Yes yes I am new to this forum! So please continue to be gentle with me for now..
Ok when I introduced myself the other day, I said that I'd got myself a 99 V70 with one or two issues. Cosmetically it want's a bit of a tidy up, but it is straight (for a nine year old car with 157000 miles under it's belt). But, I drove it home today (135 miles) and apart from the fact that the EM light comes on, due I'm told to the oxygen sensor requiring replacement, it has a pretty bad vibration, but only when under load. At motorway speeds when accelerating, it feels like the wheels are seriously out of balance. But the second I take my foot off the accelerator, the vibration stops and the car is silky smooth?
I'm guessing something on the induction side,as I would think thatwheel balance or indeed driveshafts would vibrate no matter what I was doing with the accelerator..
Any help or ideas would be greatly apprecited..

 

I would say a bad Axle.

 

Ok, but why would'nt a bad axle/driveshaft vibrate whilst not under load?
Or only whilst accelerating..
Or are you talking about a worn CV (constant velocity) joint?
Problem is, us Brits and you Americans, are seperated by a common language!!

 

The Inboard joint on the Axle is a tripod type joint.
The casing the tripod bearing rides in wears causing the Vibration during accelerating.

 

Inboard being the joint nearest the gearbox I assume?
Anyway I jacked the car up and checked for play earlier and the nearside driveshaft (with everything still assembled and attached to the car), did have some longditudinal play, but very little lateral play.. I think a replacement may be on the cards.

 

The inner joint will slide in and out but shouldn't have any play at all.

 

Ok, I finally got the thing jacked up to take a proper look! With the front wheels in the air and the car ticking over in drive, I have a grating noise that for all the world sounds like its coming from the diff (or at least the nearside of the car, although very difficult to tell when you're lying on a crawler underneath. Oh and remember I'm British so the nearside is the left side when you're sitting in it)? The inner right hand CV joint has some take up play in it, but doesn't appear to have any lateral play (the car is still fully assembled so everything is a little difficult to get at).
The wheels are'nt spinning freely (when running in gear), they're grabbing and stopping for a second on every revolution.
Now does this mean that my gearbox/diff is fubar?
If this ends up being a big or expensive job, I'll get rid of the car!

Having said the abovethe gearbox is as smooth as silk when driving, making all the up and down changes when it should!
The only evidence of anything untoward underneath the car, is some grease (quite alot of grease) right by the right hand inner CV joint. The boot however is not split or damaged.
This has got me very confused, so any help would be greatly appreciated. In other words, CV joint and I'll fix it and keep it, gearbox and It's going???

 

Vibration is a winter/spring thing for me. Road grime, sand, salt, mud packs into the backside of the wheels. Take the wheels off and hose them out.

 

It isn't the wheels.. First (and easiest) thing I thought of!
Anyway, I took it out for a 60 mile drive today. All of it built up areas or twisty country lanes and not even a squeek from it! Oh yes it was still vibrating at anything over 50mph, but no noises or gearbox issues at all. So I'm beggining to go with those of you in the know and consiquently leaning heavily towards a worn CV joint.
So, do I need to remove the whole shaft (right side) or does the CV pop off the shaft nice and easily?

 

I've been looking through the forum trying to find a vibration mode description that matches what I've been experiencing with my 2002 V-70 XC and this case seems to fit. I get a vibration only when I accelerate at speeds above 40 MPH. So it sounds like my CV shaft(s)are worn. How do I determine wether its the front or the rear CV shafts that need replacement? The car has 192,000 miles on it and is otherwise in remarkably great condition. I hope that someone in the know responds to this as the orignal post is pretty old. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

I have replaced both axles on my 2002 V70 as well. Same vibration issues. The r/h axle also has a hanger bearing that will go bad and cause vibrations. My first replacement axles were new units from China. And yes as you can read in my other posts, they were garbage. The l/h axle lasted about 1.5 year and the r/h side started to vibrate within 3 months. Replaced both axles again, this time with rebuild original axles. No vibrations. Also my r/h wheel bearing went bad and causes some grinding noise and vibration.
In short, yes most likely your axles are bad. On a AWD I would replace the fron t ones. At 192K you are about at twice the service life of these units.

 

I can almost guarentee based one what you say that it is your front axles. Buy both front axles and switch them out one at a time till the vibration is gone. May need one, may need both. Only one way to really find out.

 

Thanks gents. This is very helpful. I will look for either reman units or new European units. I'll start with the fronts. I will report my results.
BTW - what are your thoughts about the rear CV shafts?

 

Dont know. Mine is FWD. No rear drive axles ;-)

 

Very rarely to never have problems with them. At least in my region.

 

Again thanks.

How big of a job is it to replace thee front CV axles? Is it a "typical" job? I've done lots of other vehicles but never a Volvo.

 

Remove the axle bolt, lower BJ nut, pry the lower control arm down and pull the knuckle lower BJ out, pull the axle out. Passenger side requires this procedure as well as the two bolts for the carrier bearing.

 

Sounds straightforward. I'll replace both front axles and the passenger side carrier bearing at the same time. Thanks!

 

Where did you pick up your new axle? What brand? Did it fix the vibration?

 

I finally replace both front CV axles. I noticed the the passenger side had more radial play that the driver side did. I obtained reman units from my local Auto Value parts dealer in Kalamazoo. I made sure they were reman and not new Chinese units. It completely resolved the problem. The job was a bit difficult as after I had removed the lower ball joint nut, I could not lower the control arm enough to remove the BJ stud. The lower control arm hit the frame member and would not lower any further. After struggling to get it out and then not being able to compress the strut enough to get the BJ stud back into the control arm socket, I completely removed the lower control arm, which was still difficult but effective. The instant gratification of resolution of the vibration issue helped to relax my angered state at the rediculousness of such a simple task made almost impossible by lack of adequate control arm clearance to the frame. Task complete. Onto the next issue! The forum was invaluable in helping me diagnose this problem correctly. Thanks to all the respondents!