I ended up replacing both front CV axles and that did the trick. Have to say it was a major expense since I couldn't find 3rd party axles and had to pay volvo over $1,200.00 for them. I also had to replace several motor mounts in the process. I have since traded in my Volvo XC90. Loved the car but WAY too expensive to fix. The final straw for me was the oil pan was leaking and the front wheel bearings needed to be replaced. Found out to replace the $7.00 leaking gasket I had to basically go through a process that would take 19 hours of labor and required a special part. Dealer wanted $2,500.00 to do it. The front bearings were going to cost me over $350 each. Several volvo mechanics advised to get rid of the car. They even stated most people don't fix the front axles when they go bad. Well good luck to all you Volvo owners - my advice is if it is out of warranty and something starts to shake - drop it and run away. I am a happy man with my new GMC Acadia. I will never own a out of warranty Volvo again...

 

Hello team Volvo!

I had the save issue with my 2002 S80 at or around 110k miles. Did all the usual balancing, rotating of tires, etc. But "the fix" was replacing both left and right CV axles. We're at 140k miles now and no vibration.

Happy New Year!

Regards,

Wayne (aka 6pence)

 

I had similar symptoms as this thread. Its a 2001 S60, T2.4 with the turbo. It started shaking badly when accelerating above 50 or so, but only under load. I replaced the plugs as suggested here and they were old anyway, but it still shook. Drove a couple of miles and tried to get on it a little in spite of the shake, and it died. We came back home in some kind of limp mode at about 11mph, with the engine light saying "engine service urgent." We found that the air duct, to the turbo I think, shook loose at the front connection just behind the radiator. I just disconnected the battery to see if it will reset on its own. The bottom just fell out of the power when I stepped on it. I think it might be the cat, or something related, as the dealership just recommended replacing it. Just haven't done it yet.

 

So I've been experiencing the same symptoms in my 2001 V40 and have had I looked at by a couple shops (first a wheel shop and the a Volvo mechanic). Both pointed to an inner CV but one shop says left, the other says right. I'd prefer not to spend the $600+ to do both at once if not necessary and am trying to isolate which is the worse of the two.

The first (tire) shop explained when he accelerated through a right turn, taking some of the weight off the right wheel, the vibration went away suggesting that it was the right side causing the vibrations. I've since noticed when turning right at higher speeds (80KM) I get real bad shakes... The Volvo specialty shop, said they can see a little more play in the left side inner CV and are suggesting starting there, but said both prob should be replaced.

I'm wondering if there are any driving tests that can be done to try to isolate which side may be causing the vibration? I've paid very close attention to the feel of the car when driving and cant tell myself.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Cedric

 

My issue turned out to be the driver's side CV axle. Put a rebuilt in it and it accelerates and cruises smooth as silk now.

 

This thread is still helping folks. Thanks.
my wife has an 04 S60 2.5 Turbo exhibiting the same problems. Engine shudder at higher speeds when you step on Gas. We had already replaced the motor mounts last year. She also hit a curb a few months ago and we replaced Both front control arms and ball joints.

Was leading me to believe my probs got to be CVs. 165,000 miles btw

 

Mine feels like it's motor related like maybe a mount is bad on the driver's side.

 

Count another one resolved by this thread. We recently purchased a 2001 S60 T5 with 143,000 miles on it. It wasn't until I was on the way home with it on the highway that I realized it had an issue, once I got above about 55 mph it would vibrate pretty bad under acceleration. It didn't vibrate at all when coasting and not bad when the cruise was on and it wasn't having to work to maintain speed.

The lower transmission torque mount was shot so I replaced that first because it was pretty cheap and needed to be done but that did not resolve the issue. I purchased and installed Cardone axles (66-9252 and 66-9253) and it is smooth under acceleration now. These things were only about $130 for both on Amazon and installing them is pretty straight forward.

Big thanks to those who came before and helped to isolate this quickly. The issue had me scratching my head when it first appeared thinking it might be the transmission or something more serious.

 

Glad to hear. If you plan on keeping the car you might want to consider replacing upper engine mount as well. sometimes you can't see how shot the rubber bushing is until then. Usually a relatively cheap part $30-40 or something like that. About an hour job that is pretty clean.

Also if you ever feel like you are breaking and you are being pulled forward when you stop that is the engine shifting. The upper mount as I mentioned and sub-frame bushings can go as well as the transmission mount that you said you replaced. The subframe bushings are crazy expensive to fix to but I got some polyurethane fillers from IPD USA that they make. When I installed those it felt like the suspension was brand new after all the other things I had replaced. Just something to look out for, an often overlooked issue when it comes to suspension.

