Replaced both sides' front strut spring seats and caps with bearings. The right one was totally shot; the bushing had come loose from the hard rubber cap.

After finishing this (relatively easy) job, the front end was absolutely totally quiet. Wifey happy! (at least for one day).

Day after patting myself on the back, we hear a chirp. One single chirp. A mile down the road, another chirp. Now, 5 days later, it's constantint chirping.

Here, it sounds exactly like this:

http://www.kenandjudy.us/TempPics/IMG_2826.wav

The rhythmic steady thunk, thunk, thunk is the windshield wipers. It was wet out when I took the video. But the sound is there, wet or dry. The chirping sound seems to be coming predominantly from the right side, but at times, we think we can hear it from the left. It does it under acceleration and also deceleration (as well as even throttle). It does it when braking or not braking. The slightest little road imperfection causes the chirping.
I have tried to no avail; to induce the noise with the car stationary. I can bounce on the front end, lift and rock the car using the open doors as leverage . . .. simply cannot duplicate the noise with the car parked. But OH go down the road 50 yards and it'll drive ya crazy. Like I say, TINY imperfections in the road cause the noise. I cannot even hardly feel the imperfections.


I've doused the tops of the struts with silicone lube spray. no help. I've soaked the stabilizer bushings on the rods and on the sway bar. No help.

I'm at my wit's end. Hope someone has experienced this and can say, "Did you try such and such? I had exactly the same chirping noise and it fixed mine."

Ken

 

Very hard to tell from the recording. Are you sure it's coming from outside? Is the blower motor on when this happens? Sounds like a dumb question, but that noise sounds similar to the noise the blower motor makes when the bearing is going.

 

Although it sounds like from under the dash, the noise exactly coincides with the surface of the road. But to be sure, I drove this morning with the AC turned OFF. I agree, it sounds like motor bearings running dry, but only happens when rolling and slight imperfections of pavement.

Wife is beginning to insist that I take it to the dealership. $$$$$ and pride are in the way.

Ken

 

So I asked Judy to drive around the neighborhood while I hung outside the passenger window. HOLY COW the chirping is LOUD! It echoes off the houses. Reminds me of loose front bumper bolts on my old 57 Chevy decades ago. This chirping is definitely coming from the right front.

With something that loud, you'd think I'd be able to find it easily. I've squirted everything in the right front strut area and the noise persists. I've beat everything accessible with a rubber mallet.

Ken

 

Hard to tell by the sound but if it wasen't doing it before u worked on it i would definitely double check my work, also make sure u dident leave a tool behind or worse u got a bad new part?

 

Good thought. All tools accounted for. And even double-checked to make sure something I used wasn't left in there.

I think I have a diagnosis and will create a new reply to cover it.

Ken

 

Even though I took care to make sure that the spring was rotated into the spring seat properly, it appears that it moved as I was releasing the spring compressors. I did OK on the left side, but apparently not on the right side.

After a couple of weeks of loud chirping (loud enough to turn pedestrians' heads), I decided to fix it once and for all; even if it meant doing the job over again. I pulled the wheel and inspected. Everything looked perfect EXCEPT . . . the spring was not rotated and properly in the upper spring seat (one of the new parts I installed).

To get it rotated properly, I went back to Autozone and used their tool borrowing policy to get the spring compressors again. Compressed the spring while it was still installed in the wheel well. (not easy, had to put spacers in the spring compressor or the jack screws would run up into the underside of the fender).

To make a long story short, once the spring had been compressed, I could turn the bolt on the top to spin the spring seat in its bearing. I spun it around until the spring was perfectly seated and then removed the compressors.

It was off by about 5/8".

If this didn't fix it, I was going to buy new seat and cap and do this side over. Pulled out the jack stands and drove around the block. Not a chirp! I went over patched concrete roads, bumpy roads, dippy roads, and potholed roads. Not a single chirp.

I'm not saying that it's fixed, but it sure is looking positive. Doesn't seem like being out of rotation by 5/8" would have caused such noises. But now, I'm thinking it did. Only time will tell.

SO, IF ANYONE HAS CHANGED THEIR STRUT CAP AND SPRING SEAT AND SAYS THAT IT NOW CHIRPS . . . . . . . . . CHECK THE SPRINGS IN THE CAP. MAKE SURE THE SPRING IS ROTATED PROPERLY IN THE SEAT.

Ken

 

Sounds like the issue is fixed.

However if it does come back your sound was similar to when my passenger side engine mount was shot. Below is the thread I posted with a short write-up at the end with replacement instructions.

https://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-...lunking-76292/

BUT...hopefully it was the rotated spring!

 

So far, so good! Not a chirp.
I'm embarrassed that I allowed the spring to rotate a bit in the top spring cup as I let the compressor off. And really surprised that the half inch of poor seating caused the chirping; especially as loud as it was. Wifey is happy, I'm happy. I think it's good to go. Rides like new now.

Ken