Volvo V70 AWD - 'Clanking' noise when driving

[lhailah]

Hi
From reading forums I was lead to believe that my 98 xc70 could run as a fwd. I bought the car with 144k miles and within a few months the driveshaft had to be replaced. I took it out and left it that way for a little over a year. My mechanic convinced me to replace it. His reasoning is that the car is designed to be driven as awd and it only runs fwd as a convenience in the event that the driveshaft goes bad. I eventually saw things his way and put a new driveshaft in. Now 4 months later i need new front cv axles, particularly the left. He says this is most likely because the front axles were carrying the weight of the car and it isn't designed to do so for such a long time. I've prob put 12-14 thousand miles on the vehicle driving it as a fwd and i live in a very mountainous region with curvy country roads...

[BEJinFbk]

Your first impression was correct - FWD = No Problem.
( But I sure like my car better with AWD )

Your mechanic has some interesting turns of logic... He should do some research.
The Gen 1 AWD system was essentially an afterthought that was added to the
850's FWD platform. In short, the car started it's run designed as a FWD car.
The axles are plenty heavy for an entire lifetime of FWD operation.

More than likely, you had split boots, the CV's got contaminated and,
as they do when their grease gets filled with crud, wore themselves out.

This leaves me wondering if your mechanic also missed split CV boots.

[omoreno07]

Differential REAR carrier
2001 VOLVO XC70
parts #
9463313
9463315
I was pulling the rear driver side axle arm, that its connected to the differential gear box. And i saw that the bearings that holds the arm into the box where damage or broken, and one of the ball bearings came out. I'm guessing that was the problem on my car- its making a (boooooom with an echo around 15-40 mph s, fallowing a big praacckkk broken noise. then sound like loose metal till i get to a complete stop, and again all sounds cycle.
Can i just buy the bearings from the box by it self or the complete differential gear box?
Would that fix the sounds?
thank you in advance.

[Ozark Lee]

Omoreno07,

I'm going to let this post sit here for a day or two and then split it off to a new thread in the 2001+ forum where it actually belongs. This forum is the most visited and some of our posters in the pre 2001 forum may have an answer for you but you will likely get more precise advise from the correct forum.

...Lee

[volvoforharpsichord]

Hello,
I do have exactly the same problem as what is described here. My Volvo is a 850 (1997), with all wheel drive, and there is a clanking noise, due to defective driveshaft. As I understood it might go almost as good as FWD, we were considering taking out the defective driveshaft - hoping we might find one day an affordable replacing one, but being able to use the car in the meantime.
Now my question is : is the remaining piece of the driveshaft fixed ? That is, is there no risk of loosing oil when the piece is away ?
I would be very grateful if somebody made this experience before, and could tell me if this is safe enough.
Thanks in advance !
Frederick

[rmmagow]

You're 97 is most likely exactly the same as my 98 AWD. The center driveshaft is connected in the front to the bevel gear, in the rear to a flange off the differential and in the center to a big center mount. Each end is 6 bolts I think, 2 in the center. Remove them all and the shaft comes right out. Nothing else needs to be done, drive in FWD forever if you want. I have put on at leat 50K miles on my AWD in FWD mode, no problems other than of course, not as good in snow and ice.

[volvoforharpsichord]

A million thanks for your precious advice and encouragements! The operation was made today - and my beautiful Volvo now works silent again and seems very glad - as I am. I did not enough distance yet to fully appreciate the difference in driving as AWD.
All best wishes
Frederick

[rmmagow]

Although you are in Belgium, www.coloradodriveshaft.com has I think dealt with overseas shipping or perhaps you have something more local for rebuilding the thing. You'll miss AWD in crappy weather.

[Dukespapa]

I wish I had read all of this BEFORE the bill for $1600 came due. I do believe it was the drive shaft as the noise stopped once replaced. However, the local foreign car 'specialist' gave no hint whatsoever that I could put off the repair and drive it as a FWD. He also insisted that there are no rebuilt driveshafts, nor offered me a core refund. In following up on other posts I now know that my $1200 part could have been had for under $500.
Should I be surprised to hear this guy say that I need rear brakes at a cost of over $400 ??? I still have 20% on the pads, but that's irrelevant. He says, "Due to the poor materials that brake parts are made of these days the rotor, pads, etc are routinely replaced at the same time."
No thanks... The $75 oil change and $5 windshield washer fluid refill charge will be the last of my money that you EVER see.
Anybody need a driveshaft, which CAN be rebuilt, for a '98 Cross Country ???
OBTW - U-Tube has some great vids of these cars in AWD on some pretty tough road conditions. It really boosted my confidence in what the little thing can do.