Horrible whining noise, yikes!

[kenneth_moorhead]

My wife drives a 960 and we had squeal that turned out to be a frozen timing belt idler pulley.

Now, I don't know much about Volvos other than 960's, but I can tell you what I saw on my wife's.

If you remove the timing belt cover and look at the pulleys guiding it along they should look clean-ish, a bit of dirt, but no shavings, or metal of any sort.

In my case, the pulleys (both idler and tensor) had shavings and something that looked like solder droppings on the inner races. If you see something like this chances are something is amiss.

Another sign of something wrong was the timing belt itself. The idler pulley in the 960 rides along the outside of the belt and having been frozen for quite a while blurred the nifty writing painted on the belt.

Anyway... that's what a 960 timing pulley problem looks like... so give it a peak and see. Keep in mind that if your car is anything like the 960, if the timing belt breaks so does the engine. But, again... that's a 960... which is all I am familiar with...

Hope this helps...

Ken

[VolvoQueen]

My wife drives a 960 and we had squeal that turned out to be a frozen timing belt idler pulley.

Now, I don't know much about Volvos other than 960's, but I can tell you what I saw on my wife's.

If you remove the timing belt cover and look at the pulleys guiding it along they should look clean-ish, a bit of dirt, but no shavings, or metal of any sort.

In my case, the pulleys (both idler and tensor) had shavings and something that looked like solder droppings on the inner races. If you see something like this chances are something is amiss.

Another sign of something wrong was the timing belt itself. The idler pulley in the 960 rides along the outside of the belt and having been frozen for quite a while blurred the nifty writing painted on the belt.

Anyway... that's what a 960 timing pulley problem looks like... so give it a peak and see. Keep in mind that if your car is anything like the 960, if the timing belt breaks so does the engine. But, again... that's a 960... which is all I am familiar with...

Hope this helps...

Ken

Thank you Ken The timing belt as well as the water pump were replaced earlier this year, that should not be the problem.
The symptom is weird and I often hear the hollow, airy noise (like a vacuum kinda) coming from the right hand passenger side when driving. It's bizarre but truth be told I've heard this on and off since I've owned it for two years and it was only recently the whine began. It is NOT a squeal like a worn belt, but a whining sound that goes exactly with the acceleration/deacceleration of the engine. It seems to go along with or coincide with the airy noise, that I've noticed recently.

[billofdurham]

Just to set the record straight, the B230 engine fitted to the 1990 740 GL is non-interference. If the timing belt snaps there will be no damage to the engine.


From VLVworld.com:

Timing belt, replace every 50,000 MI (75,000km). Note that if it breaks the engine will not destroy, however it is good prevention to replace it on schedule to avoid being stalled at the worst moment.
740 B230F, 740 Turbo,760 Turbo 84-92

Bill.

[pepsov]

Just to set the record straight, the B230 engine fitted to the 1990 740 GL is non-interference. If the timing belt snaps there will be no damage to the engine.

I second that!
Had an '89 740 with the famous B230F engine, that lost a timing belt while driving full speed on the highway. Engine lost compression (because the valves' position was now arbitrary with respect to the crankshaft), so no abrupt stopping or anything. Got pulled to the nearest NAPA store. Purchased a new belt (for around $10 and replaced it right there on the spot in the parking lot. Everything back to normal - we continued our vacation as if nothing has happened.

The B230F (AKA "red block") is a really remarkable engine - perhaps the best engine ever engineered by VOLVO. I wish I could still find one today...