D4204T What is this noise????

[Rich1867]

Can anyone tell me what this noise is, it appears at about 2000 rpm and it's driving me mad!!! It's a 2015 xc60 and I bought the car early 2019. I first noticed the noise after 6 months, when driving the car with no music on, and since then its all I can hear and I'm sure its getting louder.

After owning the car a year I took it to volvo for a service they said it was just a characteristic noise these engines make, nothing to worry about and at the 2nd year service exactly the same, from the same volvo dealer again. This year I took it to a volvo specialist to see if they could come up with any other suggestion. They found that the front crankshaft seal was leaking and had contaminated the timing belt and said to sort this to eliminate as an option. (Which I knew it wasn't, as it had been there for so long) So I've changed the crank seal, replaced the timing belt, pulleys and tensioner, and also replaced the aux belt and tensioner and it's still there. When running the engine with the aux belt off, it's exactly the same, so I can rule out that.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

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[5cilinder]

Sounds as a ww1 french tank

This engine has a vibration counter weight shaft?...Makes noises too if gone bad.
i also suspected some air or exhaust leakage noises?

[Laird Scooby]

I assume at the end of each journey you let the engine idle for a minute or two before switching off?

I have an idea what the noise might be but the answer to that question will decide which of the two likely options it's most likely to be.

[Rich1867]

Sounds awful doesn't it.

Scooby I've always left it to idle for a period when stopping, always have with any turbo car I've had. It was one of the many things my old man taught me about cars. My first suspicion was the turbo, but it seems to quieten off after 2000rpm, and if the turbo was bad I'd suspect it would get worse the faster it spins up?

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Rich1867

Sounds awful doesn't it.

Scooby I've always left it to idle for a period when stopping, always have with any turbo car I've had. It was one of the many things my old man taught me about cars. My first suspicion was the turbo, but it seems to quieten off after 2000rpm, and if the turbo was bad I'd suspect it would get worse the faster it spins up?

My first thought was indeed a worn turbo but your answer has (hopefully) rained on my bonfire.

Second thought is an air leak in or around the turbo plumbing which would include the CBV, dump valve/BOV, wastegate and all associated pipework.

Does it get worse or better if you floor the loud pedal at 2000rpm? Also is performance effected, either improved or reduced?

[Zebster]

Are you sure about the engine number? If this was a VEA engine then I'd say this was an issue with the balancer drive gears, like here... https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=309293&

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Rich1867

Can anyone tell me what this noise is, it appears at about 2000 rpm and it's driving me mad!!! It's a 2015 xc60 and I bought the car early 2019. I first noticed the noise after 6 months, when driving the car with no music on, and since then its all I can hear and I'm sure its getting louder.

After owning the car a year I took it to volvo for a service they said it was just a characteristic noise these engines make, nothing to worry about and at the 2nd year service exactly the same, from the same volvo dealer again. This year I took it to a volvo specialist to see if they could come up with any other suggestion. They found that the front crankshaft seal was leaking and had contaminated the timing belt and said to sort this to eliminate as an option. (Which I knew it wasn't, as it had been there for so long) So I've changed the crank seal, replaced the timing belt, pulleys and tensioner, and also replaced the aux belt and tensioner and it's still there. When running the engine with the aux belt off, it's exactly the same, so I can rule out that.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

It is the engine balancer shaft gear alignment , It needs a new unit after taking the sump off . it MUST be set up with the volvo alignment tool or it will soon be noisy again . There was a service bulletin issued about 6 years ago .. so the volvo dealer should be aware of it ..

[Rich1867]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Does it get worse or better if you floor the loud pedal at 2000rpm? Also is performance effected, either improved or reduced?

If anything it quietens off after 2000rpm, but it could be the sound of the engine itself drowning out the whine! I haven't noticed any power loss either when accelerating.

Originally Posted by Zebster

Are you sure about the engine number? If this was a VEA engine then I'd say this was an issue with the balancer drive gears, like here... https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=309293&

100% sure, full engine code is D4204T14.

Originally Posted by Clan

It is the engine balancer shaft gear alignment , It needs a new unit after taking the sump off . it MUST be set up with the volvo alignment tool or it will soon be noisy again . There was a service bulletin issued about 6 years ago .. so the volvo dealer should be aware of it ..

Well this sucks!! Is it a task you can do yourself and is the tool available and financially viable for a home mechanic to offset having it done professionally?

If this is the case this is so frustrating and annoying, I took the car with full volvo service history to Volvo in 2019 and 2020 and mentioned the noise to them. They palmed it off as nothing, and now having used an independent volvo specialist I'd assume they won't offer anything as a good will gesture either. I stopped using them as they incompetently told me the oil leak was nothing to worry about, before contaminating my timing belt and gear and I wanted a second opinion of the whining.

Have these been known to fail and cause damage if left or is it just a case of being a horrible noise to put up with?

[Rich1867]

Has anyone seen a guide for replacing the balance shaft module or know what the 'Volvo Special Tool' is? There seems to be very little information about them, apart from they fail.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Rich1867

Has anyone seen a guide for replacing the balance shaft module or know what the 'Volvo Special Tool' is? There seems to be very little information about them, apart from they fail.

They don't fail as such its just a gear mesh problem .., I believe the problem was the gear mesh was set up incorrectly at the factory for some reason .

The special tool is a bracket which positions the gears in the correct position and then the bolts are tightened to lock and hold the casing in the correct position ..
Why didn't they make it with dowels to position it correctly? who knows ...