So I drove my wife's '03 S60 this morning and noticed it shaking when accelerating.
I've seen this before at higher speeds like 80 km/h + but I just thought that it was the winter tires in need of balancing, as I don't drive it often and at city limit speeds usually just around the block. I just changed back to summer wheels and drove it out of town this morning, the vibration is still there and very pronounced.
The car is not shaking at idle and it does not shake coasting at a constant speed, but as soon as you step on the gas peddle to accelerate it shakes the whole car chassis and it seems slow in acceleration. I noticed that it is doing this now at 30 km/h +.
The car has 92k miles on the odometer, original timing belt, not sure about spark plugs.
Any one experienced this?

 

I'm not saying this is your problem, but I can share a similar experience with my Mercedes. A couple years ago, I noticed some shaking of the vehicle when I accelerated on smooth road.......felt like I was driving over those road bumps used to alert drivers at highway intersections. I immediately took the car to my MB Dealer (under warranty) and they found coolant in the transmission fluid. There's an inherent flaw in my year's vehicle in the integrated radiator that cools both the engine and transmission.....a connector on the radiator for the trans fluid breaks causing coolant to enter the transmission. Warranty paid for new upgraded radiator, new trans torque converted and flushing of both systems. Anyway, when coolant contaminates the transmission, you certainly can get a shaking condition and would get worse, of course, if not fixed.

 

Also check the inner joint on the axles for play. Grab the inner joint at the tranny with one hand and the center section with the other hand. Then move your hands like you are giving an indian burn. If there is any slop at all the inner joint is bad.

 

Experiencing the same when accelerating from 55 to 60 MPH and very subtle at higher speeds (80 mph +). I got my tires road force balanced
and the condition improved. There is only very subtle vibration at 55 MPH
when accelerating and if you just breeze thru that speed, you would not even notice it. Cruising at 80-100 mPh is much smoother now. The car definitely drives better now.

Not sure now if there is still a mechanical issue or it is just tires/wheels. I do not have another set for winter so cannot really 100% conclude that it is just due to unbalanced tires.

 

CHanged my lower torque rod (trans / engine mount) and it improved the driving remarkably. No more vibration at 55mph 2500rpm.

The smaller of the 2 bushings was shot. This might explain why there is vibration when accellerating under load.

Shoul dbe easy to check and replace if necessary. Just a thought.

 

Can a cracked distributor cap cause the same symptom?
My station wagon started doing this and I opened the hood and found that the black cover onthe distributor is missing and the top edge of the distributor cap is cracked as if someone hit it with a big screwdriver or something...
please suggest.

 

It will cause a misfire.

 

Apreciate the help (I could use all I can get!) I will have to investigate this on my car.
Per tech's suggestion I tried the axle twisting and don't find much if any play in the shaft joint, however the outer CV boots are both torn and some grease has come out. I took the car to two different garages and can not get it diagnosed properly. Just guesses it could be the drive shafts or mounts. I will have to take to a garage that specializes in Volvos tomorrow, car is becoming un-drivable!

I found this on google search:
A shudder or vibration when accelerating may be caused by an excessive play in either the inboard or outboard joints, but the most likely cause is a worn inboard plunge joint.

What is a plunge joint?

 

I bet it's a bent axle. I have seen this problem on 2 Volvo's with the same condition you describe. Which axle? I dunno. Replace them both.

 

before you go ahead and start replacing expensive parts, take a look at the sparkplugs. I had the exact same issue you are describing. On highway onramps it would feel like the entire front end of the car was jumping up and down. It only got worse and finally it would stutter sometimes at redlights. Changed out sparkplugs to bosch coppers and no more problems.

EDIT: I didnt have a Check EngineLight on either and my mechanic thought that was weird.

 

O.K. tech and Johnny M. you were correct. In my case it turned out to be the right drive shaft. I first checked the left shaft for play, and found some play but very little on the inboard side only, outside had no play. After replacing it I test drove it for a short run and actually thought it was fixed but the shakes returned on the freeway the next day. Then I tore apart the right side and found little play in the joints but there also was more play in the inboard joint then there was in the outer joint. This time however after replacing the right shaft she drove smooth as silk at all speeds.
Thought I bring a closure to this case as it may help someone reading this thread.

Cheers!

 

Glad all is well now.

 

Delirious
I have read your topic and I think there is same problem with my car.

I have got vibrations after 60 ml/h. and front wheels when turning hard gives noise something like Grrrrrr.

Can you write exactly what have you changed. Please write the right term for this item as I have to translate it and tell it to my service garage to check.

Thanks a lot.

 

I'm having a similar problem with my '98 S70. I had both joints replaced within a year of each other. Not sure what kind of joint was used on the pass. side but I think there is play in it. The shop will replace the joint but they want to charge me labor for it since it's outside 30 days.

 

I had this problem. It was the CV boot on the right front tire. It was a $500 fix but it fixed it right up.

 

Our 2002 Volvo S80 was experiencing this problem (excessive front-end vibration between 55 and 65 mph). As many others have correctly indicated, there may be a number of causes. But our unit was fixed after replacing the right and left cv axles.

We had already balanced the tires, and even replaced and rotated the tires (and rebalanced those). Interestingly, this did in fact change the intensity of the vibration, but it did not eliminate it.

Our mechanic said it could be the rims and we were considering that when we checked out this forum and learned that A). this was a problem that other Volvo owners had experienced and B). this was probably something beyond a simple wheel balancing / alignment issue.

After sharing this forum data with a new mechanic, we decided to replace both of the front cv axles. Total cost including labor was $600. And the best news is that it fixed the problem! Yay, the old 2002 feels like a new car (and with only 126,000 miles! ) again!

Hope this information helps you.

 

We have a 2004 CX 90 with 95k miles. Experiencing the same shaking when power is applied and also loss of power. Starts at 20 mph and steadily gets worse. Have replaced all tires, motor mounts. Seems to have gotten beetter but not totally gone. The shaking actually became violent after all tires were replaced

Volvo mechanic wants to replace both front cv axles. Sounds like this is where everyone else is pointing us to. Curious about a couple things -

1) the spark plugs - was that a real solution?
2) can you rebuild the axles or do we have to buy new?

 

No rebuild on the axles the cups holding the inner joints wear to much. They would have to be welded and then recut.

 

Glad this thread is helping others. Just want you to know that I just replaced a broken upper engine mount. Wonder if it has something to do with the vibrations from the bad right axle I had replaced. Anyways my advice to others with the vibration problem would be not to delay this repair and check for cracked mounts as well.
Cheers

 

I will keep you posted guys, I have the same issue on my XC70, the local Volvo guy is at a loss, will have to take it to the stealership in the city.

I already replaced bushings, no improvement, but it was needed anyways.
Bent axle seems odd, I had that on my F250, but it had 560 Hp and was taken off road often, on a city car, I am not betting any money on that.

The Transmission fluid contamination makes more sense, I was thinking torque converter, and that would make sense.

Also when coming to a rolling stop at a yield, the tranny does not engage 1st gear right away, there is a clunk, this would seem a fluid issue to me as well.