Broken engine mount
 

Seems like I've been driving around for a while with a broken upper engine mount. I've ordered a replacement and will fit it as soon as it arrives this week, but what damage could this have done to other components? I presume more wear on the other engine mounts. I inspected those as well but they look fine. Anything else I should specifically check for?

Currently while driving there is considerable noise from about 30mph up, the pitch of which increases with velocity, could that be due to the broken engine mount? I checked the wheel bearings by jacking the front end up and spinning the wheels but they seem to rotate just fine. Didn't look for wheel movement as the Haynes manual suggests, will try that next time I have the car up. I know there is some problem with the tires so the noise could be all tire noise, I will rotate them front-back and see what happens. What else could be causing the noise?

While looking around under the engine I noticed that there is oil on the engine splash shield which is dripping down from the turbo. Tech posted somewhere else that some oil on the turbo is normal and by the looks of the mess on the angle gear it's been dripping for some time. The volvo mechanics didn't say anything about this when I got it serviced at 120K so can I assume everything's fine?

RE: Broken engine mount
 

Fixed upper engine mount, vibration is worse lol, guess replace the other engine mounts.

Noise from the drivetrain is getting worse, I guess I should take this thing into the shop next week but I'd like to have some idea of what it is before the dealer tries to empty my bank account. Between 20-40mph it sounds like something is rubbing, a sort of pulsing whua whua whua noise. No sign of uneven tire wear or rubbing from the tires, tire rotation doesn't make any difference. Driveshaft carrier bearing? I dunno. Then above 40mph the rubbing noise disappears and there is a loud whirring brrrrrr noise, actually the whirring noise is there at all speeds it just gets louder at higher speeds. I'm guessing that's the angle gear. Crap. The transmission fluid is brown so I will flush that this weekend and check the oil in the angle gear, but I doubt any of this is going to help. What fluid goes in the angle gear?

RE: Broken engine mount
 

The rest of the mounts could be bad as well espically the Front mount(R/S of the car)

I will bet one of the wheel bearings are bad causing the noise you hear.

RE: Broken engine mount
 

Okay, I will order new engine mounts. The service record indicates the upper mount was replaced at 60K but I see no record of the other mounts ever being replaced so I'll get on those.

I really hope the noise is a wheel bearing but there's no play in any of them to tell me that they're bad, the noise doesn't change when turning right or left and it appears to be coming directly from under the car as opposed to one particular side / wheel well. Is it safe to put the car up on 4 jackstands and then run the wheels up to say 20mph or should I take it into a shop and get them to look at it on their lift?

RE: Broken engine mount
 

You should be fine as long as the car seems stable to run it.
But it should also change pitch when weaving from side to side.

RE: Broken engine mount
 

I had the same issue with mine. The lower mount fixed it. Took me all of 10 minutes to change out. I bought the factory one but then found out IPD has a nicer, stronger one. I guess those lower ones break an awful lot. I thought I needed a new upper one as well but that wasn't the case.

I bet you will take the old lower front one off and it will just spin like a top, the arm piece. Let us know what happens!

RE: Broken engine mount
 

Well, today while diving to the river I was taking some turns at like 60mph and the pitch was changing, plus I was driving with the window down and could hear a squealing from the left from wheel well, so maybe it is a bearing. Anyway, I ordered all new engine mounts and two front wheel bearings. It'll fit those and see how it turns out, thanks for your advice everyone.

RE: Broken engine mount
 

Hopefully that is it if it is you will feel how rough the old bearing feels once it is out.

RE: Broken engine mount
 

Someone on the XC70 site was talking about replacing the seal between the drive shaft and the hub. VADIS suggests to replace this only if it is worn or damaged. I didn't even know there was such a part, neither FCP Groton or IPD sell them with their wheel bearings. I tracked one down here What do you think? Do these seals usually need replacing or can I just go with the old one? VADIS also recommends installing a new nut on the ball joint, I assume that's because it's a nylon self-locking nut? Again, I can't find a source for this, can I just reuse the old one or should I stop by the dealer and see if I can pick up a new one for about $20?

RE: Broken engine mount
 

I would not worry about replacing the seal and nut. I would reuse both.

RE: Broken engine mount
 

Good advice, they definitely didn't need replacing. The wheel bearing did though, man the old one feels really rough, like the bearings are all corroded or something, but there's no play or anything in the bearing, I guess that sealed-for-life thing didn't hold out too well. Anyway now the drivetrain noise is cured, thank you very much. Couldn't get the driveshaft out of the hub without taking the whole steering knuckle off but that wasn't too much extra work and it enable me to clean everthing up pretty good. I borrowed a drive-axle press from Autozone but didn't need it. As soon as the axle nut was loose I could just push that thing in by hand. Curiously the bolts on the hub were just regular bolts, not E14 bolts, with big washers fixed between the head and the thread that I couldn't remove. I got replacement bolts from IPD which are the E14 bolts that had no washers, any concern there or are these bolts interchangeable?

RE: Broken engine mount
 

They are interchangeable but use loctite when going back together on the bolts.

RE: Broken engine mount
 

So I finally got around to doing the front engine pad last weekend (in the snow, lol). VADIS said I had to remove the air duct and the charge pipe, I couldn't see the reason to remove the charge pipe but it turns out you can't get the engine pad out between the fan and the engine without doing so, it came off pretty easily with a long pry bar :) Man, you have to jack the engine up a lot, maybe 1.5-2", scary! Anyway, everything seems okay with the new pad in place and my idle vibration is reduced but still not super smooth. The engine pad that came out seems to be pretty worn, the metal cable around it was loose suggesting that it's been compressed over the years. Looking at the rear engine pad that is still fitted it looks like that is in the same if not worse condition. I want to replace it but I can't see how to get to it!! The top nut I can reach by removing the upper torque bar and reaching down there with 13" of extender bar with a U-joint, but the bottom screw is hidden behind the sway bar. VADIS says to remove the mount for the catalytic converter and fold it forward?? How does that work? Can I really get in there if I do that or do I need to remove the sway bar as well? Doesn't look like there is much room for the pad to come out from it's location either, anything else I need to remove in order to get it out? Thanks in advance.

RE: Broken engine mount
 

You can get it without removing the sway bar. The bracket they talk about is pretty easy to remove as well.

Yup, that worked, thanks for giving me the confidence to try it, I couldn't see what VADIS was referring to when it said "fold the bracket forward" but after loosening the nuts I just tried it and yep, hey presto the whole thing folds forwards, lol. The nut is still very difficult to access, I had to use a U-joint and a 6" extender bar, but I couldn't accurately torque it back on, I guess I'll just check it again in a few weeks to make sure it still tight.

Glad it overall went well!!