*** NOTE: Issue WAS the front passenger motor mount. See end of thread for more info about replacement ***

I've picked up a noise with my 2005 XC90 2.5t. I currently have 220k miles on her.

When going over smaller bumps / holes in the road there is a hollow clunk that comes from the passenger side of the car. Larger bumps and speed bumps aren't an issue. Just the smaller cracks, bumps, and holes courtesy of our nice MI roads.

I've inspected the strut mounts in the engine compartment but everything seems tight there. The struts were replaced about 1 year ago so I imagine those are fine.

I'll get a chance to jack it up tonight and do some wheel wobbling to see if anything seems loose.

Now I know what you're thinking... With 220k miles on her it's anybody's guess. Even so, any advice to narrow this one down a bit? Thanks!

 

End links seemed to be a big problem on those but there are a few other areas to check being sway bar bushings ect. I would start by lubricating the bushings with something like wd-40 and see if you can narrow it down to what bushing is causing you the noise.

 

Quick update...

Got a chance to tinker a bit tonight. Temps are hovering at -5 degrees right now which is invigorating... Couple that with slush dripping down on you :P

1. I jacked up the front end and tried to wiggle the tire at 12 & 6 o'clock and 9 & 3. Everything seems very solid.

2. Plastic shield underneath was loose, fixed that.

3. Put a wrench on the strut nut under the hood. Seems tight. checked three nuts around the strut nut, also good.

4. Pushed down on passenger front to compress suspension. Grabbed the upper engine stabilizer and gave it some lateral action. Nothing with either.

Result...sound still there.

More info: It seems to get worse when turning and putting load on the noisy side. For example if I turn left the sound gets worse on the right. But if I'm driving down the road and rock the car left to right, nothing makes noise. When grabbing the outer tie rod I can wiggle it around slightly with a decent amount of force. Should these have any play?

Going to look closer at the sway bar too. But at this point I'm thinking sway bar or tie rods. I'll post more info as I continue to troubleshoot. Any more suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

bad sway bar bushings often result in noise when one tire is rolling over something (like pothole or speed bump) and the other isn't. at 220k miles any tie rods and ball joints or bushings could be worn out. i would start with tie rods since they aren't that hard or expensive.

 

The issue seems to be getting worse. Now I hear it especially when turning left and also when accelerating from a stop.

I also noticed when I started the car today that I could hear the noise. Weird I thought for not actually having the car moving. I had my wife get in the car while she shifted from drive to reverse. This caused the engine to shift in inch or more back and forth.

What are the chances that a broken engine mount could be causing the issues I'm having?

 

yeah if it is making noise when stationary it is not bushings or suspension. motor mounts is a good guess. when stopped try revving the engine in neutral with parking brake on and see if it gets worse.

 

Seems to be a bit of a gremlin. Started as a clunk, now seems to be more of a rattle/rumble when taking off from an intersection and turning left. Turning right is fine.

The tire shop put my lugs on so tight I can't budge them. I'm heading out of town in a few days for a week so I'll have to check it out when I get back and can borrow a compressor and impact wrench from my dad. I'll update things then.

 

Revving a vehicle in neutral will not give you any indication if a mount is bad ha ha. What you should be doing is have your wife get in the vehicle and put it in drive and while on the brake apply a bit of acceleration to see if a mount has given up. Repeat the process in reverse. I have had the same bit of noise and what I did was jacked the Volvo up and while the suspension was in a relaxed position was go around all the suspension and checking to see if something had loosened up along with loosening and re-tightening everything. It almost got rid of my noise completely.

 

A special thanks to the tire shop that put my lugs on so tight even my dad's impact wrench wouldn't budge them...

1/2" breaker bar and a 4' piece of pipe solved that...sheesh...never had such a hard time simply removing a wheel.

So the issue has gotten slightly worse. Any kind of acceleration from a stop causes rattling/shuttering/growling from the front passenger side. Turning left (putting pressure on right side) makes the issue worse. The harder I accelerate the worse it gets. Once I let off the gas and am up to speed it's fine...no shutter, noise, etc. Still also have the clunking when going over bumps.

After removing the tire, inspected everything. It all looks fine. Grabbing all the components and trying to move them, everything is tight. Tie rod moves slightly in the boot where it attaches to the rack. But when moving the wheel from side to side there are no issues. CV joint seal looks good, not torn, etc.

Jack up the engine while looking at the passenger side motor mount. There is more than 1" of play in the mount and it seems to move easily. Rubber boot is also partially torn.

I'm pretty sure this verifies the passenger side engine mount is toast but wanted to run it by the experts first. Thanks guys!

