Okay so this is a 2002 S60 AWD with 80,000 miles. The car has had all major tune ups and recommended maintenance( belts, plugs, trans fluid drain and fill, etc...) and has never had any problem driving.

The first time was two weeks ago, 6:00 am in a freezing rain storm, the car was covered in ice but I let it warm up and defrost before driving, as I was heading down the road I started to notice a very high pitch whine coming from under the gear selector. The noise was pretty loud at times but there was nothing different with the car, no lights came on, no loss of power or anything weird with the transmission. It sounded like there was a stick or rock or something jammed between the exhaust pipe and the driveshaft or something like that.

Then last night it did it again on the way home from a friends, again it was very cold outside and the noise just came out of nowhere. But it was more faint this time and didn't last as long.


I had installed an EST Catback a while ago and am thinking that maybe the resonator is hitting the drive shaft somehow or maybe debris or something is stuck between the exhaust and driveshaft. I had heard stories of people having issues with the stock resonator rubbing the driveshaft when it rains and was wondering if it was something similar.

I am open to any and all ideas about this, I'm going to put the car on jackstands and checkout the exhaust and see if I can find anything that looks out of the norm. Any ideas? Thanks for reading.

 

If I remember correctly there was a tech note refering to something happening and making a noise like that in the rain. But I forget what the fix is maybe someone will remember and post it.

 

Wehave a 2006 S60 AWD with 36k. It's our first Volvo after years of owning Hondas, Toyotas & Nissans. So far,we absolutely love it, and we planto buy an XC70 when our Pathfinder eventually dies.

Your story reminded me of something I experienced a few weeks ago. I was driving homeafter playing my regularChristmas Evechurch gigin freezing rain/sleet.The road conditions were terrible, but fortunately, there were very few carsout. The church where I play isabout a 45-minute drive from my home in good weather. About10 minutes into thedriveIbegan to heara high-pitchednoise. In 35 years of driving all kinds of vehicles, I have never heard a noise quite like it. I would compareit to the soundyou'd hearif you wet your finger and ran it around the rim of a wine glass. I suspected there might have been something stuck inthe brakes,although thatusually that makes more of a grinding sound. Because the roads were so slippery, I was afraid to jam the brakeson to see if I could free up something that might have gotten stuck in them.After 25 minutes or so, thesoundbegan to become moreintermittent,and itdisappeared completely after about 35 minutes.

The next day was Christmas. I took the car out and drove it for 15 minutes or so,and the noise did not reoccur.

Theday after ChristmasDay I calledmy local Volvodealer to describe what had happened. The guy I spoke with said, "Oh, we've already had a woman bring her car in earlier this morning for that exact problem." Apparently theytook a look ather front brakes and discovered a piece of ice stuck in there, presumably between the pads and the rotor.

Ice....glass....it makes perfect sensewhen you think about it.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's what was happening with your S60.

 

Actually a very common issue. If your dealer doesnt know about it, I say go to another.

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Hi, MGI - I had the same issue on my 02 S60 AWD. It really freaked me out, and I ended up buying new tires to replace the unevenly-worn tires that the car came with when I bought it. Of course, then I found out about this TNN (tech net note). I have the factory bulletin that addresses the issue, and I just today bought the kit that will fix it. It is Volvo part # 30742265 - it replaces 2 related exhaust hangers near the area affected, and rubber hangers that go with them. Here's the text of the problem:

DESCRIPTION: Under certain conditions when driving through puddles of water, slush and or snow, the underside of exhaust system may cool down fast enough causing the exhaust to change shape and touch the propeller shaft, causing a very high pitched squealing noise. This noise will be noticed by the driver for only a short time, once the exhaust temperature equalizes the noise will disappear. If the customer should have this complaint a tell tale mark will be left on the propeller shaft.[/align]"[/align][/align]

 

I have a 2002 S60 AWD, had the same thing happen in the rain. It was the drive shaft rubbing on the exhaust, the exhaust hanger was the fix.

Kent