My 95 960 has always had noisy lifters in the morning since the day i owned it; probably b/c ,once, the former owner let it run about 1.5 quarts low on oil. I bought the car with 113,000 miles on the clock, she now has 131,000 and she only burns one quart of oil every 1,800 miles; however, I now have one constantly noisy lifter. I'm thinking of going to my indy mechanic and shelling out $1,500.00 for a lifter job. What do you guys think? Any suggestions? My car is in showroom condition b/c I've dumped soo much $$$$$ in her. So I don't think selling it is an option and I won't get anything near her quality or beautiness unless i spend a ton of money.

Thanks to all,

Mr. 960

Lifter replacement is in the 600.00 to 900.00 dollar range. With the special cam tools the job takes less than 4 hours. I have personally done it much faster.

Well I've been driving the car with the radio off. Never did it that much. The engine is real smooth but a faint tick is there at 2,000 RPM. Can't hear it from on top of the engine and with a stethoscope (won't even try to spell that). Looks, right now, that it is coming from the bell housing tranny area? Could i have a bad torque converter??? I've only had experience with push rod engines in the past. So this engine has no lifters that could be bent/binding? the mechanic said my cams looked good - I thought maybe a flat spot on the cam? What could make a light metallic tick in this engine? Flywheel maybe? Any suggestions welcomed. I don't think it is my exhaust, but i won't rule that out.

thanks!
Mr. 960

I'd go with Poolman's recommendation of using Auto-Rx. I did my 97 with it and it stopped almost all oil usage. I just got the oil changed at a 6K mile oil change interval and I did not have to add any during that period. It did show about 1/2 quart low on the stick. Before I Auto-Rxed it, I was going through a quart every 3K miles. If you read the owners manual it does state that there will be some lifter noise when you start it up. The noise should go away pretty quickly according to the manual. I run M1 10W30 and I'm pretty happy with how quiet the motor is at 84K. My engine also makes some lifter noise for the first 2-3 miles then gets real quiet.

My car is using a quart in about 400 to 500 miles. I did the full double bottle Auto-RX treatment on my car and it made no difference!

It started when my head gasket let go and I believe I got some anti-freeze in my oil for a while. Most of the hatch marks are gone on my cylinder walls so I'm now just going to feed it oil as it runs perfectly otherwise. (Starts, idles, power, milage, etc. all OK.) I can buy a lot of oil for the cost of a replacement or rebuild.
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'96 965, 16' wheels, Michelin Pilot Sports, rear 18mm bar + Koni, 201 HP cams, 142K. Put 200K on '85 745 TD.

Hi, I was wondering why you only do 400 to 500 miles to 2 pts. of oil? My 960 only needs 1 3/4pts. every 5000 miles. I will only change my oil as per Volvo Service mileage.I know mine is only the 2.5 model but I do use the power. I had a 940 SE 2.0 Turbo with bad piston slap 160.000 miles I ignored it, but then because it burnt a lot of oil the Lamda light came on which did the cat no good either. Only trying to help as one thing with these highly strung cars always leads to another and cats are expensive!! At this amount of oil usage does it actually smoke out the exhaust much? Regards

So far, the only symptom is the oil level going down quickly.

Car runs good with a smooth idle, plenty of power and no smoke under any condition.
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'96 965, 16' wheels, Michelin Pilot Sports, rear 18mm bar + Koni, 201 HP cams, 142K. Put 200K on '85 745 TD.

Check for a leaking oil cooler. When I got my 960 in 2/05 that was where it was leaking. One new gasket and no more leaks. The tech that fixed said that it was a common problem with these cars. Front of engine about close to dead center. You need to remove the plastic pan under the engine to see the area in question.

