Hi,
I have 2004 S60 at about 110k miles. This car has recently been driven by a friend from Texas to New York. Then, I realized a noise from under hood when at low speed. The sound is pretty sharp like some rotating part not moving smoothly. Also, the sound didn't always show up. So far, we only heard it at low speed, particularly when I started it and moved out of parking lot or tried to park. Here are some circumstances that the sound would likely show: 1) drove straight backward at low speed; 2) drove forward with turning left or right; 3) the shift is on "R" or "D" position but I hold brake; 4) the shift is on "R" or "D" position but the car is hold by some obstacles like a big stone. Again, the sound appeared only at low speed and disappeared once the speed is higher than ~5. Also, even in the circumstances listed above, the sound only appeared at ~50% of chance.
I know it will be helpful to record the sound, and will get a video as soon as possible. However, I wonder if anyone could give me some suggestions about what going on under the hood.
Thanks in advance.

 

Treeson
That is a good explination of what is going on with my s60 as of lately. I've been on vacation and haven't had time to look myself. I feel that it's one of the bearings by the fan belt that is going bad. My noise will go away once the car has been driven a while or heated up. The noise will start up again once it's cold and driving at low rpm

 

Maybe your serpentine belt or even the timing belt rubbing.
Might be the water pump bearing or impellor touching somewhere if it is a metallic type noise?
Check the TB especially asap as you dont want that to break suddenly.

 

It may be the tensioner wheel...It will sometimes go away but when it gets a little wet outside the sound would come back even the cold will effect it.Most of the time the sound will go away when you go higher speeds but when it gets worse you will start to hear it even then.

 

Hi All,
Thank you all for your input. After several weeks of observation, I think the problem is much clearer. The sound only came out when I steered to the end (either direction), no matter it is on P, D, or R shift.
I have done some research. The sounds seems to be normal, and it is definitely a bad practice to steer to the every end. The fact is I didn't hear this sound, or at least I didn't notice before. That might also because that I used to live in Texas, and I rarely need to steer to end to park on the road as in NYC.
I checked steer fluid, and it is within the normal level. Does my car need any fix regarding this problem?
Thanks

 

Most cars with belt driven power steering make that sound when steering is at full lock limit , left or right.
If the belt is worn or loose some will squeal quite loadly. Large vehicles tend to be worse than small / medium sized cars.