It sounds like the bottom end on my cars engine is starting to go. Occasionally when I turn the car off, it makes a racket as the engine speed approaches zero, and under heavy load and when the oil is hot I can hear some clattering from the bottom end.

I have chased down and eradicated several other engine noises, including a noisy lifter and a detonation problem, so finding this now is a little disheartening. I don't have the means to remove the engine from the car, and even then I'm almost scared to find out what the issue is. Does anyone have any experience working on the bottom end of these cars with the engine still in the car? Is there a method for determining which bearing surface is pooched without pulling the crankshaft?

Thanks for your time.

 

You can remove the oil pan and access the crankshaft bearings without removing the engine. The power steering lines must be moved aside (unbolt from brackets). You may have oil cooler lines on the pulley end of the engine (I'm not sure if non-turbo cars have oil coolers.). If you have a turbo, you will have an oil drain line on the back of the engine, but it's not bolted to the oil pan.

 

OK, so looking at the Haynes manual and figure 10.7, I can see that I would be able to pull off the lower part of the con rods and check those bearings, but can't see how one would check the crankshaft bearings without splitting the lower and mid block. Would you mind explaining a little further?

 

I would pull the crankshaft and have it polished,or turned if needed. replace all the bearings, mains and rods. worn bearings can lower oil pressure and cause lifter noise.

 

Post a video of the noise and so we can see what you're working with.

 

^^^Yes!^^^ What he said!

I hate to say it, but...look, it's a 15 year old (and high mileage I assume, since its a VOLVO!) car that still seems to work perfectly well except for if you do X thing to it you can tease some mildly unusual noise out of it, and even when you do that it still operates perfectly fine. If it would make you feel better, post a video and get some opinions from people here, but most likely the sound is more or less harmless. As a matter of fact, I have done just that a while ago, and it has helped me out a couple of times, but I also learned another thing through doing so: "drive more and worry less!" It certainly made me feel better!

Hope you get this worked out!

Sincerely,
1995Volvo850

 

On a side note, when you say "bottom end," do you mean the so-called "bottom end" of the RPMs, and/or the physical bottom/underside of the car?

 

This is the noise that it makes when turning off. I appreciate that it's cold in this video, but it makes the same noise when hot as well. It also sometimes turns off without making the noise at all. Intermittent problems...

I'll do my best to get a video of the noise it makes under load, but it may not be possible because my tailgate has become *very* noisy...again.

To clarify about the 'bottom end' comment, I mean both. It makes the noise from the bottom side of the engine, when the RPM's are approaching zero as in this video, and also under load.

As a first course of action, because I am due for an oil change, I will be changing over to a higher viscosity Mobil1 15W-50. I am currently running Mobil1 10W-30 as per the user manual, but couldn't find 15W-40 as the manual calls for, so I decided to go thicker.