Hey guys, i have a 96 non turbo, has been in rough shape since i bought it(probably has more issues than i can diagnose). anyways, i was driving it the other day, all of a sudden started making a clanking sound from the drivers side of the engine. tried to drive it the last mile home but didn't have the power to do so, finally died on the side of the road. had it towed home and had to jump the battery to start it again, but all i can see is the engine is shaking(mainly coming from the drivers side), and a loud rattling, clanking noise, kinda sounds like metal on metal which worries me. checked my dipstick and there's a mud-like substance that smells like rust. anyone have any ideas as to what this could be, or previous experience with this? Thanks

 

pictures would really help for the oil and a video for us to hear the noise.

What color is your engine oil?

Was the mud like substance higher up on the dipstick or is it now the oil??

Are you having and bubbling in the reservoir tank or is there any foreign substance floating around in there at the fluid level line ??

Manual or automatic?

 

have you done a compression test?

 

Hi 18Wheeler, welcome to Volvoforums.

In other words, from the post above, what have you done and what is your skill level? Where are you located? What motor is in the car (turbo or not)?

Really shounds like you may have threw a rod bearing or blew the head gasket. Please answer all of my questions and post back. As Kiss suggested, photo and video would be good.

 

thanks for the replies! ill post a pic as soon as i get home. video worries me because the sounds its making get worse every time i start it, and i have to jump it now to get it started due to not driving it.

i'm located in knoxville, TN, its a non-turbo engine, manual, never done a compression test, engine oil is a rusty brown, its seems as though the mud-like substance has now become the oil and is completely up the dipstick, when i checked the reservoir it was completely dry actually, i recently bought the car and i'm starting to think the previous owner ran the engine dry(she also sold it to me cheap because she didn't like driving stick, and i could tell because i had to replace the clutch as soon as i bought it).

having recently purchased the car and putting money into it already, i would like to have it repaired, but if it is in fact a rod bearing or other serious engine problem, i do not have the skills to fix that. i'm limited to minor mechanical fixes, and i can fix anything electrical. also, this is my only vehicle so i really need to just suck it up and pay someone fast, i just hope you guys could diagnose it beforehand.

 

theres the pics

 

That dipstick pretty much says HEADGASKET !!

If your oil is a light milk chocolate in color it's because the coolant is mixed in with the oil.

That may not be your only problem as it wouldn't or at least shouldn't make a metallic noise unless the headgasket leaking into and diluting the oil caused a bearing to fail. The connecting rod bearings would be the likely ones as they would be the noisier ones compared to a bad main bearing.

I wouldn't run it at all. Have someone who knows engines take a short listen to it but it's likely you'll need to take the engine out to fix that metallic noise.

 

Wow, thanks for the pics, looks like you have some issues there.

Let me start out by saying, if you can change brakes, you can pull the motor with the help from people on this site and others.

My guess would be that you have a blown head gasket. If you have not had the car long, it was likely already blown and it had fresh oil and coolant to try to cover it up. Did you have it long enough to check the oil before? You did take it for a good test drive before you purchased it, right?

Anyway, I would drain the oil out of the pan and see if there is any oil in the car. If you wipe the stick and re-check, is the slug back? I wonder if there is oil in it.

By the looks of the motor it was not only neglected but also mal-maintained. What is that blue wire going from behind the air box to the motor mount bracket? It should not be over the throttle cable.

Not sure what the sound is, it may be due to the fact that there is no real oil in the motor. The sad thing is, if you need to get a motor or new head the cost will likely be in excess of $2,500 at a shop. You may want to get another car.

 

Where are you located ??

 

Kiss: he said KNoxville. And I vote yes on the head gasket being bad as well. It's possible, also, that this motor got oil starved, and that caused a main or rod bearing to spin.

 

thanks guys. i think its time to hang it up on this one. i would love to keep it, but repair costs are way too high to justify since i need to use that money to get another vehicle.
R.I.P.

 

It's not enough I post all these really good pictures, now you want me to actually READ the thread too !!
That's just way toooooo much work