Clunking when not accelerating or braking
 

Hi guys I have a 05 Volvo v70r. On occasion I will sometimes hear a clunking sound from what sounds like the front left wheel. When it does it if I accelerate or brake it stops. Only seems to happen at lower speeds. Everything seems to visually appear okay so any suggestions?

what happens when you drive over a speed bump or a rail road crossing (ie something that moves both front wheels together)? My guess is you either have a worn strut bushing, a broken spring seat or coil spring (look to make sure the ends of the coil are intact (like the last 3 inches), possibly worn sway bar bushings or a bad sway bar end link. How many miles on the car? I take it you have the 4C struts?

yes sometimes when I go over bumped it will make a clunk noise. It has the active suspension it also has upgraded sway bar ends links.

that moves the spring seats up on the usual suspects list! here's my pic of fixing the spring seat on our old 850T... see the rubber seat with the bushing torn out? common problem for 850s and early V70s but at some point Volvo upgraded the seat - just not sure what year.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/volvofo...fbbaf23994.png
OK find the broken spring seat in the pic...

I’m assuming it’s the one with the center out of it. How difficult was it for you to replace it? And any special tools?

Just to add another suspect to the list, look at the lower control arm. If there's a worn out bushing, it can cause some rattle / knocking while in steady state driving, and "shut up" when the bushing is stressed from acceleration / deceleration. Usually you will begin to notice a sharp(ish) "thump through the steering wheel when you stab the brakes quickly (not a panic stop, but sudden application of normal braking forces).

The upper torque mount can do the same thing for the same reason, though of course, there's no "braking test". Usually you can spot excessive engine rotation when shifting from R-N-D and back.

to the question of doing your own struts - The 850s and early S70/V70s are pretty easy. My 2000 S40 was easy to get the struts out but as it turns out, they use a very tall, loosely wound coil that require a longer spring compressor than the standard "death sticks" I use. Newer cars differ where the bottom of the strut meets the knuckle. On the older cars, there are two bolts holding the strut to the knuckle (easy) on newer models the strut bottom presses into the knuckle. Pretty sure the 01 to 07 V70s have the two bolt style. Just make sure to lift both sides so as to not put any stress on the sway bar (or you end link won't want to pop off) and take care to not mess up the ABS sensor lead. I'm also betting the V70 springs are similar to the 850s and will work with standard spring compressors. They do take some force - which is where air tools or an electric impact wrench really helps. Not sure of all the socket sizes but I know Volvo loves those even sizes like 14, 16, 18, 22 mm (where your small Craftsman kit will sell you 13,15,17 mm LOL) On the 850 struts, Volvo used a wing nut (aka the strut insert spacer" to hold the spring mount to the bushing - I made my own tool for that but the S40 didn't need it. It looks like the V70s still use this design so you can probably do something similar or buy a tool only for under $20. The only odd thing about the S40 is that I needed to align the spring seat to the perch (the bottom plate on the strut) - there's a hole in the perch and another in the mount that get aligned with small offset (like 20 degrees for "sport mode") so best to google around to see if there's a similar spec for the 06 V70s. Otherwise the spring ends will find the seat/perch slot and set that up for you.

On the single-bolt knuckles, the easy way to get the strut out (knuckle spread) is to remove the bolt, flip it around and insert it from the other side (threaded side) and put a flat piece of metal in the slot. Then, when the bolt reaches the slot, it'll push the metal, spreading the knuckle slot easily. I use a big old washer or even a coin.