’86 Volvo 740 Turbo, vibration and noise issues

Finally some progress! Contacted a couple of workshops that specialize in engines. The first workshop just said no right away. They didn’t want to touch the engine at all. The second workshop were positive. The guy on the phone actually said “Is it the ET engine? How nice that someone actually want to restore and keep it running!” He knew all about the engine, so I’m sure this is a good place to go. It will be a full overhaul. Of course, labor in Norway isn’t cheap, so it will be very expensive. More than the marked value of the car. I’ve become quite attatched to the car after hours of both swearing and good times. I’m never going to sell this car voluntarily. I expected this, so I have beforehand saved up the required money.

Hopefully this will bring an end to this long journey trying to figure out the cause of the vibrations. Have been both fun and agonizing.

The work is scheduled to begin next week. Hopefully by the end of the month I can give you guys a positive update!

Thought I’d update this thread a little bit. The issue is still not resolved, but have made a new discovery. I recently got new summer tires for my car. The guy at the shop told me one of my rims have a dent in it that cannot be balanced. I know very well that I have not driven into any potholes or anything that would damage the rim. Its been like that the entire time I’ve had the car in other words. Probably the reason I got informed of it is because the guy working that day actually spoke the language… This is the type of business where the workers don’t speak the native language and most likely don’t care to inform about damages in general. Still haven’t found new rims, as these are quite rare. Only came on the turbo cars.

I still suspect the drive shaft is the culprit. The vibration doesn’t feel like wheel imbalance to me. Have tried to find a company that does drive shaft balancing, but no one offers this service anymore. I even asked several different car workshops and dealerships, and they confirmed that no one does it anymore. They just buy brand new axles from the original manifacturers if they’re out of balance. RWD cars just simply is too uncommon and not used anymore. Trying to find a company in another country that might accept a drive shaft sent through mail or someting, or produce one and ship it.

Yes, 4×4 would also have a middle drive shaft. One of the dealerships I spoke with said they had a 4×4 vehicle a year ago with a drive shaft that was out of balance. They just ordered a brand new one for the customer and scrapped the old. I’d say that at least here in Norway, drive shafts are disposable items. I’ve bought used ones earlier, but none were good. One had a loose piece stuck inside the tube (probably due to abuse), while the other ones arrived split in half with no marking on which way they go together. The vibration have varied a little bit with what position on the splines I connect the shaft. I simply don’t want to buy more used drive shafts, I will most likely exchange junk with another piece of junk. People are just too dishonest with used car parts. They’re also rare, so can’t find them locally either. The best would be to test drive a potential donor car personally to ensure it is not vibrating. That is of course almost impossible to get done.

Sweden is a good option, the only catch is that I live on the west-coast of Norway. It will be quite a long trip, a day driving just to get to the border. I would have to track down a workshop that have proper equipment to work on these cars. The workshops here in Norway don’t have the tools anymore to check angles and such, balancing, etc.