Well, I changed out the struts and rear shocks on the wife's 01 XC70 (100K miles) to get rid of a really annoying clunk from the suspension every time you hit the smallest bump. I changed out all the mounts, bolts, and even the front and rear sway bar links.

Car now rides like a dream (need to get it aligned ASAP though) but......The clunk is still there, but not as often or as loud. It still sounds like it is coming from the right front end. The old right front end shock mount was torn.

Anyway, I jacked it up and crawled under it for a look, and I saw a lot of fresh grease that looked like it had been slung from the right front axle CV joint. I looked the boot over and cound find no tear , but there is definitely grease on the frame rails and around the area. I tried moving the joint to see if it was bad but it seemed pretty tight.

Could a bad CV joint cause the clunk when going over bumps? The car doesn't click, slip, or groan when turning so it surprised me whane I found grease by the joint.

Any ideas?

Glenn

 

Got the car aligned today and had the tech look it over. He could not find the source of the clunk either. His best guess was struts or mounts, but since they were all replaced..... He also looked at the CV joint and said the boot was not torn, but was letting some grease leak out. He suggested waiting until it gets worse to fix it. SHould I try to shoot grease in there, or wait until it fails entirely and get a new axle shaft?

If I go the axle shaft route, how hard are they to replace?

Glenn

 

Don't try to add grease. I wouldn't worry about the boot for now. A lot of Volvo's seem to seep a small amount of grease out of the sides of the boots.

 

In the past, when I had a car (typically a SAAB) with a front end clunk that was not shock/strut related, it was actually a bad ball joint. Slop in the ball joint does indeed make that type of sound. However, I would have thought that this would have been caught during the alignment.

Regars, Al. Wise

 

I had a clunk on my 2004 XC70 recently, also triggered by going over bumps. Changing the tie rod on the left fixed it.

 

Check the ball joints for wear. Also this is overlooked and cause some major headaches, look at the caliper spring clip and make sure it is installed correctly. I searched for 2.5 hours on a S60 for a similar noise and this is what i found.

 

The axle will not clunk going over bumps.
Are you 100% sure the nuts on the sway bar links are good and tight?
Are the control arm bushings in good shape?

 

I'm going to replace the sway bar end links with a spare set I have just to be sure. Outside of a visual check, is there a better way to tell if the ball joints are bad. I have always heard you can jack up the car and grasp the wheel at the 12 and 6 O'Clock positions, and try to shake the wheel, bad ball joints will let it shake.

We just had the car aligned and I told them to give the front end the once over to see if they could find anything. I was told all was ok, but it is probably best to check it out myself.

I'll be able to work on the car on Monday.

 

Sometimes the 12 and 6 do not work. Alot of times it will show more play doing the 3 and 9 position from outside it will feel like a bad tie rod but when you look from the backside it will be a balljoint.

I would look at the bushings most shops would not even think to look at them and they commonly fail.

 

I'll give it the once over in a day or two when I get the chance. Between the P0442 code and chasing down the clunk, I'm keeping busy. Oh well, we have had the car several years now with nmo major issues and the wife still loves it, so I need to keep her happy. Will replacing the ball joints (if they are bad) require another front end alignment? I have had some cars where I could get away without re-aligning, but am not sure aobut XC-70's

 

It should not require another alignment.

 

Cool!

 

I was thinking about this at work today. Suppose I have a bad ball joint. I have replaced them on other cars before by using a ball joint press. I remember looking at the XC and seeing that doesn't seem possible, and the best way would be to remove the entire steering knuckle and drive it out using a punch on the flange of the ball joint.

My question is if I go about it this way, will I need a pickle fork (ball joint separator) to separate the ball joints (I've w done several other carswithout needing one) Also, what size socket will I need to remove the axle nut/bolt holding the wheel on the spindle?

ThHanks,

Glenn

 

Drop the lower control arm off of the hub and swing the hub out some. The axle nut should be a 14MM unless it is updated then it should be a 13MM. Once you swing the hub some remove the 2 14MM bolts holding the balljoint in and tap the old one out with a punch or chisel. Then when installing the new one start the bolts and snug them up a hair evenly. Then with a punch carefully tap it up into the hub some then tighten the screws some till it is flush.

You will not need a pickle fork. What I do is use a ratcheting strap and go from the control arm to the subframe and tighten the strap to pull the control arm down so you can swing the hub out.

 

Sounds pretty straightforward. The ratchet strap is going to come in handy....I used it to repalce the rear shocks! THanks for the insight tech, you have been a great help. I just can't wait for the car to sit still long enough for me to get some work done on it <grin>

 

Good luck I will wait to hear the update.

 

Ok, its fixed!! You will not believe what it was. Ok, maybe you will. I got the unexpected chance to tear into the car today. As I was in the garage I stumbled on a spare pair of sway bar end links I had that were still new in the package. I debated trying them as the ones on the car were IPD heavy duty units only on for about 6 months.

I figured, what he hell, so I put them on. I droped the car, took it for a spin, and it is quiet as the day it rolled off the line!

I'm glad it is fixed and that it was a simple fix. I'm PISSED that a so called heavy duty unit failed so quickly and made me think I was going to have to tear half the front suspension apart to find the irritating clunk. Now to find the cause of the P0442 code.

 

I'm sure that you already know but I posted this link for other that have this code
http://www.obd-codes.com/p0442

 

Did you call IPD on the links to try to get it replaced under warranty?

 

I will be doing that tomorrow!