 

Did you check your C.V.s for tears in the boots? If it only makes noise when you are turning it sounds like a C.V.

 

I did check the CV boot for grease and tears but found nothing. I know CV joints will creak and grind. Turning while driving slowly doesn't make the noise. It's when the engine/drivetrain are under more stress. Also I don't know if CV joints will clunk over bumps?

 

FWIW; I had the same problem with my 2008 XC90, weird noise like a bad wheel bearing coming from the front right wheel.
Brought it into 2 different Volvo specialists: both said the same thing; either a bad wheel bearing or, a bad tranny.
Replaced the right wheel bearing. Problem continued exactly as you described (getting more pronounced over time).
Finally after about 6 months of this my Volvo guy finally figured it out during routine maintenance and yep, broken engine mount on the right side. Noise was present at idle and more pronounced under load when turning left.
Why not diagnosed originally? Mechanic said the symptoms weren't indicative of broken/loose engine mount.
I hope your issue is solved with this relatively benign issue.

 

Thanks for your reply. Hoping this is the issue. It's a good place to start, and an engine mount is one of the cheapest things to start with. Will report back once I get the part replaced.

 

I finally had a chance to replace my motor mount tonight and that fixed the issue completely! The old mount was pretty tired. Rubber was torn and I could move the two pieces easily. This compared to the new mount that I couldn't budge by hand. I have to admit, I was getting worried because the noise was sounding more drivetrain related, especially when accelerating. FWIW, my theory is that with the engine mount so messed up it was allowing the engine to move a lot. This may have been causing the axle and CV joints to be unstable and noisy. Who knows, I could be waaay off. Don't really care, because it's fixed, lol!

Here's a quick DIY of the process I went through. There are also two links below to a very well written DIY for all the engine mounts including the front passenger one I replaced. Please note, they're not mine. I'm not passing them off as mine, just sharing them because they're well done. Thanks to txag_xc90 from the Swedespeed forum. Here goes...

Vehicle
2005 XC90 2.5T FWD

Issue
Metallic clunk coming from front passenger side when going over bumps. Issue became progressively worse to the point it turned into a rumble when accelerating from a stop. Turning right was no problem. Turning left made the rumble worse. The rumbling would happen only when the engine was under power.

Interventions
Checked all suspension and driveline components on passenger side. Everything was tight and looked fine. Jacked up engine while observing right passenger engine mount. Mount moved easily and could see the rubber pieces cracked. Also observed a lot of play in the engine when shifting from R to D with brake depressed. Replaced passenger engine mount - issue fixed.

Part
Volvo part number 30748811
I opted for a Hutchinson mount I found on ebay for about $50. Didn't come in a Volvo box but from what I've read Hutchinson is the OEM supplier to Volvo for engine mounts.

Procedure
1. Remove passenger wheel - remove 10mm plastic nut, bend back plastic wheel well liner.
2. Put on jack stand - you'll need the jack for the engine, make sure to block back tires
3. Remove engine splash shield - held on by 10mm bolts
4. Jack up engine slightly - use a block of wood to avoid oil pan damage
5. Remove bolts - (2) 17mm bolts into frame and (2) 14mm bolts into engine
All my bolts were on tight. Had to use a breaker bar and pipe. Rear 17mm has very little clearance with axle right there. 17mm wrench worked the best for me.
6. Remove old mount, replace with new
7. Replace 17mm and 14mm bolts and tighten
8. Replace splash shield and wheel - remove jack and jack stands
9. Celebrate if the issue is fixed!

Link to thread at Swedespeed
Link to PDF of engine mounts procedure
(as I said before, not mine but well written, thanks again txag_xc90)

Hope this helps someone else down the road. I'm thankful to all the help I got here. Otherwise I probably would've replaced my axle and CV joints only to still have the noise. Thanks again everyone!

 

Great write-up! Thanks! I believe mine's at the very early stages of wearing out. How long did the process take you to replace the mount?

 

From stepping into the garage to stepping back in the house...about an hour. Keep in mind that includes getting tools out, cleanup, removing the wheel, etc. I had more issues with getting my lugs off than actually switching out the mount. After you remove the wheel and fold back the wheel well lining the mount is staring you right in the face next to the crankshaft damper.

Bottom line, overall it doesn't take long and it's an easy job.

Good luck!

 

I have a 2005 XC90 163K miles. I'd replaced EVERYTHING suspension related in the front end and still had the loud thunk/clunk. Turned out to be the front motor mount, it was shot. Changed it this weekend, sound gone!