Hi All,

I have an 04.5 S40 T5 AWD and recently noticed some rumbling:

I noticed I have a rumble coming from what seems to be the front end of the car at speed - it seems to develop around 30-40MPH, and proportionate to wheel-speed as opposed to engine speed. The noise appeared about 3k ago and was quieter when it began.

Here is the noise (start at around 30MPH, up to 40MPH hold, then decelerate and turn into neighborhood):

http://v8.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=33xzvon&s=8

Here is a video of the driveshaft joint (video somehow upside down and stretched):

http://v8.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=qq3fdc&s=8

This is what I'm jigglin':



Here is a video of the CV (same on driver side, this seems not to be the problem to me):

http://v8.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=2mxgxs7&s=8

Which play describes the sound I hear?


Is this the right part to buy for the driveshaft bearing:

PartsTrain.com - Hard to Find Auto Parts and Truck Parts -

Other Stuff I've Done:


I checked the front hubs, they seem fine - I turned them with no grind, I put my hand on the spring and turned front wheels with no apparent roughness, I yanked at 3/9, 6/12 with no apparent play

I checked the front CV joints - they seem to have no clicking when turning but do click once when changing direction from forward rotation to backward. Yanking on CV joints seems to produce about 1/16th play on both front wheels. (been like this for past 10K or so)

I went under the car and checked the driveshaft. The part here seems to have some play:

 

The only thing I could add would be to check the carrier bearing on the pax side axle. It's #7 on your diagram above.

Can you remove the driveshaft to see if it's the source of the noise? I have never attempted this so I do not know if it's possible.

 

Thanks Hudini, I think I chose QUICKLY and INEXPENSIVELY when I checked the CVs the first time around. In other words, I yanked on both front CVs aggressively in all directions to try to detect play. I did not realize that there was a carrier bearing there but I also did not feel any significant shaft wobble.

What is a good way to Correctly check the bearing when I have some time?

For everyone else, I am fairly sure the part that I am jiggling in the video is part 10 in the diagram:

Propeller shaft with mounting AWD. Fits: Volvo | VolvoPartsWebstore.com

 

I'm thinking to check the bearing you would spin it. I'm not sure whether you can gain enough space to check this by removing the bearing cap. I do know you can change the whole axle in 30 minutes. Another rough test would be to check the bearing for excessive heat after driving. Bearings on their way out will be very hot.

 

Sounds like a wheel bearing. Pretty common on that car. I've done dozens and can't remember having any that I felt anything wrong with by just spinning the wheel with the car in the air.

I'd bet money it isn't a front axle or the prop shaft CV joint though.

 

I just did the right front wheel bearing on my 2000 V40 and it felt totally fine on the car. Not a hint of play and very quiet when turned by hand. Once it was off the car it made a slight sound when turned but had no notchiness or slop at all. Weird.

To the OP, does the noise get louder when you turn left? Right? If the noise gets louder when you turn left it's the right front wheel bearing and vice versa.

Changing the bearing itself is not a job for a shadetree mechanic as the parts are pressed together. You need a shop press and a Volvo fixture to change the bearing. So buy a used hub assembly with a complete ABS sensor - i.e sensor harness intact - or take your hub assembly to a shop.

 

I second that, wheel bearing would be my guess. Not always apparent when you shake the wheel (so I'm told). Bad CV joint also makes a sound when turning full left or right (again, so I'm told). As per previous posting, don't get yourself into a bearing only replacement job. As another posting advised, just go to the junkyard and buy an entire spindle assy (including bearing and ABS cable) and slap it all on in 1hr. Not an issue. You will need to take the axle out from spindle though.

 

Hi, thanks all, and for those of you who recently had to replace hubs, it helps that you can identify the noise - looks like I can't write-off hub failure yet.

It sounds like our cars have stealthy bearing failure... When driving back from the long weekend a few days ago, I made effort to notice how noise changed when turning (say 30 degrees on the steering wheel) at highway speeds on long banking turns and I really could not notice it being noisier in one direction or the other.

I will use the heat test to try to figure out if it is one or the other wheel and check heat on the carrier bearing as well.

 

Could be both front bearings, in which case turning the wheel may not make it any better. I just drive them on a lift and listen with a stethoscope, but obviously most people don't have that option.

 

You need to load the wheel bearing more than you will on a "long banking turn." When it's safe to do so and with no traffic around, make fairly sharp short turns left and right at 30+ mph.

Having said that, it took several months of increasing noise before this test gave me a fairly obvious answer. Like you I wasn't convinced the noise was a wheel bearing and was thinking differential bearing or passenger side drive axle carrier bearing.

 

The one thing about a bad bearing is it will steadily get louder. I've never had one fail all at once either. All just got louder and louder (and hotter) until you can't ignore it anymore. A digital thermometer will allow you to read temps without sacrificing your hands.

 

I had a bearing go out and had my so inlaw replace it, and it wore out within a month, that's when I learned about torque wrenches.

 

I have read through most of the noise related posts I could find on this forum but don't see anything that sounds like my noise!

