We had a scare with my daughter's 2000 S80 last week. The axle broke! No warning. We do all scheduled maintenance. It has 63,000 miles on it. We bought it used 2 1/2 years ago when it had 48,000 miles. And we checked CarFax to see if it had ever been in an accident before buying. She was on her way to work--going 40 mph--no one around her, thank God. She was almost to the freeway. The dealer told us the left ball joint separated and damaged the axle. We buy Volvos because they're supposed to be safe and then something like this happens. It sure has lessened our confidence in them. Any comments? Similar experiences?

Sue

 

Has any front end work ever been done to the car?
Has one of the Axles been replaced before that you know of?

 

Not that I know of. And the mechanic said he didn't think it had ever been in an accident or he'd have seen indications of that.

Sue

 

Where did it break?

Or did it just pull out?

It is possible that the Balljoint broke first.

There was a recall on the balljoints on some of the S80's not sure if yours is part of it or not.

I have never just seen a S80 axle break for no reason.

 

Yes, the ball joint separated first. An internal failure. And they say there's no way it could've been discovered ahead of time. The mechanic said he replaced the other one as well because that's what you do in a "catastrophic failure" like this. And he told me he was not exaggerating when he used that term.
I did some checking and these ball joints were not original parts. They were a year newer than the vehicle, based on the date on them. They had a campaign to replace them. I'm wondering if they are just a bad design? And I'm going to ask if the new ones are the same design, because if they are, I'm not very confident about them, and will probably sell the car.

Sue

 

If whoever put the replacements on over torqued the Nut it will lead to the Balljoint breaking the way it did.

Thats why I asked the quiestions I did in the first place. So it might have been human error form the begining.

I have seen them come in like that from being over torqued many times.

 

But if that's what happened, would it have taken 5 1/2 years and approximately 50,000 miles before failing?

Sue

 

Possible.
A small stress crack from over torqued. Then time to work the rest of the way.

 

I've got the old parts and it doesn't look as if that's what happened.
I asked if they could periodically check the ball joints for me--if I ask when I have an oil change or an alignment, and was told all they do, or could do, is a visual inspection and that wouldn't have found this internal failure!?

Sue

 

Some might have found it and some might not have.

It all depends on exactly what they check and how far they go. Almost every Tech is different.

Did the stud part of it break or did the Ball come out?

 

The ball came out.

Sue

 

There are no cracks in it. On another site someone posted this--

"There are a couple of reasons why this ball joint broke or became separated. A good tech should be able to examine it and determine exactly what caused it.
Someone has been into the suspension and failed to tighten a lock nut or pinch bolt on the ball joint.
Fluke material defect. (Not likely.)
Broken dust boot that over time has allowed dirt/water, or salt if you're up north, into the joint and has eroded it badly."

This is what I was expecting the technician to be able to tell me, but I got nowhere with him. I did notice on the old part they gave me that there was rust inside. Is this normal or might that indicate the 3rd possibility?

Sue

 

It should have been Packed with grease.

Have you checked with the Dealer to see if your car was under the Balljoint recall?

 

The car was under the balljoint recall and they were replaced 5 years ago when the car was a year old.

Sue

 

Oh ok was just checking.
Usually only have seen the Same problem as yours with the old Balljoints that were under recall.