I'll try to keep this as brief as possible and I WILL be using the search as well. My wife drives an '01 S40. The issue initially felt like slightly out of balance front tires. It's gotten progressively worse. The reason I'm asking about motor mounts is that there is significant front end vibration under power at nearly all speeds, especially at highway speeds. The notable thing is that while on flat or inclined surfaces, it's very noticeable. If you are going down a hill or off the gas at all it goes away entirely. I'm just wondering if as long as there's no torque, maybe the engine has no effect on the front end and that when torque is applied, it tweaks the front end and the wobble appears. Does this model tend to have this problem and am I on the right track? If so, is it normally a particular mount and is it unusually difficult to replace? If it's obvious to y'all that it's something else, I'd love to have a direction to follow. Thanks so much.

Charles

 

My '00 V40 had front end vibration at all speeds but was particularly bad at 60 to 65 mph. Vibration improved with foot off gas, like your car. I had all four wheels balanced without much improvement and half-way convinced myself the problem was worn drive axles. It wasn't.

Replacing the Continental ContiTouringContact tires (the Volvo dealer's "high end" option - lol) with Michelin Primacy tires made a big improvement. I discovered two of the four rims were bent and replaced them with straight (junkyard) rims. Then I tweaked the front end alignment (toe only) and discovered in the process that an incorrect alignment does appear to cause front end vibration. After that the vibration was 90% better. The final step was replacing the original factory front brake rotors which were heavily corroded and obviously out of balance. Now the car is vibration-free.

Of course the problem on your car could be different but that's my story. I also have the two bottom motor mounts in my garage waiting to go on as those appear to be the mounts that wear out first.

 

Thanks for the input. From my view, the motor mounts seem like they'd be the physically easiest parts to replace and they're probably due anyway. I keep reading about bent rims. Is this a common Volvo issue and if so, what seems to be the cause? Also, does anyone know what years have mounts common to mine('01 S40)? I appreciate the info.

Charles

 

I try and replace the parts that need replacing but I do understand the attraction of replacing the parts that are easy to replace.

Engine rear mount Volvo 30611144; engine front mount Volvo 30611143.

 

I have replaced all 4 mounts on my 2001. The symptoms were the car shaking with my foot on the brake and the car in drive. The bottom 2 mounts can be easily inspected by securing the car on jackstands and climbing up under it with a good strong light. You can see if the rubber is separated. Replacement is super easy as you remove the bolt holding each mount to the engine and then drop the metal bar that the mount is bolted to on the bottom.

The top mounts are almost as easy. I found that the trans mount on the driver's side had not failed. The pax side mount was a little more loose but still fine. The kicker with the pax side mount is you have to replace (or modify if you so desire) the aluminum arm that goes between the mount and the engine. It's been redesigned and won't fit the new mount without modification (which is what I did). Modifying involves cutting a new groove in the aluminum arm. It's easy to see once you have the mount and arm in your hands.

 

Here is a guide I put together for the turbo oil return feed pipe. The first few steps cover off how to remove the bottom mounts.

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=217804

Replacing the two top mounts is pretty straight forward. Here is some info on those:

Rhs mount:

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=204876

Lhs mount:
http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?p=1766186#post1766186

 

Sounds like a good place to start. I'll be replacing mine this spring, my car vibrates alot when idling in gear.

 

Sounds good. I edited my response above as initially I had written "foot on the gas" when I meant "foot on the brake". Idling, in gear, foot on the brake. Tell us how it goes.

 

Are there are any good aftermarket brands or do I need to stick with OE only? Best place to get them? Thanks!

 

I shopped around online to find the lowest cost shipped to my house. It was a long time ago so prices have changed since then. OE does not matter to me with something like a mount. My 2001 hit 200k miles today.

 

For 2001 and later cars the part number for the rear mount is different to the part number for my 2000 V40.

For your car - 2001 S40 - you need part numbers 30611143 and 30611465.

swedishautoparts.com sells good quality parts at competitive prices. Also ipdusa.com and fcpeuro.com.