2004 S80 - Vibration during driving

dejongmc · Post by **dejongmc** » 19 Jun 2018, 08:13

Hello,

While driving around 50-65 mph the car starts vibrating. The vibration is not so much in the steering wheel, but you can definitely feel it. When the car is on the highway and the vibrations starts, it will stop when you release the gas.
The front tires have recently been replaced and balanced.

Note: a few weeks ago I hit a 2"x4" wooden beam on the road at night at 50 mpg, and the swaybar link on the passenger side was broke in half. I already replaced both swaybars. Wonder what else might be damaged by this big hit.

Post by **June** » 19 Jun 2018, 13:31

You likely have a bad axle. I had the same problem with my car but I thought it had a misfire. June

dejongmc · Post by **dejongmc** » 21 Jun 2018, 09:55

Two questions:

1) Is there an easy way to determine if it is the right or left axle?
2) I see that the Volvo brand axles are about $600 and aftermarket axles around $100-$130. That is a huge difference.
Any recommendation for a good after market axle, or a brand to really avoid buying?

Post by **June** » 21 Jun 2018, 12:09

I had my dealership replace mine. $1000 per side or so. Does come with lifetime parts and labor guarantee. I read on here aftermarket axle is a waste of time. Before I spent $600 and did it myself, I would pay Volvo and get the warranty. Yes they honor their warranty from my experience with my axles without question. When my car vibrated it was the driver side inside joint. Volvo replaced both axles under warranty though the driver side was my cars trouble. They wanted to be thorough. Bad engine mounts caused the abnormal wear. June

Post by **oragex** » 25 Jun 2018, 10:29

It is very easy to check the axles on the car - just make sure to jack and support the car safely on jackstands, never only on the hydraulic jack or worse on the spare jack. Then grab the axles near the cv joints and give them a good shake . Also look for cracked dust boots over the cv joints www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJQkFPYjh5E

May as well look at the control arms, with the car on ground and front wheels at full lock look on each side at the rear bushing for cracks.

Use only quality parts for the control arm, genuine is the best, Meyle HD and Lemforder may be good for a few years or more

For the axles, I would definitely go only with recently replaced used genuine ones, aftermarket/rebuild ones are often times terrible and cause vibrations

virtualking · Post by **virtualking** » 26 Jun 2018, 03:13

It may be alignment or axle problem you should make wheel alignment and it would work properly

Post by **SuperHerman** » 27 Jun 2018, 16:38

wheel bearing?

dejongmc · Post by **dejongmc** » 27 Jun 2018, 18:46

During the last few days the vibration is almost gone. Almost looks like something got back in place, whatever it was. I'm sure it will come back.

I do know the boots are worn out on the transmission side of both axles, so those need to be replaced soon.
Did anybody ever do a rebuild of the axles and CV joint?

Post by **SuperHerman** » 28 Jun 2018, 20:55

If your boots are compromised debris will get into the joint and destroy it.

Changing CV boots and cleaning and regreasing is like on any other car. An easy but messy job. Should be plenty of write ups.

dejongmc · Post by **dejongmc** » 19 Sep 2018, 19:14

Hello, it has been a few months now, because I had to fix another electrical problem first.

During driving the vibration is mainly in the chassis, and I'm not feeling much vibration via the steering wheel.
So this makes think that it not so much the axles but more the shocks.

Is there an easy way to check the shocks, without taking them out?