Well, I have worked on cars for 10 years now....and never done anything this stupid.
I took my volvo to my friends garage to do a trans fluid change and install a new muffler.

Well, I did the fluid change and then installed the muffler and went for a short drive (half mile at most)
I was paying attention to the new exhaust note....and not my dash.

See, I had been up very late the night before and was working on only a few hours sleep.

I drained my oil and over filled my trans

That short drive was enough to do some damage. The car has a nasty tick that didnt go away after I filled it with fresh oil.

It does still bulid some boost...but doesnt feel very good.

I dont know if I did damage to the motor or to the turbo.

I dont have any dash lights on. The car runs/drive but sounds bad and has little performance.

I drained the trans case and tried to check the level....it was low so I added a quart then checked again and it was WAY high. I dont seem to be getting a good reading?

Its not a good day when you intend to do maintainance and end up doing damage.

video of the engine at idle with tick....the ticking comes and goes when driving....
VID00030.MP4 - YouTube

I am so pissed at myself. How could I be so dumb!

 

Not sure I can offer much hope in this case - but some time ago on my previous 850 I had the oil changed at a jiffylube place. They put the wrong filter on. I didn't know of course, and drove the hour home and then the hour back to work the next morning. I heard the same loud ticking you have when I got to work. I took the car back telling them something was wrong. They realized they had the wrong filter on it, and as soon as they changed it out the ticking stopped....but then came back later on (less so....but still there). It ticked from then on....and shortly after blew the RMS. I scrapped the car 6 mos later.
Sorry to hear your plight.

 

to make things worse....I had just had the oil / filter changed at walmart. $70 synthetic oil change....and I drained it out after only a week after it was done.
I had hoped the noise would go away. Im still unsure if its in the valvetrain or the turbo. its to hard to tell.
Frankly, I got the car home and dont want to think about it much. She was running pretty dang good till today and I went and screwed it all up.

Did you get jifylube to pay for your car?

 

Nah....there's really nothing you can do in this case. My word against theirs. It was a 15 year old car. They'll just tell me it was a coincidence. And maybe the RMS was, but the ticking certainly wasn't. I drove for 2 hours at highway speeds with the wrong filter. Oil wasn't getting to upper end of the engine. There's no way that didn't do any damage. Chock it up to experience....I now bring my own Volvo filters when I get my oil changed.

 

I know someone who got their oil changed at a prompto...
A few miles down the road her engine was smoking. They hadnt tightened the drain plug at all, and it fell out. Dumped all the new oil and the motor was done for. She had to fight for it, but they paid for it.

Problems is I cant afford to sue myself for my botched fluid change

 

Sorry to read that you got confused. I would put at least 100 miles on it before I worry about anything. After that, do a compression test to see what your readings are.
Compression Test - Volvo S70 GLT, 1998

 

+1 to RSPI drive for at least 100 miles check the oil again. to me it sounds like the lifters are completely dry which would also explain the poor performance, but who knows what damage could've occurred

 

I'm sorry but I want to be clear on what you did.

You drained the engine of engine oil and added transmission fluid to the already full transmission then you took it out for a drive ??

Did you follow the Volvo procedure for checking the transmission fluid level ??
CHECKING FLUID LEVEL
1) Ensure vehicle is level. Apply parking brake and gear
selector lever to "P" position. Start and idle engine. Move gear
selector lever through all gears, while pausing 4-5 seconds for
engagement at each position.
2) Return gear selector lever to "P" position. Wait 2 minutes
and check fluid level with engine idling. Level should be between MIN
and MAX marks.

If you do take it out for a drive, baby it!
Do you have a magnetic drain plug in the engine oil pan?

 

Now I read the second post where you asked if a bad turbo can build any boost and it's clear what you did. The turbo would most likely get the worst of it as it needs oil badly for the Rs it turns against the sleeve bearings. A turbo can be bad and build no boost, some or near normal. Depends on how it goes bad. If yours tore up the bearings and now it has oil and spins it might be limited in how well it can turn and might be hindered in making its normal boost.

My guess is you were a little hard on it for that half mile as you were trying out the muffler ??

It does sound like you have some internal engine damage and there really isn't much you can do about it other than taking the engine apart. You can drive it some (baby it) and hope that something in the valve train is a little dry and will get lubed up and quiet down but it's not likely from the sound of it.
You could also dump the oil one more time and go with something really thick like straight 50 weight in hopes it would quiet it down too. It's not a good choice but it's a choice you could try if it's still clicking the same after a couple hundred miles or if the noise gets worse.

