OK, so who else . . . ?

Lifter Noise (my story)

WTF causes these lifters to go bad so prematurely? I cannot really blame maintenance becaue this engine has had regular oil changes, about every 4,000 miles signed by a dealer.

I've also read a couple things about newer (like '96-'97) B6304's having "knocking" or loud "ticking" noises so it doesn't seem like one of those things you can really say "oh they at least fixed that later" or that it's extremely isolated. It's not very encouraging.

At 92,000 miles, I've tried two engine flushes hoping they were gummed up, the first removed all kinds of crap because I had "just" changed the oil and filter 200 miles prior and man did all kinds of black sh** come out. So now my engine is now spotless internally, the flushes seemed to have helped a little, the noise is less of what sometimes would turn into a "knocking" like noise and is now more like a loud ticking/tapping. Before, the noise was actually sometimes occuring even after warmed up when at idle.

I purchased a warranty with the '94 960 and they declined to cover the lifters so I immediately cancelled that sh**.

McKevitt Volvo first did an oil pressure test hooking up a gauge. They thought it was the Sump/Oil Pump O-ring issue they say often causes lifter noise. They claimed that oil pressure was fine and actually slightly higher than normal specs.

They then diagnosed the noise as bad lifters and quoted $2100 labor, which is completely insane being the shop manual from what I read calls for 8.4 hours labor, even if you were charging $100 per hour that's still only $840, even at $150 per hour that's still like $1250. The lifter set cost is $340. What's scary is they told me that they've actually replaced the lifters in attempt to remedy the noise and sometimes they still make noise after where the whole engine needs to be replaced!

I don't think it's going to get any better. I've researched the issue and read about getting the RPM's up there for several minutes to free sticking lifters etc. I've done this, it get's better for a little while but is still there, then seems to unexpectedly come back harder. Sometimes you can hear the faint noise when driving. I guess I might contact European Automotive in Modesto, they are usually extremely reasonable and have been good to me in the past when I needed things done. I have a feeling they'd do it for around $1000.

If the Oil Pump O-Ring was bad causing low oil pressure wouldn't the oil pressure light come on? This sounds like a fairly common issue, should I have just also have these o-rings replaced while it's in, it sounds like a good idea to be safe?


Really sucks this thing wasn't making this lifter noise when I looked at it, just my luck. Anyway, right now I'm not too crazy about white blocks . . . .