I have a 92 240 sedan with 140,000 original miles on it. if i start it up in the morning dead cold, it almost sounds like its knocking very softly. But the noise is so fast, it leads me to believe that maybe the valved just need to be adjusted, once it warms up its completely fine and you cant notice any noise.

What do you think it could be?


here is a video of a cold start taken a couple days ago. sorry i dont know how to embed any advice would be appreciated.

YouTube - Cold start 1992 volvo 240

 

I couldn't hear anything I would consider unusual. You could check valve lash. I would suspect it's just a tiny exhaust leak when everything is really cold and contracted. If you're not changing oil regularly it may not have the same viscosity. That's mostly a problem for hydraulic tappets, which I don't think this car has.