Also posted on Volvospeed...

I'm putting my flamesuit before I start explaining. Be prepared - I'm a noob technician.

A few weeks ago, I painted my calipers red. But in the process I had an accident - the jack failed and the car landed on the right rotor. Yeah, I know I should've used jackstands - lesson learned!
The car didn't rest on the rotor alone though, the jack was still under the car, holding most of the weight. So the bumper or the frame never touched the ground. So it wasn't a serious impact.
Fearing that I may have destroyed my rotor, I took the car for a slow, careful spin - everything appeared to be normal. No grinding, no noise whatsoever. Car stopped straight. Everything was good.

I drove for two weeks without noticing any problems. But for the past week something has been bothering me. There is a single "click" sound coming somewhere upfront, whenever I turn the wheel to the left. It happens only once every turn, and at a very small angle - 10-15 degree turn of the wheel. It happens again when I return the wheel and it passes through the same angle. I can also hear it whenever I go over a bump or a hole on the road.
At first I thought - it's my left axle, the CV boot is torn and it has finally started clicking. But after much thinking and driving in circles I don't think it's the axle. It's a single, not loud, click, at a very small angle. It's more like a "thump"...

So with everything explained...where should I look for the source of the sound? When the car landed on the rotor, I looked closely and nothing else had touched the ground.

 

Maybe sway bar link bad.
Maybe upper spring seat is bad.

 

Spring seat is almost new. Is it possible it was damaged from the hit?

Sway bar link...I have to say it looked kind of weird when I looked at it today. Is it dangerous to drive with a bad sway bar link, and is it diffucult to replace?

 

It is possible. To make sure it is good get a wrench and try turning the top strut nut. If it feels rubbery it is good. If it just spins it is bad.
The link is easy to replace only 2 nuts and that's all. It is not dangerous to drive with the link bad.

 

I had a second look. The top strut nut feels good - rubbery, like the other one.

I'm 90% sure it's the sway bar link now. I compared both sides. The top of the links look good. The bottom ones are a little different though...
With the wheels at full lock, the "good" sway bar link is only a little twisted at the bottom. The other one...it resembles a torn cv boot - it's very twisted at the bottom and I can actually see inside it.
Would you say that's my problem?

I'll take a pic in the morning

 

It is possibly the problem.
There is one way to check if you jack up the front end and secure on jackstands.
Then climb under the car and pull on the sway bar by the end link. If it is back you will feel it clicking/clunking when you pull on it. If nothing happens it is good.

 

I haven't had the time to jack the car and move the sway link but I did get some pictures.

This is what I refer to as, the good side:


And here is where I think the problem is:



Do they look bad? Should I replace both?

 

I would check them for play. If you can I would just replace both. I like to replace mine when the boots rip. It is usually not long after that when they make noise.

Also on the Good side looks like the C/V boot is torn. That might be making noise as well.

 

I know the CV boot is bad, but it's not making any noises...yet.

A friend of mine suggested, looking at the second picture, that I may have bent the sway bar itself. I don't see how that would've happened. As I said before, the only thing that touched the ground was the rotor...and it doesn't look bent to me.

 

I think it might look bent because the angle of the picture.

 

Well, I just let a friend of mine who is a good mechanic-wise to ride in the car and listen to the sound. He said that this is not the sound of a bad sway bar link. He said, that a bad sway bar link is loud. Mine is really not loud, you can only hear it at low revs, and without the stereo....
His guess was the steering rods...

There is no doubt that the sway bar links need to be changed, but they may not be the cause of the sound. I can hear it every time I go through a hole or bump on the road.

 

Jack the front end up and check the links and tie rods. To check the tie rods put you hands in the 3 and 9 position and try rocking back and forth. If you feel play they are bad. The sway bar links are not always loud on the 850's.

 

So I have my new set of sway bar links coming tomorrow or friday (hopefully), I was planning to have a friend help me do the job, because I'm not very mechanically inclined (I've only changed my upper engine mount and it took me a good 2 hours), so how difficult is to change the endlinks and what do I need?
1. I have a set of jackstands (lesson learned the hard way)
2. I have a set of wrenches
3. I have WD40

Anything else? From what I hear, the endlink is held by just bolts, correct? Do I need to support or lift the wheel hub while I'm changing them?

 

the one thing you may need is a torx wrench (i think its a t30, maybe a t35?) that you can place on the back side (bolt side, in the hole of the bolt) to hold it form turning while you take the nut off.

you dont really need to suport it at all. it may slide out of the hole on a sharp angle, but its not under and much stress as it looks like. if you need help getting them off once the nuts are off jack it level with the jack on the control arm or small diamiter of the rotor (you dont need to jack the car, just compress the suspension a little.

 

Hang on...are you saying that I can change the endlinks without actually jacking the car?

 

I can tell you right off the bat, just by looking at your pictures, is that your driver side axle is done and both your swaybar endlinks are done. To check the rest of the suspension, do what Tech mentioned.

 

Yeah, I know my axle boot is gone, but I don't have the time or funds to change the axle now. And anyways, it hasn't started clicking yet, plus I'm adding grease every 2 weeks to prolong its life as much as I can.
The rest of the suspension I think is okay. I should check the wheel hub, and I will do that this weekend when I change the swaybar links (if they arrive by tomorrow, they are taking unusually long this time)

 

Woot! Woot! I replaced the endlinks! No more clicking sound. Yay! Thanks for all the information!

 

Glad all is good now.

 

Just a heads-up: I'm not sure what exactly your clicking sounded like, but I was hearing a very faint clicking noise from my front end similar to what you described. When I got my new tires yesterday I requested to have my alignment checked and fixed if necessary. The wheels were badly aligned (which probably has to do with the fact that I live in Pittsburgh, the Pothole Capital of the World, and also because I have to drive over speed bumps every day in a parking lot).

The clicking noise is now gone. I'm not sure if it was directly related to the alignment or possibly even the tires (the front tires were rather worn), but it no longer persists. If you haven't had your wheels aligned lately, I recommend getting it done before you look at other parts within these cars.