"Shop" 1 said do a valve adjustment and replace shims, "Shop" 2 says "don't dare drive it out of town and save dough for the overhaul". Now... "Shop" 3 says piston slap and "don't worry" and "common with turbos". These are all Independent Volvo shops. Now, do I trust the guy that isn't readily trying to get business. The car has rough(er) and noisier idle after recent oil change... not synthetic, frayed wire harness, 243K, idle surges, but mainly hangs around 900 in drive and occasionally bucks at stops, overall it is very fast and has lots of power, turbo kicks in great, rides solid, great control and brakes very well. Engine starts to roar a bit around 70-80 mph, possibly... the cat. converter is in need of change. My thoughts are to turn to the Volvo Dealer repair shop, cough up for the diagnosis, get the repair list, then go back to one of the Independents and say "here, do this". I am assuming that I will get a better "call" from the dealer, since I can't seem to get a common answer in the first place and I don't have $4000 for Volvo to replace the engine either. What are side effects of knocks and what is common with piston slap, is there an obvious difference? Does one degrade performance overall? Is knock or piston slap damaging at highway speeds on long drives, it has seemed to get louder after some recent highway miles. I'm in Los Angeles and looking for a local mechanic referral. Any ideas and thanks, Chris
Sadly missed: '73 164E with Blaupunkt, '81 DL wagon, '82 DL wagon. Current: '86 740Turbo rocket wagon