1996 850 - Crunching sound from front

[Teddy1975]

When ever I drive over the slightest bumps and no matter what speed, I get some crunching sound from both front wheels. Other than that, nothing really happens, so I'm not overly worried about it being serious. I'm thinking maybe it can be the plastic part on the wheel bearing arms, that is misplaced/misaligned so it rubs up against the frame. I don't have access to lift the car here at home, but planning to go visit my parents where my lifting tools are.

Is there a reason for having this plastic "lids" in place or is it simply cosmetic?

Capture.JPG (80.53 KiB) Viewed 1562 times

It's the plastic piece inside the red line I'm talking about. What is the correct way to install it, the flap side can either go upwards and sit towards the frame where it bolts onto it, or it can sit underneath the frame. I had to undo the arms to get the drive shafts out and put new ABS wheels on the shafts. Which was dead simple.

I know it could probably also be the struts, spring, spring seats or something completely different.

Thanks a bunch.
I am getting stuff done on the car, and the repairs are seemingly going well. Until the next thing pops up. So far, nothing too serious to ground the car. Soon I will be getting stuff ready for changing TB and SB, which will be my first, but feeling quite confident after reading and watching how-tos both here and on youtube. After that job is done, I'll be having a closer look at PCV, as it's beginning to act up a little. Blue smoke at start up and some oil escaping the oil filler cap. My guess is the oil trap is either full or close to it and some of the hoses are probably blocked up. Talked to my indy parts guy and he basically said to find a piece of lawn hose and a smaller vacuum hose for the small hose that runs to the air intake housing. Lots of info regarding PCV changes on this site and as this is a N/A, I anticipate the worst part of the job will be to remove the intake manifold using only normal handtools.

[huzzsaba]

My guess is bad spring seat or strut mount. I am replacing those on my xc90 tomorrow as it is making a crunching noise over bumps.

[blandis]

My guess is spring seats. I think most are putting the XC90 seats on the 850/s70. Spend the few extra bucks for Volvo seats and not aftermarket or another brand. Never had to replace them on my current s70... knock on wood.

[mecheng]

I think it is a shield to keep salt water from drying the bushings and spraying inside the wheel well

[E Showell]

I always assumed the plastic covers were to keep road debris from being thrown up and cutting the axle boots, but that is just an assumption.

[erikv11]

I agree

Crunchy over bumps sounds like spring seats, crunchy when turning the wheel even when the car is not moving sounds like strut mounts (= strut bearing plates). Plastic piece for some kind of debris protection, I try to keep it installed as long as possible.

FYI you don't need to be afraid of the stock P80 spring seat anymore, as long as you buy the Volvo part. About 4 or 5 years ago Volvo eliminated the old P80 part (and old part number) and now sell only one spring seat for the XC90 and the P80 cars (the 850 and 98-00 x70s). Same part number, same price, same part. They all use 30683637.
http://volvopartslisle.com/part/OEM-Vol ... pring-Seat

[polskamafia mjl]

Same part number, same price, same part. They all use 30683637.
http://volvopartslisle.com/part/OEM-Vol ... pring-Seat

That's fantastic news!

[Teddy1975]

Great news indeed regarding the OEM part now being the same.

However, I have checked the spring seat now, sorry for the delay, and it seems to be fine. The shock absorber needs to be replaced and I wonder if that could be the source of the crunching sound. When I push down on the wing, it creaks quite a lot from the wheel well and the car wobbles like jelly two, three times before coming to rest. I guess the crunching sound comes on impact when the strut hits the stop.

This car needs more TLC than I can afford at the moment.