Car has a tick tick for the first 10 minutes when cold that increases with RPM. When the car is warm, no more ticking and the little gal just purrs. Should I be worried about anything (adjust valves, piston slapping, etc...). I'm prety new to Volvos and am still trying to figure out what a 'normal' engine sounds like. A loud tick tick raises a red flag compared to other non-volvo cars I have owned in the past (I had a old ford van years ago and the tick tick eventually lead to a broken piston!)

I did a search on brickboard and the tick tick appears to be common on these engines...guess I am just looking for reassurance.

Thank you

1990
Volvo 240 Wagon , 200K, named Vicki the Volvo

Without actually hearing it I cant say-but i had a sort of "ticking" noise in my engine. My mechanic listend and he said it sounded like sticking injectors. He also said run a few ounces of Marvel Mystery Oil (MMO) in the gas and see what happens. Well in a fairly short time, the issue cleared up really well! MMO is a detergent and works in ways that other additives like Techron don't. Im not "bad mouthing" Techron-I use that also. It's just 2 completely different chemicals. I now use about 6 ounces of MMO in a full tank of gas about every 3-4 fill-ups as a preventative measure. Can't say it would help your issue, but might be worth a shot. BTW_dont put MMO in your oil even tho its says you can. MMO was used a long time ago in oil before oils had their own detergents "built in".

Some mechanics even use it to clean the tops of pistons when rebuilding the heads or whatever, as it dissolves the built up carbon fairly well.

Noise sounds just like this one (fast forward to 1:07)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi-UP7yyHLU

Then i am guessing you have piston slap...hence the name on the video.

In all seriousness, the majority of the B230's I have heard have some degree of piston slap. In almost every case, it was nothing more than an annoyance.

Onkel Udo