Hello,

1999 S80, 17k miles

I recently had my front suspension replaced (struts, plates, the sway bar underneath the car, everything except springs).

Now, there is a hissing noise and steering squeals almost everytime I make turns.

Hissing
This is coming from the front left dead pedal area of the car. If I put a piece of insulation there, it goes away. Is there an OEM piece of insulation I'm missing? Maybe my mechanic misplaced it?

I visuallyinspected all the vacuum hoses in the car and they appear to be in good shape (no cracks, bulges, etc). Mechanic has no clue what is causing it. Can someone pls help find the problem?

Steering
When I make turns (left or right), I hear squealing/moaning/groaning noise. I noticed my steering fluid is low, but I'm sure it was low before the suspension replacement. When my mechnic sprayed suspension lube, the squealing went away, but not it's back.

Other issues/info
I still hear clicking from the suspension, especially when going over bumps.
My ATF level is way above the high mark, when cold or hot.
I paid $1300 for the work - all OEM. I even had mechanic keep the old parts, so I can reasonably assume he used new parts.
I garage my car in a heated space.


This is frustrating as hell. Seems Ihad less problems before throwing away $1300 to fix it. I've spent every free moment the past few months trying to solve this problem. This forum seems to be one of the most authoritative. Thanks for your help.

 

Is the bearing in place where the steering shaft goes through the floor?

The subframe might need the O-rings between the subframe and the body.

 

Hi Tech, thanks for your response.

Do you mean the metal cylinder aboverubber housing that connects onto the steering shaft (pls see left side of attached pic- not actual pic of my car)?There don't appear to be leaksor other visual defects. It sounds like the noise is coming from outside of the car.

To install the O-rings would be pretty labor intensive? I remember the mechanic told me he had to drop the subframe - maybe he missed installing a part?

Any thoughts on the hissing?

Thanks

PS Do you know what the OEM power steering fluid is? I bought Pentosin CHF202, but it is green while my car has an amber colored fluid.

 

See that metal collar sticking up some out of the big rubber boot all the way to the left of the pic?

If that metal sleeve is out of the rubber there will be alot of engine and road noise that will travel inside if that isn't seated properly.
The sleeve should be flush with the rubber boot.

The o-rings can be installed really easy. With the car on a lift and a jack to support the motor some remove the rear subframe bolts and drop subframe down and install o-rings and reinstall everything.
I would say about 1 hour labor.

The OEM power steering fluid is supposed to be the green stuff.
There is a few company's that make good stuff that works fine(Green stuff).
The company that makes the radiator stop leak also makes power steering fluid that is good.

 

Tech,

The metal collar/bearing seems out of place. I can move it up and down the steering column. From your description, the metal collar should be inset into the rubber (in other words, the rubber boot should surround the metal collar completely and immobilize it from moving up and down the column)?

I will def buy some silicone spray and use a screwdriver to try to stuff the metal collar into the rubber boot.

Wow, I can't believe you were able to diagnose such a weird problem from a bad picture and a vague description when the mechanic spent hours to no avail! Thanks a bunch.

As for the sqealing steering wheel, a short term fix is to spray lube (what kind of lube should I buy for this??) Do you think there is a problem with the way mechanic installed my suspension pieces? Do you know if there is a longer term fix?

 

Yes on the collar needs to be surrounded by the rubber.

That might also fix the squeeling noise from the steering. You can also use the silicon to spray all the moving parts inside and see if the noise goes away. But I would fix the collar first and see if the noise goes away.

The front end parts pretty much only go one way.m It owuld be really hard to mess something up.

 

Here is a link to the O-ring bulletin
http://home.comcast.net/%7Eohmfab//f..._Noise_TSB.pdf

 

Hi Tech, thanks for your diagnosis.

The metal collar is incredibly hard to stuff back into the rubber boot. I spent an hour yesterday.

Is there an easier way to do this? Would it be possible to partially dis-assemble the steering linkage - would this make it easier?

I'm going to my mechanic this weekend, I would ask him to do it, but I'm not sure he could do much better - plus he charges $100/hour for labor.

About the silicone spray, is there something you can recommend? I was looking at 303products.

thanks again

 

Any silicon spray will work brand doesn't matter. Yes it is a pain but it will go in alot easier with the silicon sprayed there first.

 

Is WD40 ok? Website said it is safe for rubber.

 

That should work fine. I just prefer the silicon because it evaperates easy. But the WD will be fine.

 

Hey Tech, is it possible to access the rubber boot from the bottom of the car? Might be easier to insert metal collar that way. Thanks

 

Sorry but easier from the top.

 

Hey Tech,

After trying to stuff it back in myself for hours, I took it back to the shop to get the metal collar back in.

Now, there is an error message "srs airbag service urgent". Could this happen if they took down the kickboard under the steering wheel? Do you think they damaged something?

They are telling me to take to dealer, but dealer charges $50 just for an estimate.

This is really starting to aggravate me.

Thanks again!

 

Maybe they did something wrong the only real way to find out is to have the codes pulled and see what they say.

 

Thanks Tech, you've been 100 times more helpful than my mechanic, who incidentally charges $100/hour for labor. Is there an easy way to find if there is an independent garage that specialized in Volvo? If this keeps up, I might have to drive to Florida just to see you.

I found the procedures below. I'll give it a shot before going to the dealer and throwing my money out the window.
http://www.gendan.co.uk/article_6.html
Volvo 1999-2000 - S80 Models

[size=2 hasbox="2"]Turn ignition switch to position 1
[/size]
[size=-1 hasbox="2"]Press and hold "day counter reset button"
[/size]
[size=-1 hasbox="2"]Turn ignition switch to position 2
[/size]
[size=-1 hasbox="2"]Continue holding day counter for approx. 10 seconds
[/size]
[size=-1 hasbox="2"]After SRL flashes, release day counter button
[/size]
[size=-1 hasbox="2"]Should hear "beep-beep" to confirm command accepted[/size] [/ul]

 

Ok so after reading through much of the forum, I think I know what happened (And hopefully mech didnt break anything).

I think they had to remove the lower dash on the driver's side to get at the steering column. Now it appears from another posting (https://volvoforums.com/m_68644/tm.htm) that removing this panel w/o disconnecting battery causes the SRS code.

Can you please confirm if this could happen? I will be checking the panel to make sure mech didnt smash anything up.

thanks

 

The way you listed above is to only reset the service light.

That will not cause the light to come on.

Check in the phone book or online for a Volvo repair shop and see what comes up. Then give a quick call and see if they can reset the SRS light.