V70 droning noise goes away when turn sharp right

[Volvo-S70-T5-1998MTL]

Hello Everyone,

I have a 2001 V70 2.4t and it makes an annoying drone type of noise.
The faster you go the louder it gets.

While driving about low 50km/h / 35mph I shifted in to neutral to see if the noise would go away or change.

No such luck.

I tried turning off the ignition, but again, the droning droned on.
I also put on my 4 winter tires and wheels, no change.

The only time it does go away is when I make a right turn, or at higher speeds make a sharp right.

Any ideas?

[abscate]

Classic description of a bad wheel bearing. The right turn is telling you the bearing on the right front wheel is the bad one. You can confirm by jacking up the wheel on a FWD car and idling the car in gear and revving to confirm the noise. Be careful doing this, like in a big empty parking lot like a Volvo service department in an area with lots of MVS members nearby.

I had to do both on my 1999 between 150-170k miles in upstate NY winters, like my favorite city in Canada, where bad restaurants are not permitted.

It is a good time to think about the rest of your front suspension parts if you want to run the car another 5 years. I ended up doing shock and struts on all four corners last year and got back a tight handling, fun to drive turbo!

[Volvo-S70-T5-1998MTL]

Thanks so much Abscate!

I have yet to do a wheel bearing for a Volvo. Although it did seem to be a quickly consumed part on my old protege, years ago. It would make a different noise though, a click-click-clink noise when turning. It could be all the potholes in Montreal. I love crossing into the States and driving on the smooth the New York highways.

I did just replace the front shocks and struts, huge improvement! I think I'll do the back as well.

Just with the 2001 I always have thought of an impending transmission failure floating around in the back of my mind.

When I did the tire change, I did notice a bushing that seems old and tired. I'll have to double check, but part of the steering linkage.

[JRL]

Click click would be an axle

[oragex]

I would also check the geometry, in case it's bad it could make the tires go noisy. It should be ok though if the tires wear uniformly. Make sure tires have good pressure. Many cheapo pressure gauges sold in stores are known to be terribly inaccurate; a difference of 10 psi can cause a pretty deflated tire that in turn can get noisy. Just before attacking the bearing bolts, when the caliper is away, you can turn the bearing by hand and feel for roughness. Some roughness is not that bad, but I'd guess when it comes to get noisy there must also be already some play in it. If you self replace the bearing, I'd surely get a good puller.

As you mentioned, Montreal's streets with potholes - or should I say potholes with streets - can well be the culprit.

[abscate]

I think I have some left over parts,...bearing bolts, axle bolt, caliper bolts from my last bearing job.

You should also put the plastic shield on it to protect the beating from the snow and slush

Link to my 1999 front wheel repair thread here

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... g&start=14

[Volvo-S70-T5-1998MTL]

Click click would be an axle

Aaa Of course. My mistake. Thanks JRL.

[Volvo-S70-T5-1998MTL]

I would also check the geometry, in case it's bad it could make the tires go noisy. It should be ok though if the tires wear uniformly. Make sure tires have good pressure. Many cheapo pressure gauges sold in stores are known to be terribly inaccurate; a difference of 10 psi can cause a pretty deflated tire that in turn can get noisy. Just before attacking the bearing bolts, when the caliper is away, you can turn the bearing by hand and feel for roughness. Some roughness is not that bad, but I'd guess when it comes to get noisy there must also be already some play in it. If you self replace the bearing, I'd surely get a good puller.

As you mentioned, Montreal's streets with potholes - or should I say potholes with streets - can well be the culprit.

Thanks oragex. I was kinda hopeing it would simply be low tire pressure. And the summer tires were a little low, one in particular. I also checked for uneven wear, it looked pretty good to me. Plus it doesn't pull to one side. On a flat road, with no hands, it drives really straight. My procrastination in getting a proper alignment did ruin a nice set of summer tires on my manual S70 T5 (Ahh how I miss that car).

I did inflate all 4 winter tires to 38psi, although I don't know the accuracy of the pressure gauge. It did improve the ride, much firmer, but the droning continued as before.

I just looked online, assuming everything comes off as it should it looks pretty simple. Dangerous word to utter, I know hahaha

[Volvo-S70-T5-1998MTL]

I think I have some left over parts,...bearing bolts, axle bolt, caliper bolts from my last bearing job.

You should also put the plastic shield on it to protect the beating from the snow and slush

Link to my 1999 front wheel repair thread here

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... g&start=14

Thanks again Abscate.
I'll go check your repair thread out!

When I looked at the Hub parts online, I didn't notice any plastic shield, I guess it comes separate, or perhaps I can reuse it, assuming it's still there and in decent shape.

[abscate]

There was a TSB which added the shield to earlier cars to prevent the exact kind of wheel bearing contamination which caused my 'early' failures at 16 years, 150k+