Metal clanging noise and car shaking

likewise11 · Post by **likewise11** » 12 Dec 2018, 18:59

TL;DR - '98 v70r making awful noise, see attached

So I've got a 1998 V70R with 225K miles. I bought it about a year ago and was told that there was a clunk sound coming from the rear when shifting from reverse to drive, took it on the test drive and sure enough there was, didn't really bother me as it only happened when shifting from R to D so i kind of let it go, figured it could be a bad CV/half shaft or whatever, about 2 months ago it started doing it every once in a while starting from a dead stop and then the noise after shifting went away. Last month it stopped making noise all together.

Now the exciting part. 3 days ago i get a slight vibration in the steering wheel, figured it was some ice build up on the front wheels as this has happened before in my other vehicles. Cleaned out the wheels but it didn't go away. Drove it to school the next day and it got worse, now the whole car was vibrating at this point. Drove it home and about 55mph and above the noise and vibration would stop. Drove it to class today and vibration was back this time at any speed, so after class i took it in to my local Volvo/Audi/VW guy but he couldnt get to it today and i needed to get home, so i drove it home, about 4 miles into my drive the shaking was so bad i had to slow down, 45mph it got better, then after a few minutes got worse, slowed down even more, got better then worse, and so on until i was going a measly 10mph with the car feeling like its going to fall apart and this awful metal clanging/thumping sound.

Got the car into my shop and started to look into it, i think ive narrowed it down to this part connected to the drive shaft and the rear diff, i believe, from what i can tell, is called the viscous coupling. I read a bunch of post on this site and have seen things like, angle gear, or freewheel clutch, CV shaft, diff, and VC clutch. I will try to attach some videos of what it was doing, assuming youtube links aren't blocked on this site. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Post by **FlyingVolvo** » 13 Dec 2018, 06:19

Had that exact same metallic clanking noise on my car many years ago. I had some vibration, though no bad shaking. The issue was the main AWD propeller shaft (drive shaft) to the rear. I'd start by removing that and see if it stops the sound (I'm sure it will). This will narrow it down to the AWD system. Usually the angle (bevel) gear will fail on these cars too, though I've never heard of it making that kind of noise before.

You gotta be ready to spend some cash if you want to maintain the functionality of the AWD system on these P80 Volvos. I took my drive shaft and angle gear out almost 7 years ago and haven't looked back.

Post by **scot850** » 13 Dec 2018, 17:34

Most likely the center support bearing rubber has failed. As suggested remove the prop-shaft to the rear and see if the issue disappears.

While under there check these too:

1) AWD system: Prop-shaft front bearing at angle gear, center support bearing, viscous coupling front bearing and VC casing front bush mount.
2) Engine: Check all the engine mounts and in particular the upper and lower torque mounts and the RH engine mount seperating under the crank pulley.
3) Driveline: check the CV joints on all the 4 axles (front and rear).

Neil.

likewise11 · Post by **likewise11** » 14 Dec 2018, 17:01

I got the car up on jack stands and did some tests with it, a couple things I found:

1. Rear wheels do not spin when in reverse
2. Rear wheels do not spin when in drive
3. Sometimes I need to tap the gas to get the front wheels to spin, then a loud clunk is heard before wheels start to move, guess angle gear is putting pressure on the tranny preventing it from moving
4. Drive shaft does not spin at all in drive
5. Drive shaft does not spin at all in reverse
6. Hanger bearing/center support for the drive shaft is completely shot, no rubber at all in the housing

My guess is the bearing went out and caused the angle gear to go out, or are they not related?
If it is the angle gear, what needs to be done to swap it out / can I drive it with a bad angle gear if the drive shaft is disconnected.

EDIT: I also dropped the car down and lifted the front drivers side wheel and put the car in neutral. I could not get the wheel to spin forward but i could get it to spin in reverse, again drive shaft did not spin doing this either

voltech1 · Post by **voltech1** » 14 Dec 2018, 21:38

If the prop shaft is not spinning the connecting socket and or angle gear is damaged. Check the pinion flange on the angle gear for play. If there is no slop side to side or in and out on the angle gear you could leave it in. If it has failed you can take the angle gear and prop shaft out and drive it as FWD. the only down side is traction on slippery roads when accelerating. I have been driving this way for too long now but it works well enough. There are cheaper options than the factory propeller shaft if you were to replace it and keep AWD.

Post by **scot850** » 14 Dec 2018, 23:13

Chances are the sleeve between the trans and the angle gear splines has stripped out. Unfortunately, this may have damaged the splines on the angle gear too. Only way to confirm is to remove the angle gear and check the 2 parts.

Neil.

Post by **jvl** » 16 Dec 2018, 23:27

Hi,

Since you indicated propshaft is not moving at all, the issue is probably with the angle gear or the sleeve that connects the angle gear to the transmission (as Neil indicated: this sleeve might have stripped out).
I've had this happen as well, and your third video sounds similar (but not entirely identical) to what mine sounded like at the time.
You may want to look at this topic:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=79549

But, if you are not willing to spend loads of time and money, you can indeed just pull the driveshaft and leave it that way, even leave the angle gear in.

If you want to go down the replacement route,
I am currently looking at replacing the angle gear myself and you can read more about that here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=87599

Joost

likewise11 · Post by **likewise11** » 17 Dec 2018, 20:23

Thank you to everyone who replied, unfortunately the repair isn't going to be as cheap as I had hoped. Good news is, here is a lesson to everyone, don't let unknown noises go undiagnosed!

The prop shaft center bearing also needs to be replaced, I can't find it anywhere as my drive shaft is about 51.5mm and the largest one I've found is 50mm, also the design of it seems to be different than what is offered by autozone or other auto parts stores. The "legs" on the bearing holder are too long. If colorado drive shaft has prop shafts with the bearings already installed I wouldn't be opposed to just getting one of those, I do want my AWD back.

Here is the bearing that is listed as being for my car but does not look the same.
https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/ ... ClEALw_wcB

Here is the bearing that LOOKS like the one for my car but its not the right size.
https://www.ipdusa.com/products/5854/10 ... earing-kit

I will obviously need a new angle gear now, I saw JVL's post about swapping angle gears, my engine serial number as seen on the side of the timing cover is "1144361" is that where you look for the brake or is it the VIN? Last 6 of my VIN is "426020"

Post by **jvl** » 18 Dec 2018, 01:09

As far as I understood the break is in the last six digits of the VIN number. See Dirks post ik the topic I linked to, Dirk mentioned another forum he got the info from. I bought my replacement angle gear based on this info. It does look the same, but haven't pulled the current angle gear yet so I can't confirm that they are identical.

For the propshaft, it's probably more economical to find a remanufactured or a good used one than replacing the separate parts.