hello! I have a 2002 volvo s40 and have been getting a vibration when accelerating. Sometimes its worse then other times but It is always there and very noticeable over 40 mph. I replaced the drive side axle but vibration still there. Should I replace other side? Did anyone else have this same issue and if so, what worked to fix it? Help is very much appreciated.

 

sure sounds like an axle problem. If you put it in neutral does the vibration go away? If it does try bringing the rpms up while costing in neutral. If it still doesn't vibrate I would change the other axle.

 

Yep, same thing here. I too began to experience vibrations in my '01 S40 on Monday while accelerating. Espeically at high speeds (50mph +) and going uphill on the freeway. the harder I step on the gas, the worse it gets. there is no vibration at all when coasting/going downhill on the freeway at high speeds, nor at lower speeds (less than 50mph), therefore I am ruling out out of balance tires/wheels, rotors or bearings. Note, car has 129,500 miles on it. On other boards, sounds like 130K miles, the CV joints start crapping out.

After reading several threads on this an other boards, sounds like a CV joint going bad, which apparnetly is corrected by replacing the "half shaft" or axle.

After jacking up the front of the car last night to take a visual, the pax side gave me cause for concern. While the boots (both L & R) were all in good shape (nothing torn, damaged or worn) when I turned the wheels in thier free state, both axles made a clicking noise; no idea if this is normal or not. When I phyisically grabbed the axle and shook it, the pax side made a clicking noise coming from the outboard cv joint, while the drivers side made no sound, but it did move 1/8" or so back or forth using medium force.

This weekend I intend to change both the half shafts or axles, at about 70 bucks a pop after all is said and done. Apparently, there is no special tooling required. (I am an old aircraft mechanic and have plenty tools my tools are worth twice as much as my volvo) (Also, I even changed out my own timing belt) From what I read on other boards, it is a fairly simple job for a mechanically adept person with plenty of tools.

Also, it looks like the seal is leaking between the pax side axle and where it engages in the transmission. Hopefully it will be a fairly simple R&R.

 

As a followup,changing the axles for my car did the trick for taking the vibration away! Car back to normal at 165,000 miles.

 

check all the motor mounts hydraulic fluid will seep out behind the battery on that one

 

Congrats. And thank you for reporting back your success. So many times we don't hear back and the next person doesn't know if that advice helped or not.

 

As stated before, there is very little report back, thank you! My '02 just started the vibration when accelerating. I did a high speed pass in the freeway, felt the vibration begin and it never went away. Most noticeable at 40mph and above. It thought is was my final motor mount breaking. (This year's holiday project.)

 

Let us know how it goes. I've replaced all 4 motor mounts in the last 2 years for a vibration at idle. Glad to know what to look for when it happens at speed.

 

Hi there. Saw your post from a few years ago. I have a 04 S40. Very stron vibration on accelerating at 40+mph. New set of tires on the car already. Did you manage to get your similar vibration figured out? I'm suspecting the axles at this point but am trying to not throw parts at the problem. Thanks, Craig

 

Craig,
I just replaced the axles on my wife's car and solved the vibration issue. Both axles looked fine with no tears to suggest that the grease had been thrown out but apparently they were just done.
If the vibration is under acceleration and immediately when you drop the car in neutral and coast at the same speed the vibration goes away, you likely have the same problem as we had.

 

Interesting thread - my 2003 V40 is exhibiting the same symptoms: vibration when accelerating above 45mph. Especially noticeable when I accelerate hard. I can also get it to vibrate more if I speed up on a highway onramp.


Funny thing is, no clicking.


The issue does go away the minute I put the car in neutral. or stop accelerating. The boots look fine but I believe that the axles are the originals (150K miles on there now).


If this is in fact what the issue is, any suggestions on getting some from the junkyard vs. good sources for re-manufactured ones? New Volvo axles appear to be pretty pricey...

 

Considering some axles from ipdusa...they are AUP brand. Any experiences (good or bad) that anyone can share?

 

Most likely is the axles but To find your problem you may want to start from the outside in. First make sure your wheels are straight and true and that the balance on the tires is fine. Then check the suspension. Check tie rod ends and ball joints, get a pry bar and check the control
arm bushings as well. If all these are in good order then I'd say you have an axle problem. I buy axles from rock auto all the time. Usually less than $80 each. I have yet to have a problem with them. I've had a lot of high speed shimmey's come from control arm bushings as well. Good luck.

 

Quick update, I had tried all of the above and ended up replacing the rhs half-shaft. Took about 1.25hrs and the vibration is now gone. A pretty easy job all in all. I found a used axle for $60 at my local wrecker and hopefully it will hold out for at least a couple of years. I did not touch the lhs axle as most of the research I conducted suggested that if there was no clicking and there WAS vibrations when accelerating that it was the middle joint that had gone bad on the rhs axle. In addition I was clearly feeling like the vibration was coming from that general area. All good now. If anyone needs to do this, do yourself a favor and pick up a roofing pry-bar. It looks like a wide/flat crow bar. Robert Spinner has one in his instructional video on how to replace a Volvo cv axle. That tool was the only one that gave me the leverage with the limited working space that's available down there.