I have a 2005 XC90 with the V8. It turned 67,000 miles today. Over there last few weeks, I have noticed a whirring noise that sounds a lot like new tires on very smooth concrete. Kind of like a piece of heavy vinyl rubbing on spinning metal. It is related to road speed but not to road texture. Going from smooth concrete to rough asphalt makes no difference. It becomes evident about 25 MPH and kind of disappears when wind noise gets louder above 60.

Today, I put the car on my hoist and checked each hub looking for a bad wheel bearing. No luck. I did notice that as I spun each wheel, which in turn spun the CV shafts and the driveline, I could hear the sound coming from the front end of the drive shaft area. I started the car, slipped it in gear and gave it a little gas. The noise became quite loud in my quiet shop!

What is happening? Bearing? Transmission? CV boot?

Thanks,

Steve

 

Steve does it sound like this? around 3 minutes in. Our cars don't have the same exact anatomy but I feel the principal is the same and the u-joint failure will exhibit similar symptoms.

- .

Obviously I am still figuring out what the issue is with my car but for a while I really thought it was the driveshaft CV. Take a look at the image from my original post.

From your description and the diagnosis you did on the lift, your case seems to be this part.

http://www.partstrain.com/store/deta...nk&CID=2470763

The driveshaft is connected by six bolts at the front to the transmission and 6 bolts to the rear to the diff and is carried by a carrier bearing in the center. The front U joint/cv is serviceable and replaceable while failure of the rear CV will require replacement of the driveshaft which is quite a bit more expensive.

Volvo has a diagram here, the partstrain link is for part 10 in the diagram below. The volvo retailer also has an OEM version of that part for sale:

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?for...tsWebstore.com

Note that if you are replacing this part that the prop/driveshaft is balanced so make sure to mark the shaft upon removal to make sure it is assembled back in the same position.

Take a look at my video here of my driveshaft. I think I am talking about the same part you are talking about, does the front of my drive-shaft have similar play to yours? (Mine is quite clicky upon light finger contact).


View My Video

Can you do an in-car recording of the road noise you are experiencing? The way I did it was to use the sound recorder on my phone. I then transferred the sound clip to my computer, and then uploaded the clip to Tinypic.com.

 

For the rest of you guys, Migbro, Hudini, Et al, thank you for your help. I had a chance to drive the car a bit more over the weekend and had a chance to load the wheels a bit more. The temperature test didn't get me far - Felt pretty much the same on both wheels both on the wheel and on the center of the caliper after a long drive - NY to Philly. May need a digi-thermometer after all since hands are not precise.

Heavily loaded front wheels. On near-envelope tire-squealing, fast, sustained left turns, the sound characteristic changed. By "changed" I don't mean lighter, just a slightly different sound quality as if loading the right wheel adjusted pressure applied to the hub bearing... No change on fast, sustained right turns, no difference. In other words, pressure on the right wheel changed the sound quality (not quieter but different). loading the left side seemed not to quiet sound. To me, I feel like potentially it is the right front hub. Anyone interpret different?

Since I am buying parts online and also limited to working on the car in Boston in my family's garage and I am in NYC, I will order the front two hubs and the driveshaft CV and first drop the driveshaft to drive the car as FWD. (Hopefully Oldman or someone else can confirm what "normal" play in the front prop-shaft bearing/joint should be)

If the sound is gone, I'll replace the driveshaft cv and mail back the hubs. If not, I'll do fast turns again to check the hub loading and replace likely the right side.

Oldman, if you get to work on the car sooner than I do, please let me know if the driveshaft / propshaft CV did it for you... if you can record your sound I will very much appreciate it.

 

Sounds like right front wheel bearing. Take it easy on the "tire-squealing" road tests, btw.

 

Hmmm... Forgot this is not swedespeed.

Oldman, very curious if your drive shaft sounds like mine.

 

Well, I put the XC90 on the rack again today but, torture it as I may, it would not tell me what I wanted to know. I did find the source of the noise I heard when I turned any wheel. It was coming from the inbound end of, what must be called, the right-hand prop shaft. A bit of lubricant stopped the "new tires on smooth pavement whine". That sound out of the way, I headed for the open road hoping for a miracle. Instead, when I reached 30 mph, a similar, but heavier, sound was back. I suspect it is the left rear wheel bearing. One the rack, with no weight on the wheel, I can't hear or feel any roughness.

Should I just keep driving it until it gets noisy enough to pinpoint? We are taking a 1000 mile trip next week. I gather that failure is a gradual event with these. Is that right? I don't want to break down by the side of the road in 100+ temps.

Thanks!

 

Hmm... Try loading the wheels on turns like mig suggests maybe in a large parking lot if you have access one. As a data point I've driven my vehicle about 1000 miles since mine started making noise. it is noisier now but not enough fir me tell which wheel. My noise gets louder as I brake suggesting it is my front bearings. Perhaps your nose gets quieter? Try buying a digital contact thermometer or ir thermometer like hudini says. The friction will make the failed bearing wheel warmer than the opposite wheel at the same end of the car.

 

All, anyone know proper torque specs on the axle nuts? The strut bolts? Wheel nuts?