! :smile:

[sizzlechest]

I'll be underneath the car as I plan to pull the prop shaft to repack with grease the CV end caps this week. After reading this thread it looks like I'll be tightening the exhaust mani bolts while I'm down there.

[LeeT5]

I'll be underneath the car as I plan to pull the prop shaft to repack with grease the CV end caps this week. After reading this thread it looks like I'll be tightening the exhaust mani bolts while I'm down there.

Yes, i gotta do this to mine after it was such an awesome success on my Laser R.

[sizzlechest]

I've read your AWD Prop shaft woes, how to fix thread - that was top drawer. I picked up a tub of Silkolene Pro RG2 in preparation.

[Nick0]

I've read your AWD Prop shaft woes, how to fix thread - that was top drawer. I picked up a tub of Silkolene Pro RG2 in preparation.

Any chance of linking this post for a near novice (yours truly)?

[sizzlechest]

There you go Nick:
http://www.vpcuk.org/forums/showthread.php?t=21654

[Nick0]

There you go Nick:
http://www.vpcuk.org/forums/showthread.php?t=21654

Thank you Sir

[Nick0]

Yes it is straight forwards but you don't remove the Turbo, just the manifold and turbo heatshields.

Managed to do mine at the weekend, removed the stabiliser bar, over the engine pipe and the first/outer heatshield. Undid the second one and managed to get it out of the way enough to tighten the offendingly loose nuts, gave them all a good pinch tight and the difference is instantly noticeable! Well worth it thanks Lee for the guide :beer: