this is my first post on here so im not sure if this the right thread, but let me explain everything. So I was given this 1995 850 T-5R not knowing anything about cars in general...let alone these beautiful volvos, (:
about a year ago. Knowing the car didnt start and hasnt in at least 5 years (so i was told) i took this upon myself to start learning something useful. First thing i did was figure out that it was the fuel pump. Yippee, hopefully thats it... Nope. Got it running and there it is, a painful cloud of white, sweet smelly smoke, it only got worse. So i took some time to reevaluate my life..and the car. Turns out it was the head gasket. Spent a few months dreaming about myself driving this stunning T-5R, saved up some money and starting trying to figure out how to fix this headgasket. Long story short, I replaced the headgasket and all the internal stuff you should while in there, water pump, timing belt components, and pcv system. Got her running and wow, she sounds so good now, no more smoke, nothing, i thought it was golden. Went for a drive and whatdyaknow. she drives like **** lol. Its hard to explain all the sounds she makes going down the road, and turning.. Ive tried to diagnose it. From what i could see and hear i thought it was the driver side CV axle because of the weird clunking/whooshing sound when turning right ever so slightly, then i thought tie rod ends maybe. nope. Then i was told a bad hub bearing and ball joints could make it sound bad and hop up and down. So all in all i then replaced the driver side CV axle, both tie rod ends, (inners seemed to be good) driver side hub bearing, and both ball joint/control arms. Literally sounds worse than before. i know some of scraping metal sound is definitely the pads and rotors (i hope) and im pretty sure that new struts would benefit. but im really stuck at the point of, are those really the only things causing my problems at this point? Can a whole bad strut system cause clunking? I dont think clunking is the right word. Its almost like a scraping that sounds like the wheel is hitting something plastic, but ive triple checked and there is total clearance around both wheels when turning in either direction. Im sorry this is so long i just have been wanting to get this out there for im getting anxious on what to do next and really cant spend anymore money on parts that arent causing my main problems.. i know i will eventually have to replace most parts but id really like to just get her on the road driving safely at least, sooner. Im going to post a video so hopefully itll explain it all way better than i did. I appreciate any replys (: and ill be posting more as i continue my volvo journey.

 

wouldn't let me upload the video so here's the link https://youtu.be/rk1eIErVJJA

 

most common source of clunking in the 850s is a broken spring seat



Note the seat on the right? that metal bushing is supposed to be part of the hard rubber seat.

And regarding your video upload - the forum only supports specific file extensions so you may need to convert an MP4 file to .AVI or .MPG

 

Sound is pretty easy to diagnose, so I would suggest first don't do any more parts cannonneering. 850's are pretty easy to fix, and so what you really need is a local friend how is great at it. Somebody that's already had a dozen 850's. Of course you'll have to fight him off wanting to buy your R.

Now - would you agree that the sound you are interested in is proportional to speed?

I know there are a lot of sounds, but the one I hear seems to me is clearly proportional to ground speed only.

 

@firebirdparts Yes I believe we are listening to the same main sound issue. It definitely gets faster, not necessarily louder, as I speed up, Sort of has a rhythm to it. It occurs when driving straight and turning right, and when I turn left or slightly swerve left it seems to go away. It sounds to me like its coming from the front driver side for sure.

Regarding finding someone who knows about volvos well, locally, its pretty hard lol. Everyone around me is into old chevys and fords, damn florida, can't say I'm surprised though I like my camaros too.

What do you think that the sound could be, through your experience? I'm looking into the spring seats, hoping for the best. Would be great if new brakes, rotors, and strut assemblies would be the cause of all my problems.

 

@mt6127 Is the clunking you're talking about regarding spring seats similar to that very loud sound in my video? Specifically the one that kind of goes with the speed of the car.

 

sorry didn't watch the video until after I posted. Spring seats make a clunk when you go over a speed bump or pot hole but don't repeat with a cadence. That sound is repetitive and changes with road speed so you know its something rotational - axle, brake rotor, wheel/tire etc. That's pretty pronounced so I'd put it up on jackstands and rotate the wheels by hand, pull/push to see any movement with suspension/bearings, pop off the rims and inspect the calipers/rotors/shields. Look around the inner fender for any signs of tire rub etc. On your next test drive, see if it changes when you are on the gas accellerating vs off and decellerating, see if applying the brakes changes the sound, and whether it changes turning left or right. Really sounds like something is rubbing..

 

I will go one farther and say I think it sounds like it's making a noise once per revolution of the tires. That is unusual.

When you steer, weight moves from one side to the other. When that affects the sound, it's usually a reasonable indication that it's a weight-bearing rotating item, and it turns out, there's only one (on each side) and that's a wheel bearing. You've already replaced one. Wheel bearings don't give in to inspection very easily. Sometimes you get the wrong one. Tires also can be pretty noisy but that seems ridiculous here.

I want to let you know now that really really does not sound like a CV joint. Not at all.

Since the car sat, i was concerned about rust damage to the wheel bearings and also the "do nothing" bearing mounted in the right axle shaft that's bolted to the engine block. It's not the bearing mounted to the engine block. It could also be bearings inside the final drive, and in fact it does sounds like that, (and that would be very bad) but steering doesn't have any effect on those.

 

P.S. I think Mt6127 gives excellent advice on all the things that would be able to be inspected and I would agree that you want to do all that.