Tapping Tappets

Hi All,

My 850se estate has never sounded quite right ever since I got it back in August. Back then it had a ticking noise coming from the engine. The garage I bought it from (not a Volvo dealer, what a mistake!) tried to fob me off with the story that it was the injectors and it was perfectly normal. The AA inspection said differently though, and the dealer suddenly decided that it was a sticking tappet and said he had put some engine flush through and some *really good* oil in it and that would sort it out in about 300 miles.

Guess what? 500+ miles on it hasn't stopped yet. In fact, with the cold weather it seems to have got worse. Can anyone tell me a) if they've had the same problem and b) when will it stop?

Andy

[Simon Linton]

Hydraulic tappets on the 850 engine are prone to ticking noises especially in cold weather - the only time to worry is if the noise persists after the engine has warmed up.

However, fully synthetic oil will diminish or remove the problem as many members have found.

[Bob]

Excuse my ignorance on this, but can faulty injectors make a similar noise?

HI all
I thought the same about my tappets but the noise is coming from my injectors,maybe faulty??

[Cypher007]

my 850 has the tapping prob it starts after the engine has been on for about 5min, and is worse in cold weather, it usualy stops when the engines been on for about 10 min or when it hits running temp. it also got worse when i changed the oil and yes i used mobil 1 0w-40. going back to the noisey injector theory, you could disconnect them one at a time to find it, but to be honest i find injector tap and valve tap to sound very different, on a volume scale i mean. i did find after treating the engine to a couple of stp performance tune up kits, that the injectors went from a watch tick to more of a loud clicking. the stp kit consists of two bottles one is injector cleaner and the other is valve cleaner. anyway the lecturer at the college where i work recons that, the injector cleaner has cleaned all the gum and stuff out of the injectors, so making them more noisey.

[AlastairL]

My 2.5 10V only ever makes tappet noise if unused for more than a couple of days, and then the noise stops after a couple of seconds. 80000 miles, use Mobil 1
Alastair LAuener

[dixono]

My 97' 850 (110,000 miles) starts tapping as soon as I start the engine and speeds up as I hit the accelerator. The tapping / clicking never stops. I live in a hot climate, so the cold wouldn't be a factor (never gets below freezing). Any ideas? I also have leak from the rear main seal and a transmission leak. Am I in deep trouble?

[scotsgent]

I also had a ticking noise on my V70 2.5 10 valve.

I addditionally have a cracked branch on my exhaust manifold.

When I temporarily repaired the crack with gasket cement, the ticking disappeared.

I can only assume that although the crack would 'seal' itself with heat (after the initial 40 seconds or so after start-up the exhaust roar would go away), there was still some microscopic leakage and therefore was the source of the tick.

So....if you don't have a cracked manifold, (that would be pretty obvious), you might have a failing manifold gasket or maybe some other top end leak from the exhaust system?

Based upon my experience, it might be worth looking?

Cheers, Terry