98 V70 Wiper clunking, loud noise

[cschaner]

Again, thanks upfront for anyone who replies!
When my wipers are on about half the time there is a loud clunking noise like the arms inside the dash/firewall are loose, worn, or....??? I don't really know.
No real rhyme or reason as to why it will start or stop, bumps, turn on/off. But it does really bug me.
Any suggestions on what is happening, and what it will take to fix it?
Thanks,
Chas

[Maxbaby]

Chas

Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong but your 98 is pretty much the same car as my 93 with respect to the wiper system, so this should work...

I'm pretty sure that you'd be able to diagnose this yourself with a half-hour's worth of time and a T25 Torx screwdriver and one or two sockets. Remover the wiper arms (held on by one bolt each... think it's a 10mm socket off the top of my head). Turn the wipers on and see if the noise is there still. If so, lift the hood and try placing your hand on top of the plastic cowling above the wiper arm assembly to feel for the arm striking somewhere.

Then turn the wipers off, lift the hood, use the T25 Torx screwdriver to remove the screws holding your plastic cowling over top of your wiper blade assembly, and remove that cowling. Turn the wipers back on and you should be able to isolate the sound from the wiper arm assembly. If it went away after removing that big black plastic cowling, then maybe the cowling is being struck by the wiper arm somewhere. There are only two bolts holding down that entire wiper arm assembly, so check to make sure they are not loose. Then inspect the parts of that assembly for a worn bushing or broken arm.

Here's a link to, amongst other things, the removal of the wiper arm assembly under the dash... have a look at pictures 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and you should be able to figure out that it's not very hard to have a look underneath...

http://people.umass.edu/gfeldman/volvo_ ... index.html

It took me more time to write this than it will for you to remove the wiper arms and that cowling. If I were to guess, it'd be a combination of a loose arm assembly (thus requiring you to simply snug it back down) and maybe a recently improperly reinstalled cowling (by chance have you had your pollen filter replaced under there recently?) But because I can't hear the noise, I can't do anything other than guess. It could very well be one of the bushings in that whole arm assembly. Is that "clunking" noise sounding like a metal clunk or a plastic clunk?... that should point you to where to concentrate as well... let us know what you discover.