HELP! Car Started Making a Loud Whine...

[eits]

ok, here's what happens...

i put the car in neutral and step on the gas, minimal whine... gets worse at higher rpms, though.

i put the car in park and step on the gas, minimal whine... gets worse at higher rpms, though.

i put the car in drive and step on the gas, there's a loud whine that gets louder as the rmp increases.

i have a 2000 volvo s40. what is the problem and will this cost a lot to fix?

 

[ThatsABigOne]

I think you have a belt that is about to quit.

 

[punjabiplaya]

whining with an accompanying screeching?

 

[eits]

whining with an accompanying screeching?

no, but every so often, there's a sound that reminds me of a circular saw hitting metal on metal or something.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

It could be the bearing on one of the pulleys holding the timing belt that is giving up.

I am drawing straws here. lol.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Tick tick tick....BOOM.

Dunno.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

It's a Volvo, that'll be one meelion dollars.

 

[HarryLui]

Take it in and find out. Fix it sooner rather than later, or the belt could break and you'll have left on the side of the road.

 

[LTC8K6]

Put some transmission fluid in it...

 

[eits]

apparently, my turbo is out. and i have a spark plug misfiring. he checked the oil in my engine and there wasn't any. he checked under the car and there was no oil leak. i just got a synthetic oil change about 5000 miles ago. i get an oil change every 6000 because the mechanic told me it's kinda common practice to do that when using synthetic. he concluded that my engine is burning oil.

he put oil in it and it didn't change anything as far as the sound was concerned. based on where he heard the sound coming from, he concluded the sound was coming from the turbo and it needs to be replaced, but it's not gonna hurt anything if i don't get it fixed... the spark plugs, though, need to be replaced... that's why my engine is burning oil.

/shrug

 

[punjabiplaya]

burning oil and toasted turbo makes sense

burning oil b/c of a failed plug? that doesn't make sense

 

[eits]

burning oil and toasted turbo makes sense

burning oil b/c of a failed plug? that doesn't make sense

why else would it burn oil?

 

[Ronstang]

burning oil and toasted turbo makes sense

burning oil b/c of a failed plug? that doesn't make sense

Think of it this way. The turbo seals go out and thus the super hot oil that is supposed to be cooling and lubricating the turbo is now being ingested by the engine. That oil is now burned in the combustion chamber and over time will not only deplete the engines reserve of oil it will also foul the plugs. Thus the burning oil is causing the misfiring plug, not the other way around.

 

[punjabiplaya]

Think of it this way. The turbo seals go out and thus the super hot oil that is supposed to be cooling and lubricating the turbo is now being ingested by the engine. That oil is now burned in the combustion chamber and over time will not only deplete the engines reserve of oil it will also foul the plugs. Thus the burning oil is causing the misfiring plug, not the other way around.

Ah yeah, i forgot to think of the overheated oil pushing into the combustion chamber. Screw those turbo seals.

 

[HarryLui]

he put oil in it and it didn't change anything as far as the sound was concerned. based on where he heard the sound coming from, he concluded the sound was coming from the turbo and it needs to be replaced, but it's not gonna hurt anything if i don't get it fixed... the spark plugs, though, need to be replaced... that's why my engine is burning oil.

/shrug

Stop going to that mechanic. He knows nothing about the turbo. If the turbo did fail due to lack of quality oil supply, you will have major engine issue.

Find a second opinion.

 

[bruceb]

As mentioned, could be the belts, alternator bearings, transmission fluid level. Those are what I would check first. Also the belt tensioner can cause that and maybe the water pump. If your mechanic really did find no oil in the engine, you are in for big repair bill (think crankshaft bearing failure)

 

[BUTCH1]

As mentioned, could be the belts, alternator bearings, transmission fluid level. Those are what I would check first. Also the belt tensioner can cause that and maybe the water pump. If your mechanic really did find no oil in the engine, you are in for big repair bill (think crankshaft bearing failure)

OP, did the oil idiot light ever come on? with an older car you've got to do fluid checks on a more regular basis, running a car without oil or extremely low is not a good thing. Might want to shine her up a bit and trade it in..

 

[manimal]

I would run away from a Volvo with turbo problSMS right quick. Now I am very ethical and would disclose the issues on a trade. Don't be a douche and sell privately and screw s someone

 

[brblx]

i dont have time to read thread atm but just screening it, are you sure it's not the flex pipe rattling? those had an extended warranty of iirc 120k and ten years but it's been a bit. this was a common way of describing it (noise in drive).

if it truly is a rotational noise, it could also be in the trans. in park the torque converter will probably still slowly spin the input shaft of the tranny- but in drive with your foot on the brake it can't. so it would be silent there, but noisest when driving.

how did they diag the turbo was bad again? i'll give this a more thorough read later, sorry to be 'that guy'.

 

[Eli]

/shrug

LOL

I think that about sums it up.

Learn to check your oil and, you know.. pay attention to your car. Missfiring and a failed turbo should have been noticed immediately.

 

[eits]

Stop going to that mechanic. He knows nothing about the turbo. If the turbo did fail due to lack of quality oil supply, you will have major engine issue.

Find a second opinion.

pretty sure you misread my post.

 

[eits]

LOL

I think that about sums it up.

Learn to check your oil and, you know.. pay attention to your car. Missfiring and a failed turbo should have been noticed immediately.

well, there was a hose that broke for my turbo and that's why it didn't work before. i was told by a mechanic that it'd be fine to drive and i just won't get use of my turbo... then he fixed it after a few months of me putting it off and the turbo worked fine again... but then, this happened about a week later.

 

[eits]

OP, did the oil idiot light ever come on? with an older car you've got to do fluid checks on a more regular basis, running a car without oil or extremely low is not a good thing. Might want to shine her up a bit and trade it in..

no, it didn't, now that i think about it.

 

[eits]

i dont have time to read thread atm but just screening it, are you sure it's not the flex pipe rattling? those had an extended warranty of iirc 120k and ten years but it's been a bit. this was a common way of describing it (noise in drive).

if it truly is a rotational noise, it could also be in the trans. in park the torque converter will probably still slowly spin the input shaft of the tranny- but in drive with your foot on the brake it can't. so it would be silent there, but noisest when driving.

how did they diag the turbo was bad again? i'll give this a more thorough read later, sorry to be 'that guy'.

lol, it's cool.

he listened to the area the sound was coming from when the other mechanic put the breaks on and stepped on the gas and increased the rpms.

 

[brblx]

yeah, that's kinda what i was figuring- it makes copious noise under load. that would be the bearings in the turbo going out, assuming he correctly identified the source of the noise.

how long have you had the car? regular oil changes? iirc that motor should have an oil trap box that is very similar (or the same as) the 5 cyl engines- yours is just that with a cylinder lopped off. externally and functionally, the motors are about the same.

without very regular oil changes (i would keep it to 4000 or less with conventional oil), that thing can get sludged up, though it usually takes serious sludging (i.e. serious neglect of maintenence) to block the flow of oil to the turbo. what do you feel if you pull the oil cap off while running (careful of oil splatter)? big puffs of air? most volvo engines i've seen with clean oil traps will run 100k+ miles and still pull negative crankcase pressure.

if the box is badly plugged, you will often get a whistle out of the dipstick tube for the engine oil. it will go away if you pull the stick out or take the oil cap off.

another good sign of a shitty turbo would be lots of oil in the intake or blue smoke (burning oil) out the exhaust, since a turbo with bad bearings will often leak oil into one or both halves of the assembly.