Hi, all.

Yesterday I went to see a gorgeous Volvo 960 estate that's for sale. It has the 3.0 straight-6 204 BHP engine. As I stood next to the car with the bonnet up, engine idling, I noticed a clicking noise. I have very little knowledge about engines and I associate this sort of noise to tappets because I owned a mk1 MX-5 and theirs often sound loud when cold started. The guy who showed me the car said maybe an injector, rather. Engine had been warmed up by driving it for a short while. Noise not loud, unlike with the MX-5, I wouldn't have noticed it from inside the car.

I am wondering if a noise like that may be related to something that is expensive to repair. I guess the question is: If you owned a car and heard this, would you be well advised to have it looked at sooner rather than later not to risk expensive damage? Or is it safe to leave alone until it develops?

Once I figure out which is the case, I'll decide whether to talk about this with the owner (tell him that I require this to be looked at as part of my purchase offer) or just buy and use as is.

The car is in outstanding condition otherwise, I was very impressed.

Thank you very much in advance for any help.

I dont know the engine, so feel free to ignore me, but it seems from a quick search that ticking lifters i fairly common on this engine. If that's it, it's likely not an urgent problem, but one you don't want to leave forever.

I've done head repair on that engine and owned a few of the 5 cylinder versions. I seem to remember there were 52 bolts just to remove the cam cover damn why did I offer to fix it?!?! They do suffer from tappet noise at high mileages or a lack of oil changes, it was shimmed, and was hardly the easiest job.

Super powerful engines but also major gas guzzlers and the cars are really heavy too. I got rid of all my volvo's due to the crazy immense complexity of well, just everything and how expensive all the spares ended up being. When they work they are amazing, when they don't OMG what a nightmare. The 960 is now a very old car, have you check the price and availability of spares?? Volvo uses very specific relays and control modules, man are they pricey and people know that you need them! Do I miss my Volvo's?? NO!

Btw my daily is a 1999 Nissan so am not against old cars... but it doesn't break

[Edited on 27/9/25 by Mr Whippy]

> I dont know the engine, so feel free to ignore me, but it seems from a quick search that ticking lifters i fairly common on this engine. If that's it, it's likely not an urgent problem, but one you don't want to leave forever.

I should've done a quick search myself but I thought maybe I was being paranoid or the origin of the noise is unrelated. After reading about this on the Turbobricks.com and Matthewsvolvosite.com forums I now see what you mean and the whole thing makes a lot of sense. This was very helpful, thanks!

> I've done head repair on that engine and owned a few of the 5 cylinder versions. I seem to remember there were 52 bolts just to remove the cam cover damn why did I offer to fix it?!?! They do suffer from tappet noise at high mileages or a lack of oil changes, it was shimmed, and was hardly the easiest job.

Noted, thanks a lot.

> Super powerful engines but also major gas guzzlers and the cars are really heavy too.

I thought that'd be the case. Then again, really heavy at the time... but since then cars have gone up in weight so much that now it's just a tad above average. Awful tendency imo. My present car is a Renault 8, well below HALF the weight.

> I got rid of all my volvo's due to the crazy immense complexity of well, just everything and how expensive all the spares ended up being. When they work they are amazing, when they don't OMG what a nightmare.

I'm scared by this, especially on the 960 as it has so many stupid features.

> The 960 is now a very old car, have you check the price and availability of spares??

I must admit I haven't. I'm used to this sort of searching for spares. We'll see. It's a lot of car for the price so I don't mind if things break and I leave them broken or remove them. I'm sure the current owner would hate to read this considering the outstanding condition of the car, but I don't care about its resell value at all.

> Volvo uses very specific relays and control modules, man are they pricey and people know that you need them! Do I miss my Volvo's?? NO!

Based on expenses and availability of spares, I'll need to find a compromise between keeping everything working and fixing strictly what I actually need to work.

> Btw my daily is a 1999 Nissan so am not against old cars... but it doesn't break

I totally understand. I've owned several old cars. I don't put many miles a year on them, but I generally find them very reliable. But yes, not all of them are the same... at all.

[Edited on 28/9/25 by Alez]

Yeah when I say gas guzzler I mean -



That may sound unrealistic but my 2tlrs never managed more than 24mpg (from the dash computer) even on the flat at 55mph on the dual carriageway play around and have some fun, sub 10mpg easy

You going for the biggest engine, the heaviest model and all with zero aerodynamics. Like having a hole in the tank...

Wow, that's significantly more than I thought. It's too late for second thoughts but maybe I should've considered the more sensible 740.

Anyway, here is what happened today: I phoned the seller and he convinced me that this is how the injectors of that engine sound. He said early injectors sound like that, and it's not lifter sound I'm hearing. I trusted him and I paid a deposit to purchase the car at its asking price.

So please tell me that those injectors do make a slight clicking noise because I'm feeling a bit stupid already

[Edited on 29/9/25 by Alez]

Well, yesterday I drove the car to its new home. I travelled with cruise control set at 120 KPH on the speedo, 115 KPH on the GPS. I covered 114.5 km with 12 litres, that's 10.5 litres per 100 km (the unit we use in Spain) which I think traslates to 26.9 MPG. I think that's really low considering the speed, engine displacement and car overall weight. I realise all other conditions were optimal, all highway with no traffic, i.e. constant speed the whole journey pretty much, but I'm really pleased!


Description

[Edited on 14/10/25 by Alez]

You could get something like this to listen to the injectors (and other bits) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wress-Engine-Stethoscope-Professional-Automotive/dp/B0C81F1Z4L

Thanks