Have a 2002 s60 with 196k and still running strong. Other than some electrical quirks which I have gotten use it has been reliable. Love this board I knew nothing about cars and mechanics when I first got it. With some risk taking and watching countless videos and posts here I have been able to a ton of maintenance myself. Three years ago I could barely check my oil.

 

Thank you for the additional information. I will investigate the upper mount soon. It still has a clunking noise up front at times but we experienced this with a previous S60 that we had and I replaced the lower control arms struts and mounts to fix that problem. Thanks to my son's questionable driving skills I still have that wrecked 2001 2.4t in my driveway so I'll be swapping the things I replaced on it to the T5 before too long.

 

Hello, I have a similar issue on my '07 S40 T5 as this and since this thread is still going strong I thought I'd come for help. My shuddering/vibration (only during acceleration) starts as low as 25mph and continues as I go higher - although the vibration has "shorter intervals" at 80+mph but it is still there. I had both control arms and shocks done about 10k miles ago (at 140k now) and I replaced the passenger side motor mount (20k miles ago) as well as the torque mount (500 miles ago). When I replaced the torque mount this issue disappeared, until I guess it settled in within about 24 hours/80 miles, now it is back to vibrating. I thought it could be an axle (or both) since my suspension and motor mounts in theory should be in good shape. I would like to keep the car since otherwise it has served me very well since I bought it in '10 with 60k miles on it but at the same time I would like to save my money and DIY as much as possible, if axle replacement is something an amateur like me can handle. Are there any diagnostics or writeups for checking out the issue and fix it? Any information would be much appreciated, thank you!

edit: Sorry i see that this is an s60 forum, but figure this might apply to my s40 too...Google brought me here

edit2: After some research I am fairly certain it is an axle issue. Which side is the question - and it seems fairly straightforward of a procedure thankfully. Should I try the right side first (supposedly that wears faster)? Any benefit in replacing them at the same time even if one isn't shot yet?

 

Hi Karazi

It sounds like you are correct that you have a worn axle causing the vibration. It's not too difficult of a task but I don't know of a good write up about doing it. There was a youtube video that I watched to get an idea of what was involved but you the guy takes off the ball joints in order to remove the axle which is not necessary. There is a good comment describing the recommended process at the top of the comments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a77sCd0u0p8

I replaced both of ours at the same time since the Cardone ones weren't too terribly expensive and I wasn't sure exactly which side was causing the vibration. It ended up being the right one of ours and that does seem to be the first one to go.

Hopefully this was at least a little help, good luck!

 

This thread has some lasting power!
I just bought a "beater" 2004 S60 AWD 150k miles with a litany of issues. This thread has given me good ideas on what to replace. Not sure if mine is rough at any certain speed...just rough all over! I have tore CV boots, inner on left, outer on right, so I'm starting there. Already removed the left one, removed it's boots and cleaned it up. It actually looks good, so going to grease and reboot that one.
Struts are original Volvo and worn out, so they will have to go. Upper engine mount is completely shot. Have not looked at lower ones, but will just get new ones. Will NOW check those subframe bushings!
Interesting about success with the Cardone axles. People on the Subaru side have trouble with them. Actually everything but new Subaru or rebuilt Subaru(what I got) have been trouble.

 

I had this exact same problem. My mechanic spent weeks trying to identify the problem. It got a little better when I had the engine mounts redone. I had aftermarket axles put on. Volvo wanted me to spend $1500 on new axles. Nothing solved it. Believe it or not, after months the "oil trap" broke (I heard a loud screech or whine from the engine when under 2k RPMs when the engine was warm when that happened). Volvo replaced the broken oil trap and BING, the vibration was gone!

 

I have the same problem lately I'm desperate to solve this problem its really annoying... Anyone with advise ???

 

If you are coasting and not pressing the accelerator at all and the ride is smooth with no abnormal vibration, but when you press the pedal you do feel vibration, that probably means your axles need to be replaced. If you are DIYish and have another person to help you it is not such a bad job, just a few hours. Take it to the dealer and they are going to charge you 1k+ especially if they use OEM Volvo axles which are like $500 each as opposed to aftermarkets which are not as good.

 

This problem got fixed for me, after many attempts that got nowhere replacing axles and such, when the "oil trap" broke completely and was replaced as part of a warranty repair (just before 7 years). When I got the car back, voila, there was no more shaking on acceleration!!

 

Is it safe to drive the highway under this condition?

 

For anyone else who may have this issue, I had this happen in a Dodge and somehow the motor mount had gone out.

 

When this happened to me the knocking of my engine actually caused the drive shaft to give out so no. However I did have a motor mount also go bad on a 92' 740 once and it just caused a lot of shaking in the steering wheel when I would break. I'd say if it's happening when your accelerating to go light of the pedal, really push it slowly and avoid the freeway.