Engine noise and odd Transmission behaviour
 

Hi,

2 months in with a MY XC90 2.4D5 2013 and I am having some ongoing issues which I need some advice on....

Since purchasing the car there appears to be excessive engine noise which gets louder as the engine warms up which is also accompanied by some strange transmission behavior (or at least I think it is). When cold the engine and transmission both run smooth but once it reaches temperature it gets really loud under smooth acceleration and settles down once cruising at 30mph. To add to this the transmission seems to hold onto the gears at a consistent RPM too long before changing up a gear. For example, the car will accelerate through 1st and 2nd fine (with a loud growl) but when changing into 3rd the revs will stick at 2000RPM before shifting up - A quick tap of the throttle and it'll change up instantly. Its almost as if the car needs to be floored in order for it to go through the gears in quick succession. I have tried flipping it over into M but noticed that the revs drop off slightly in 2nd gear at about 1500RPM and then pick up again - Too early for TC Lockup?. When cruising along at 30mph everything settles down although the car does feel a bit like its in a higher gear than it should be for the road speed with some feedback coming through the footwell.

This is now driving me nuts, I'm not sure whether the transmission is causing the excessive noise or the excessive noise is causing me to believe the transmission is mis-behaving.

I have had the lower Torque mount replaced with no improvement and the upper Torque mount appears to be in good condition. An axle ping issue was resolved last week with Loctite and all brake pads are at 11mm.

Unrelated but worth a mention... It had a swirl flap issue at the time of purchase so the dealer reconnected the control arm and reset the codes but it came back a week later so the ECU was re-programmed which I think has stuck the flaps open. I read the codes with an OBDII yesterday and the inlet manifold code is still there but could be an old code.

I'd really like to understand how loud these D5 engines are under load and whether my transmission is behaving as it should?

These engines are not excessively loud so does sound like you have something going on here. Can you share a video so we can hear it? In regards to the gearbox you can use Vida to put the box into a readapt mode which resets everything allowing it to adapt to your driving style. This might be worth trying.

I'll try and get a video of it and then figure out how to post a link on here. It worries me that you say the d5 are generally quiet engines. I need to get my hands on another XC90 D5 to compare. Failing that, I have a local specialist who seem to be pretty good but I'd like to go with a general idea of whether I have an issue or I'm just going bonkers.

D5 engines are by no means "quiet", they are just not "excessively loud"

My D5 engine roars like a beats when you accelerate, and when cruising on the motorway at 120kmph, the tyre noise and wind noise are the noisiest things.

Hallmark Volvo?

They know their stuff. I’m not affiliated in any way, but I definitely recommend them.

If it helps my d5 xc90 changes gear at 2000 rpm, when i first got it i didn't like it but now i've got used to it. on the noise when accelerating it could be the vacuum mounts, i had this problem, replaced the rear vacuum mount an all ok again

Does it change like this?

https://youtu.be/jMAfz9A3sUw

Sorry, its poor quality, I had my son in charge of the camera. To add to the issues I found today that the car now jolts forward when I let off the brake after being stationary. Thought it could be dropping into N but I tested it on a quiet road and it does it after a couple of seconds on the brake. I really hate driving this car now although it's good to look at. :-(

Hard to say, maybe if the video was a bit longer and more gears, it would be easier to compare

I'll get another one over weekend that'll hopefully be clearer. It's really hard to capture the sound on a video but the car seems to stick at 2000 rpm for a while before changing up. I've noticed in M that the rpm drops off mid gear before picking up again but this could be the torque converter licking up. Man, I wish I had another D5 auto to compare.

Visit a car yard and take one for a test drive...