I wish I had a much better answer for you.

 

Thanx for your responces guys.

I am reminded of a past 740 that I had in which the oil was soo old it was feezing in the oil pan during the winter. Thus every startup for 1-2 months there was little to no oil going threw the system. When I discovered the issue, I changed the oil. The car never gave me ANY issues. It had the normal light tick that all my 740's had, and would burn 1/2 qt of oil every 3K, but other than that it was great. No domestic engine could take that kind of abuse without major damage.

I was looking at utube vids last night and found one vid where the motor sounded just like mine and the description said it was dry lifters.

I will check my trans fluid level, and then baby the car as mentioned. Maybe I will get lucky and the lifters will quiet over time. As far as the turbo...I cant say for certain if its not as it should be. I was pretty out of it when I drove it home yesturday....I know it did build some boost but I didnt push the car hard. When your car suddenly developes a nasty tick like that its hard to pay good attention to other areas of the car's performance.

But as you guys figured, the 1'st half mile I was hard on the accelerator while testing the muffler. Then I turned around and babied it at 30mph back to the house. Im still pissed that I pulled out of the yard and didnt notice the oil light on my dash!

Here is a quote my buddy sent me last night, trying to lift my spirits:

How To Change Oil:

WOMEN:

1. Pull up to Jiffy Lube when the mileage reaches 3000 since the last oil change.
2. Drink a cup of coffee.
3. 15 minutes later, write a check and leave with a properly maintained vehicle.

Money Spent:
$20.00 Oil Change
$1.00 Coffee
----------------
$21.00 Total

MEN:

1. Go to auto parts store and write a check for $50 dollars for oil, filter, kitty litter, hand cleaner and scented tree.
2. Discover that the used oil container is full. Instead of taking it back to recycle, dump in hole in back yard.
3. Open a beer and drink it.
4. Jack car up. Spend 30 minutes looking for jack stands.
5. Find jack stands under kid's pedal car.
6. In frustration, open another beer and drink it.
7. Place drain pan under engine.
8. Look for 9/16 box end wrench.
9. Give up and use crescent wrench.
10. Unscrew drain plug.
11. Drop drain plug in pan of hot oil; get hot oil on you in process.
12. Clean up.
13. Have another beer while oil is draining.
14. Look for oil filter wrench.
15. Give up; poke oil filter with screwdriver and twist it off.
16. Beer.
17. Buddy shows up; finish case with him. Finish oil change tomorrow.
18. Next day, drag pan full of old oil out from underneath car.
19. Throw kitty litter on oil spilled during step 18.
20. Beer. No, drank it all yesterday.
21. Walk to 7-11; buy beer.
22. Install new oil filter making sure to apply thin coat of clean oil to gasket first.
23. Dump first quart of fresh oil into engine.
24. Remember drain plug from step 11.
25. Hurry to find drain plug in drain pan.
26. Hurry to replace drain plug before the whole quart of fresh oil drains onto floor.
27. Slip with wrench and bang knuckles on frame.
28. Bang head on floor board in reaction.
29. Begin cussing fit.
30. Throw wrench.
31. Cuss for additional 10 minutes because wrench hit Miss December (1992) in the left breast.
32. Clean up. Apply Band-Aid to knuckle.
33. Beer.
34. Beer.
35. Dump in additional 4 quarts of oil.
36. Beer.
37. Lower car from jack stands
38. Accidentally crush one of the jack stands
39. Move car back to apply more kitty litter to fresh oil spilled during step 23.
40. Test drive car.
41. Get pulled over; arrested for driving under the influence.
42. Car gets impounded.
43. Make bail. Get car from impound yard.

Total Time Spent ???
Money Spent:
$50 parts
$12 beer
$75 replacement set of jack stands; hey the colors have to match!
$1000 Bail
$200 Impound and towing fee
---------------------------
$1337 Total

I couldnt help but laugh. Oh, NO beer was involved in my error. At least then I would have a good excuse for draining the wrong fluid...lol.

 

If it makes you feel any better, my GF's stepdad did basically the same thing, except he was trying to do an oil change and drained the trans, then overfilled the motor. And then drove it about 30 miles with the dash lit up like christmas. Somehow it all worked fine when he got it back right. Toyotas are hard to kill.

Always check your dipstick!

