My wife's s40 jerks to the side once you hit 40mph and you have to situate the steering wheel to the left to go straight. Obviously needs an alignment but what could be broken to make it do that? No steering wheel shake at all. Just decides it wants to start being crooked at 40mph and tries to steer me to the side all of a sudden.

 

That's a VERY odd symptom. Always at 40mph, or sometimes at lower speeds (maybe if you use more accelerator)?

I wouldn't suggest driving it at all until you figure out the problem.

 

Yeah I've never had one do this. The only thing I could think of is something broken in the steering/braking of one side.

 

my car will drive but when it gets hot it will start slipping I change the throttle body and when I had the old one out I took some carburetter cleaner and I sprayed it in there and then I sprayed it on a rag and then I cleaned it out wiped it out and then I put it back on and the car runs fine problem is when I get it up to about 2000 hundred 3000 RPMs when it’s hot it slips in second gear and it will hesitate and then it will jerk all of a sudden and go back into gear

 

And yes. Always right at 40mph. Before 40 the steering wheel is relatively straight when driving, then at 40 the car cuts to the side a little like I hit a pothole and I have to keep the steering wheel slightly to the left to keep the car straight.

 

Mine seems to be something in the alignment or wheel assembly area from what I can tell. No check engine lights or misfires so I don't believe it's the engine or the trans.

 

That's really odd - if it happened (for example) at 25mph when accelerating harder, or not until 60mph if you're very gentle with acceleration, I'd say it's clearly a front end bushing gone bad.

But if it's happening at 40mph under different conditions, and not until then... I'm stumped.

 

But a front end bushing would have a similar symptom?

 

As I said, I'd expect a problem with a front end bushing to exhibit the symptoms under different conditions, instead of always at the same speed, regardless of acceleration / braking, etc.

 

Yeah I'm gonna take it into an alignment shop soon. At least we can agree it's something in the steering/ alignment category.

I'll keep you guys updated what we find out.

 

Took the Volvo to the tire shop today and they gave me the following.

I'm gonna have a buddy help me replace the parts then get the alignment done at the shop. It's the front passenger tire control arm assembly and tie rod that's causing the problem. Struts also need to be done but not terribly pressing right now.

Now for the dumb question... Is the passenger side considered to be the right of left side? Trying to buy the correct side control arm. Lol.

Below is an part invoice of what they say I need. OFF COURSE they want me to do both sides which is what the bill is showing for.

Advice

?

 

Do NOT replace only one side of anything. If one has failed, the other is close behind.

There are places to get quality parts for small money. There's no way it makes any sense to NOT do both sides, and then you only have to get it aligned once. And you'll be pleased with how much better the "feel" is.

Here's a quick look at the parts you need (I'm a big fan of Moog parts, and have used lots of 'em on a couple Volvos over the years). You should be able to buy everything you need to do the whole job for less than what the shop quoted for one control arm.

 

When I said I'm only doing one side I mean the passenger tire is about to fall apart. The driver side has no problems. I cannot afford to replace both driver and passenger sides I just need to get it to where it can be driven to the store and back. This car drives less than 100 miles a month. It's not going on any highways anytime soon.

The list you gave me had a LOOOONNG list of parts. The control arm and tie rods for the passenger side is only 2 items. What is the rest for??

The only reason the way I'm doing it makes sense to me is because I just did heavy maintenance and tune up in our not-so-daily driver (might put a tank of gas through it a month), both work from home, and we just need something that won't completely fall apart if my wife decides to run 4 miles to the grocery store.

 

This is what I'm looking at when I click your link. I see multiple of the same part though?

 

when it comes to replacement suspension parts, I'd look for OEM suppliers like Lemforder unless you plan on replacing the control arms / bushings in another 50K miles. Volvo friendly sites like FCP Euro, IPD USA (I used to shop EEuro parts but not sure about what they stock since the new owners). You can also find genuine Volvo at a discount at Tasca Parts (best dealer web store prices I've found). Check out FCP and IPD as they have good content on OEM vs aftermarket vendors.

 

Sorry - I figured everyone was familiar with rockauto's (excellent) interface.

Not to worry. There's a Moog kit that has everything you need in one easy-peasy part number. $264 plus shipping.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...sn=849&jsn=849

That's for Moog parts. I suggested those because of the cost averse nature of the OP (and have had good luck with Moog parts in the past). Yes, OEM (or better, OEM supplier without the Volvo label) are always appropriate for a car that you plan to keep for a long, long time and put a lot of miles on... doesn't sound like that's the case.

 

Yeah it's just a grocery runner. I paid 3k cash for it a couple years back and have only put a couple thousand miles on it. This is the first real work it's had to had done to it at 150k miles. I plan on doing the job well enough that the car doesn't fall apart on us. At least for now. We live in a small town and only get over 60mph maybe once or twice a year. Thanks for all you guys help though! I at least know the risks going forward.