I have a 2003 Volvo S60 2.5 turbo AWD 135000 miles. After looking around on the site I thought my problem was definitely a bad CV axel. I replaced both of the front axels and thought it fixed the problem. After a few days the shake came back (probably never left). The shake feels pretty violent and seem to be coming from the whole front end. It only presents itself on level ground between 35-45mph very light pressure on the throttle. If I let off, the shake goes away, if I give it more gas, it goes away. It may be my imagination but it seems to line up with small bumps or dips in the road. It's a recent purchase so I'm not exactly sure how long it's been going on. I'm worried it might be a drive line issue. Does anyone have any ideas of what it could be???

Recent done: timing belt/ water pump, tune up, synthetic oil change, front struts, new tires mounted and balanced, and the front 2 CV axels.

 

Take a peek at your transmission mount, also check out your engine mounts...We had a shake on our 01 s60 and when we pulled the tranny mount that sucker almost fell apart.

 

I'll take a look, am I just looking for cracked rubber/ no rubber? The mount and brace that goes across the top moves a half inch in each direction. My uncle has one that does moves the same exact way, is that a normal movement?

 

The easiest way I have found to tell if your engine is jumping around is to have someone look at the engine while you put the car into drive holding the brake firmly and see if the engine moves much, a little is ok and perfectly normal. You don't need to give it a lot of throttle, but hit the gas a few times and see if the engine sits still. If it moves much you will see it. I am also brave enough and confident enough to get under the car to look at the lower mounts when I have my son or wife do this for me so that I can get a good visual of whats going on. But I know that they won't do something stupid and run me over.

I was looking for an RSPI video on this topic but have only found this one ....hope it helps you under stand the mounts anyway.
Here is a video I found that will show you your mount locations

 

Thank you, I'll give it a glance and a shake down.

 

I took a look, the top mount moves quotes bit, I think it's called a torsion mount. But everything else seems solid. It's special order part from every parts store, a few days out everywhere. I haven't ordered anything yet because I wanted to see if that one top mount could be causing that vibration.....??

Also found a brand new noise. I have a chirp in reverse from what I think is a carrier bearing for the driveline. Related to the shake?

 

Most likely its not the top mount. BTW sorry I did not reply sooner I just got the email notification this morning.

Go grab that drive line by hand and shake the heck out of it , if there is play anywhere, that can cause vibration. You seem pretty mechanical and I am thinking your on the right track here. I Like to also instead of just shaking , hammer on it with the palm of my hand. Listen for the banging or clunking ...a good bearing should be nice and tight. I am going to lean to the drive line here because I trust that you have ruled out bad mounts.

 

Both suggestions above are definitely on point. The Engine Mount or whatever you want to call it connected to the stabilizer bar usually does need replacing once you get up into the 100k+ mile range. I have not needed to replace the transmission mount on my s60 with 174k but I have heard that those often need replacing as well.

The only other thing I could think of that it possibly could be. Is the sub frame bushings. IPD USA looks like they have a decent polyurethane kit for extending the sub-frame suspension. Haven't done it yet on my car. Next time I go to buy my spark plugs I will probably order that kit. Trying to get a long life out of this ride.