1999 V70 T5 clunking noise front driver's side when coasting

petermetzger · Post by **petermetzger** » 07 Oct 2015, 07:59

I noticed two days ago while coming around a corner that there was a slight repetitive clunking sound coming from the front driver's side near the wheel. Over the past couple of days it has gotten louder and more consistent and seems to happen most when I'm coasting and/or turning - if I'm applying brakes or accelerating (okay, I know turning is acceleration too but let's not get picky) then the sound subsides. The rate of clunking seems to be directly correlated to the car's speed.

All of this seems to be pointing to a bad CV joint; is there anything else it could be or anything else I should check first? I'm fine with replacing the axle if I need to, I just don't want this to turn into Indiana Volvo and the Circlip of Doom if something else is causing the problem.

Post by **abscate** » 07 Oct 2015, 08:02

Wheel bearing or CV joint, and my money would be on CV joint.

act NOW and fast and try to save an OEM axle as you can't get these anymore, and most of the aftermarket stuff is junk.

Pull axle, REPLACE bolt (unlike earlier cars) - clean and repack CV, replace torn boots. If you have high miles, over 150k, think about replacing wheel bearing.

petermetzger · Post by **petermetzger** » 07 Oct 2015, 08:19

I was planning to replace the axle (or both) with a reman from either NAPA or FCP but if it can be safely repaired I'd be glad to do that instead. I'm not sure what you mean by "replace bolt" though - are you just saying to get a new bolt for the outer end of the axle? I actually bought a CV boot kit a while back and never did anything with it so I guess here's my chance

The car has right around 150k miles (a little below) so I'll check the wheel bearings but I think they're still good.

We just had a baby less than a month ago so if this is salvageable and we can save some money it will be a big help!

Post by **abscate** » 07 Oct 2015, 10:25

petermetzger wrote:I was planning to replace the axle (or both) with a reman from either NAPA or FCP but if it can be safely repaired I'd be glad to do that instead. I'm not sure what you mean by "replace bolt" though - are you just saying to get a new bolt for the outer end of the axle? I actually bought a CV boot kit a while back and never did anything with it so I guess here's my chance

The car has right around 150k miles (a little below) so I'll check the wheel bearings but I think they're still good.

We just had a baby less than a month ago so if this is salvageable and we can save some money it will be a big help!

On your 1999 the front axle bolt is a bolt, not a castellated nut like the earlier P80 cars. It is stretch torqued when you install it, so it gets ruined in the process. Each time you take the axle off, you buy a new one and stretch torque it again.

I even did this when I did my whole front end, damaged my inner CV, and put on a replacement axle.

The spare bolts make nice earrings

PatternFlyer · Post by **PatternFlyer** » 07 Oct 2015, 12:14

Like abscate said, do keep the axle bolt handy.

One more thing about the axle bolt.
If it is not stretch torqued, it can come loose & axle can move out of the hub. (I already broke 2 in the past 7 years.) you will see ABS light coming on.

petermetzger · Post by **petermetzger** » 07 Oct 2015, 16:28

Alright, headed out to the garage to see if I can get this axle out; I'll post photos when it's done

EDIT [terrifying discovery]
I pulled the car into the garage and went over to the front driver's side wheel to get started, and discovered that a roadwheel bolt was completely missing, two more were loose enough that I could turn them with my fingers, and two more seemed (relatively) tight.

I don't know how it happened as I always properly torque and double-check my bolts when putting a wheel back on.... but I bet the loose/missing bolts could have been causing my noise.

petermetzger · Post by **petermetzger** » 07 Oct 2015, 18:12

As described above:

I tightened up the remaining four bolts to the specified 81 ft-lbs; the two tight ones were completely tight, the two loose ones were finger-loose. I checked the remaining three wheels and every bolt was tight (one bolt tightened up maybe a degree or two before the torque wrench clicked but the others had no movement)... so I'm not sure if somebody was trying to steal my wheel and gave up or what. I can't think of what else would have caused this unless I forgot to properly tighten those bolts sometime

Anyway, with four bolts firmly in place I (carefully) drove around the block - about .25 miles - and all mystery sounds were gone. I won't drive the car again until my replacement bolt arrives from FCP (I ordered two because it seemed like a good thing to have around).

Post by **abscate** » 07 Oct 2015, 21:07

Missed that one entirely but great news for you!

Lug bolts rarely loosen up by themselves ..have you recently do wheel work on the car? If not, I would consider the tampering possibility.

petermetzger · Post by **petermetzger** » 08 Oct 2015, 06:38

abscate wrote:Lug bolts rarely loosen up by themselves ..have you recently do wheel work on the car?

The most recent time I've had the wheels off was when I replaced the front struts (and a bunch of other stuff) which wrapped up in the first week of July.

Post by **abscate** » 09 Oct 2015, 03:19

I think I would blame myself before getting paranoid about theft. It's really easy to lose focus on a big job and forget to re torque things at the end of a multi day job. Been there, done that, got Tshirt