Hi, I read on Brickboard about a year ago that instead of only filling up to the full line on the oil stick, overfill by about 3/16" to 1/4" I did this and I then had no lifter noise at all. Also checked for oil leaks etc. but everything was fine. I know it`s against the grain but if it works then OK. Regards

Me too. It is about 1/2 quart over now. I don't no. My mechanic wants to run the car and while it is hot drain and refill the oil about two times to make sure the engine is real clean before the repair. Maybee after the repair I'll switch to synthetic. I mean if it's ticking that means there is quite a bit of play in it. Even when the car was all warmed up, if you listened real close you could hear the lifters tic away - slightly. If I replace them then I'll know they are good. I'll try the AutoRx first for kicks - where do you get it?

thaks,

Mr. 960

Picked her up today. All new lifters. Clanking is gone. She feels strong and smooth. But with the radio off lightly driving around town she still ticks; sort of like just niosey lifters - BUT no clanking. These are new volvo lifters. Maybee this is the nature of this engine. I know my injectors are loud. My mechanic said something about replacing the damper cover?? I think I'm going to keep using Cheveron 10-30 with a half quart of marvel mystery oil.

thanks
Mr. 960

If you're still getting lifter noise.....then the "O" rings on the oil pump pickup tube should be replaced. A known issue with these white blocks.

As stated previously, 5w40 synthetic really quiets this engine down.

DEWFPO
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1998 S90 077,400 and 1995 964 154,100

"Even when the car was all warmed up, if you listened real close you could hear the lifters tic away - slightly."

I would associate the sound you are describing in the above statement as fuel injector tick which is louder than I care for as well, but normal on these engines. Have you used a mechanics stethoscope or rubber hose to confirm the location of the sound?

DEWFPO
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1998 S90 077,400 and 1995 964 154,100

Do a Google search typed as follows Auto r-x should come up that way-might not help with the ticking-but do what they recomend-did good for my car as well.
I used the stuff then switched over to syn oil and had no troubles. It works well in trannies also before switching over to syn fluid- I flush out the tranny every 40k miles now and she's working fine at 250k miles.
Poolman

Besides the "Italian" tune up mentioned to clean carbon off the valve stems (this really does quiet down and engine...for a while), these engine are very quiet on M1 5W40 Synthetic oil. I've tried Castrol, M1, 5W30, 10W30, 0W40 & 5W40 and I can tell you that the B6304 engines are very quiet on the 5W40 M1.

DEWFPO
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1998 S90 077,400 and 1995 964 154,100

I tried 10w30 both conventional and synthetic, 5w30, 15w40. M1 5w40 is the quietest by far although its no longer offered for sale in the US. Now i use Shell Rotella T synthetic 5w40. The important point is to find a synthetic with a diesel rating.

It's supposed to be on sale again by Mobil this April. Should be in Wal-Mart's as well. It will be known as M1 Truck & Suv 5W40 (gas & diesel). (not to be confused with the currently available M1 Truck & Suv 5w30, gas only).

DEWFPO
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1998 S90 077,400 and 1995 964 154,100

Have you tried giving it the "Italian Tune-up" treatment? Someone a while back sited a 960 TSB that called for a high RPM, several minute run every six months or so. Check the archives for details if you are not familar with the process. Did a "IT" on both my daughter's and sister-laws 960s and the engines ran smoother and stronger. Both also seemed to idle with less valve train noise. I made sure they had proper oil/coolant levels and the hoses and belts were in good shape.

Yes, I drained half quart of oil and added some marvel mystery oil to take its place. ran car on the freeway for 20 miles or so, then made a uturn and came back. ran it in 3rd gear at 75 mph @ 4,200rpms for a bit, no luck. I think the lifter has kicked the bucket. I've always used Chevron 10W 30 and changed the oil every 3,000. I'm afraid to switch to synthetic on a higher mileage engine. I've heard of oil leaks.

Keep the thoughts coming.

thanks again,

Mr. 960

When syn oil first appeared there were problems with the product causing leaks in seals-those days are long gone-syn oil is the way to go in these engines-I would recomend though to do a Auto r-x treatment to clean everything up before the change over.
Poolman

Well so far it looks like one guy has hit the nail on the head, remove the engine oil pan and replace the O rings in the oil pick up assembly. They are bad and are picking up air in the oil and pumping it into the lifters which is causing them to tick. If you run the car in this condition for an extended period of time it will damage the lifters to the point that they will still make noise even after you reseal the sump. It sounds like you replaced the lifters and took care of that noise and now you are working on burning up your second set. It does take a long time to burn them up though. When you have a car with this problem you always change out the sump seals first and then evaluate the lifters once they are getting a good supply of oil. The kit from Volvo that covers all of the white engines is part number 30750783 and you will need liquid gasket 1161059 too.

Mark