Anyhow, theres a very good chance that all you did was burn up your turbo. When I cranked mine up after pulling the head, it took a couple miles for the lifters (and a little acceleration to raise the oil pressure) for them to quiet down.

 

I think I've been involved in a couple of those oil changes although I've never had the money for bail. I sure remember the one where I dumped all five quarts in before I realized I didn't have the drain plug in !!

It's amazing how big a puddle it spreads out to be.

 

Some new info for you guys...

Today I topped off the trasn fluid. It was 2 qts low from yesturday's mess.

Then I added some motor huney to the oil.

After doing those things I saw the check engine light was on.

Now Im getting code
P1310...which my reader has no deffinition for.
And 2 codes for cyl #4 and #5 misfire.

What did I do yesturday thats causing the cylinders to misfire? Is the lifter issue that bad? Or did I manage to damage those cylinders? Your thoughts?

The car still starts up fine, except for the loud ticking noise. The noise does tend to sound worse as RPMs increase.

Tho all this sucks, I still have to stop and praise volvo's. Had I done the same thing to some other makes Im sure they wouldnt be able to run at all! But even with the terrible noise and the cyl misfires you can still drive the wagon.

 

I believe P1310 is generic misfire from at least one cylinder.

Does it sound like the tapping is coming from around cylinders 4 and 5? You may have caused some permanent damage to the valvetrain.

 

I forget, which side is #1? by the gears or by the distributor?

Either way the tapping does sound like its in the valvetrain and when rpms are increased it sounds a bit like something is loose, not just dry(un oiled)
I have never opened up a motor before...but I may have to inorder to know for sure how much damage there is.
I wish there was a way to know for sure if my turbo is OK. If I damaged the valvetrain AND the turbo then I might be better off to cut my losses and sell the car as is. But if its just the valvetrain then she would be worth the money/time to do the needed repairs. And it would be ALOT of time, since it would be my first time working on a valvetrain.

I am truely pissed at myself. Just 2 days ago I had the car on some back roads and was loving the performance. Smooth and strong power! Now I have a car that runs but has little performance and a terrible sound And all cause I tried to work on it while being sleepy. I should have just stayed home and watched my boy and give my wife the day off

 

#1 is the front of the engine, where all the spinning bits are. Passenger side.

Possibly you could pull the upper head only and make an assessment about the tappets, valves, and camshafts and make a repair without having to open it up more. Worse case, you're probably looking at a replacement head (and tappets) and a little machine work.

Something I just thought of, your oil pressure light is off now after you've filled it right? I'm sure it isn't healthy for the oil pump to run dry either and I wonder if it is developing enough pressure.

 

Yes, the oil light is off now.
I have wondered if oil pressure is as high as it should be. Not sure how to check.
I am certain there is no easy fix. I am hopeful that only the upper head will have to be removed...but who knows. What in the head is most likely to cause cylinders to misfire?

Now that I know there is misfire, I feel the turbo may be OK. It felt wierd when I drove home yesturday...but if cylinders were misfiring then it wouldnt build boost right anyway.

 

You put the oil in through the dipstick or the oil cap? And did you run the motor with no oil? Your post is kinda confusing...

 

OK, I meant to change my trans fluid.
But I drained the motor oil instead of the trans fluid.
Then added 3 qts of trans fluid to the trans.
then took the car for a short drive....with no motor oil.
It only took a short bit for the motor to start knocking.

Then I realized my mistake. I put motor oil back in, and have now drained the trans fluid and topped it off to the correct level.

This was the 1st time on any car that I tried to change trans fluid...I was overtired and clearly not paying attention. Now I am going to have to do some major work to the motor...and possibly replace the turbo.


My little brother did the complete opposite to his car once. He wanted to change his motor oil....but drained his trans.....and then added 4 qts of oil to the motor. Then when he went to drive the car off the ramps it wouldnt move, and after running a bit the excess oil blew out all over the hot motor and made a real mess of the engine bay. But in his case there was no real damage done. He just had to drain the oil and refill to correct level as well as replace the trans fluid he accidently drained.

 

I really know little about the innerards of a motor but my guess would be that the short run with no oil tiped the scale on engine wear. Had the car only had 30,000 miles on it, you'd likely be fine, but with over 200,000 on it, it was likely worn to the point that the 50,000 miles of wear you put in it in 1/2 mile of driving with no oil was the straw that broke the camels back.

My guess that you have piston wear (or stuck sleaves or something) causing low compression. Do a compression check before you go any further.