Engine? Noise Under Load

[key76]

First time giving S90 a good run since taking delivery in February and gave to a blast around the Lake District last week.

Noticed when accelerating hard, almost always under load (going up hill for example) there is an increase in engine noise and note. It is hard to describe, but I did wonder if it was just the turbo spinning and the roar of air going in. Could of course be gearbox or engine itself. Not noticed it when engine is cold (although I tend not to push hard until it’s warmed up).

Noticed it most on a hill pushing to get from 40 to 60 quickly.

I’ve driven big engined diesel cars for over 10 years, so am not used to driving a relatively small engined petrol, so this may be perfectly normal, but wondered what others thought.

Going to take to out later this week for a test and see if I can pin it down to a particular rev range or gear, but I could replicate to on hills every time.

Car has only just passed 3k miles due to working from home etc., so engined is barely broken in.

[nu11eaf]

My xc90 D5 engine is very quiet and a pleasure to drive first drive of the day when oil is cold and a little thicker but as soon as it is warm its like a bag of hammers under load and sounds like big end bearings are knocking, 2ltr engines are no good for such a big car.

[key76]

It sounds and feels lovely when not pushing hard. 70 on motorway or 60 on country roads is quiet as a mouse and quieter than my 3 litre diesel Mercs which I owned previously. But pushing hard I get this throaty noise (I guess kind of a little like a blowing exhaust - which is what made me wonder if air rushing into turbo).

Don’t get me wrong, the noise I hear isn’t annoying particularly, but I was concerned that it may be an issue.

It is less power than I have been used to, but is a nice drive so far. But I agree that in something like the XC90, the 2 litre engine would be way too small.

My wife used to have a smart car and you used to hear the turbo constantly because it had no power so was always using turbo, and I did wonder if I was now hearing the same situation.

[amadan]

I think some of the SPA Volvos have an actuator in one side of the exhaust which opens under high load - I wonder if that’s what you’re hearing.

[key76]

Hoping to get out later this week to try and give it another run just to test this out so will try and see if speed, revs or gear seems to make any difference.

I did notice that when pushing and hearing the noise, if I backed off then it went, but pushing again a second or two later and it would come back.

[bobby2000]

Originally Posted by key76

First time giving S90 a good run since taking delivery in February and gave to a blast around the Lake District last week.

Noticed when accelerating hard, almost always under load (going up hill for example) there is an increase in engine noise and note. It is hard to describe, but I did wonder if it was just the turbo spinning and the roar of air going in. Could of course be gearbox or engine itself. Not noticed it when engine is cold (although I tend not to push hard until it’s warmed up).

Noticed it most on a hill pushing to get from 40 to 60 quickly.

I’ve driven big engined diesel cars for over 10 years, so am not used to driving a relatively small engined petrol, so this may be perfectly normal, but wondered what others thought.

Going to take to out later this week for a test and see if I can pin it down to a particular rev range or gear, but I could replicate to on hills every time.

Car has only just passed 3k miles due to working from home etc., so engined is barely broken in.

I've got an xc60 T5 and I find it abit gruff when accelerating hard, I think it's a character of this engine. I had a XC40 T4 as a courtesy car today and found that a lot sweeter sounding, although I'm guessing it's basically the same lump.

[key76]

When my S90 was delayed last year I had a new T5 XC60 for 4 months as a hire car, and must confess that I never noticed a similar noise, but encouraging to hear that it is likely just a quirk of the engine rather than anything to worry about.