Hi Guys,

I am a newbie to this great forum... I recently bought a 2003 Volvo S40 T4. I just love the car but there is almost always BUT. I would appreciate if someone could shed some light / suggestions on the following issues:

1. Turbo whines a bit at low speeds around 40-50 km/h. It is not very loud and I did not even notice it when I test drove the car (on a busy street) but it annoys me a bit now. It is a fairly new car but has already 88k kms on the clock and there is no service history available (import). The whine sounds like turning a vacuum cleaner on and off - the pitch changes as the load on the engine changes. It pulls really well and there is no smoke or any other issues but I discovered few dark brown specs in the oil (on the dipstick) which makes me worried that the turbo bearings might have burned the oil (probably not fully synthetic one). Is flushing the engine and turbo the way to go? Will it make the whining disappear?

2. Power steering feels a bit springy (not wobbly). I can turn the wheel very easily for about 6cm each side but then there is resistance, which goes away after half a second or so. The wheel sometimes has tendency to turn itself as I drive over bumps or break hard. Speed makes no difference. The fluid is brown a looks dirty but the level is at max.

Cheers,

Soro

congrats on the 40 and welcome to the forum. try changing all the fluids and flushing everything out. then you can see what is needed.

You can make sure the belt for the power steering pump is tight to.