Strange clock-like ticking, passenger door S80
 

Hi-

I'm a new user and first time Volvo owner. Last month I bought a '99 S80 for my daughter and have slowly been sorting out the seemingly endless issues these cars appear to have (although, also owning two old British cars means this is nothing new to me!). My current targets are noises, primarily the sunroof, suspension, and the subject of this thread.

When sitting in the front passenger seat, there is a ticking sound that appears to come from the general area of the door hinges. It could actually be coming from anywhere between the right of the glovebox to the front 1/3rd of the door. It occurs when driving between 5 and 20 mph, regardless of pavement conditions. The sound is closest to the ticking of a cheap battery powered wall clock (not a clean tick, but one where you can also hear the backlash of the second hand/gearing) The ticks range from about a second apart to about 8 seconds, and occationally do not occur at all. Lowering the window doesn't make the sound any louder, so I don't think it's a suspension noise that is being transmitted through the frame/body. The swaybar links still need to be replaced, but I would think that road conditions would affect the noise if they were the issue.

Sorry to be long-winded; any ideas?