have to go check the car.. happened last night

backing out of a driveway I heard or felt a very slight clunk.

It then would not go into drive, reverse, park or move at all.

If an axle snapped there would be a loud noise. Do these cars ever have a axle shaft just pop out or is there something that else that can cause this. I hear a slight grinding going into park but car still rolls in park. Its like an axle were removed. The car is at a friends house. Its snowing.. I will check the axles to see if there is a separation. I will also look at the shifting mech under the hood but I don't think there can be a problem there. Any thoughts...
car is a 05 V70 with 100,000 miles and always cared for, 5 speed automatic . thanks everyone

 

The only one that ive ever seen personally was the right side popping out because the bearing exploded. But it does sound like that has happened to your car

 

it was a snapped CV on the left axle. outer. Strange... The axle spins cleanly while the joint does't. No separation. There was never vibration on that axle before it happened.

Do these joints fail at a fairly young age or is it a fluke. I have had cars with 200000 miles that had originall axles. Should I replace the other one, too.

 

its a 3 piece axle in the sense that there is a splined shaft with a clip attaching the outer joint to the axle/inner joint assembly. It did pop out but not at the trans. It popped at the other splined shaft by the outer joint. Outer joint and boot is undamaged. I replaced the unit anyway with a Surtrac unit which looks like a conventional axle and likely doesn't have a clipped spline in the middle. who knows.. maybe many axles have this clipped center but theres no reason to know about it since I would never take it apart..


I don't believe in replacing 1 joint only.. these axles are cheap, I paid 60 including shipping.

 

Was the other axle that you replaced a volvo original? If it was I would not throw it out just yet. Many of the after markets have a track record of lasting about 5 to 10k miles and the. They start to cause front end shakes.

 

I will keep the old one.. thanks for the advice. I wonder if the old ones clip can be replaced if the one I just installed fails. I have a Saab with 80000 that always gives trouble on trips so I bought the Volvo for trips. Now I'm worried about the Volvo!! I never worried about the GM's and Fords. I bought the swedish cars because I like them and they were priced right. Maybe American cars are better but pricier these days. Who would ever think that this was possible years ago! Years ago I drove Porsches and Alfa's. Loved them but they gave lots of trouble.