I had previously posted about an issue I was having with my 01 V70 making a vibration and rattling noise from the front end. I thought I had it figured out that it was the flex in the downpipe. After replacing that the noise when away but had a very small vibration at 2-2,200 rpm's which didn't really bother me. Well after a few days the noise and vibration came back. I did find that both my axles that I had replaced 2 years ago had gone bad so I replaced both of them which did make things better. Now it only makes the rattling noise and vibration which is only felt in the gas pedal at 2,200 rpm's and at speeds below 40mph.

The only thing I haven't replaced are the 2 hydraulic mounts because I didn't see any grease coming out of them and the front wheel bearings. I've checked the heat shields and the only one I could find that could be making the noise was the oil cooler which the clip was broke on it so I took the whole thing out to see if that was it but it wasn't :-(.

 

is there a vibration when accel. or slowing down ?have u tried rotating tires ?

 

It does happen when accelerating and decelerating but it has to be at 2,200 rpm's and under 40mph. I haven't rotated the tires yet.

A friend of mine suggested that it might be a bad wheel bearing, but if it was that wouldn't I feel the vibration in the steering wheel and not the gas pedal?

 

you may want to check your ball joints or control arm bushings,inner and outer tie rods for excessive play, where are you getting your axle froms?also the motor mounts leak fluid not grease so check the rear engine mount for stains around it

 

The control arm bushings still look like new from when I replaced them a little over a year ago. I did check the ball joints and they looked fine. I did notice that the boot on the endlinks were totally ripped apart. Last I looked at the motor mounts I did not see any stains on or around them. They both looked pretty clean and no cracks or anything on the rubber.

I purchased my axles from a local euro car parts store and they are made by DSS. The store swapped them out at no charge.

 

Well after racking my brain and replacing all the obvious parts that were broken I gave up and took it to my local independent volvo shop. After they looked thru it for almost 2 hrs they could not figure out the cause of the noise and vibration and didn't charge me because they were totally stumped. They recomended I take it to the stealership to see if they could come up with anything. Well the stealership was stumped also and luckally didn't charge me.

After having it looked thru by the stealership I went back to the independent volvo shop and talked some more with the tech there. The only thing we think it could be is that the catalytic converter is going bad and only causes the noise and vibration with the car on the ground and driven because the noise and vibration does get quieter after the car has been running for a while. Also about 9 months ago it thru a code indicating the cat was going bad.

I am now on the search for a catalytic converter. Does anyone have any recomendations on where I can get a good one from?