Front end noise

[scot850]

I'm not sure the front springs are different on an XC. The mounting points on the strut and the strut is different to a non-lifted AWD. Same at the rear hubs.

I'll try to find a part number for the springs to use to find them. For that I will need the 8 digit number on the lower right of the Vin# plate by the battery. This gives the spring codes as well as shocks, and swaybar.

Neil.

[jsrnsis]

I'm not sure the front springs are different on an XC. The mounting points on the strut and the strut is different to a non-lifted AWD. Same at the rear hubs.

I'll try to find a part number for the springs to use to find them. For that I will need the 8 digit number on the lower right of the Vin# plate by the battery. This gives the spring codes as well as shocks, and swaybar.

Neil.

The VIN for this car is YV1LZ5649W2522367

Interesting about the mounting points, I'll have to compare when I get the chance.

[scot850]

Thanks for the Vin#, but what I need is the 8 digit number to the lower right on the engine bay Vin# plate by the battery. Those 8 digits give the suspension and steering rack info:

Suspension info

Neil.

[jsrnsis]

Thanks for the Vin#, but what I need is the 8 digit number to the lower right on the engine bay Vin# plate by the battery. Those 8 digits give the suspension and steering rack info:


2000 V70R Identification plate 006.JPG



Neil.

My bad, I misread your post.

3WA6SWB4 looks to be what you need.
New Sachs struts came today, I noticed that they don't have the little clip for the ABS wire. The ones that were in my car have plastic clips, hopefully they can be transferred over. All the other ones I've dealt with have had metal "ears" for this purpose.

Still waiting on getting this all together. FedEx was able to get my struts from Georgia before the USPS got me the new bump stops from Connecticut, even though the struts shipped out a day later.
This is still better than FCP's previous policy of having non-stocked items shipped to them first, and then packaged with all the other items before being shipped out to the buyer.

[jsrnsis]

I believe I found the source of the noise on my passenger side.



My driver's side strut bearing was also binding up in one place, and I believe that was the source of the "popping" sound when turning. It seems when the original owner paid the dealer $$$$ to do a strut job in 2012, they didn't replace these bearings. It also looks like the dealer used a hammer and chisel to remove the cross-shaped retaining nut instead of the specialty tool.

I still need to get everything back together and go for a test drive to see if I really fixed something.

Also I found out what a bad sway bar bushings really sounds like on another car of mine, I'll upload a picture later. Definitely a very distinct sound vs what I was hearing on this XC.

[jsrnsis]

Problem solved. Changed the struts, spring seats, and strut bearings. I used new rubber covered washers (part #s 30647969, 30645251, 9492881) on top, and put the rubber spacer (part # 9157705) in between the spring seat and strut mount.
Sound is gone and car drives so nice now, I'm scared to drive it and wear anything out.

The spring seats that came out of the car were Volvo brand with a 2015 manufacture date, so I was wrong saying they were done in 2012. But the spring seats were still in good condition . The struts still had good resistance, but not as smooth as the brand new ones. I suspect the real issue was the dealer not replacing the strut bearings in 2015, they might have appeared to still be "good enough", as they reused the top rubber washer as well dated 1997. They didn't include the rubber spacer washer between the spring seat and strut bearing either.

So to anyone reading this, don't rule out worn strut bearings as a cause for a constant, rapid, very faint dull thudding.

[jsrnsis]

I guess I'll continue posting here for the issue I'm having on our white wagon.
Power steering leak was noticed when pump started groaning, we tried adding ATP205 when topping off the reservoir, but leak continued. The inner and outer tie rods were replaced within the last year, and no leaks were noticed inside the boots.
We think we tracked the leak down to what could be a small rust weep hole in this line.

But for the front end noise on this car, it was a loud metal on metal clank over bumps, a few clanks rather than a rapid rattle of a heat shield.

The sound could be reproduced by pushing down on the fender like you were trying to give it CPR, and I had my dad do this as I stuck my head under to take a look. I pulled down on the end of the sway bar as he was doing this, and the sound mostly went away. To make sure it was a sway bar issue, we put it in the air and took off the end links on both sides, which were replaced within the last year, and all the ball joints seemed nice and tight. Driving around with the end links out resulted in a nice, clank-free drive, confirming the problem to be sway-bar related.

While doing that, we noticed that someone had already been in there, and replaced the bushings with orange poly bushings, and then proceeded to fill them/cover them in some type of silicone or polyurethane sealant. It's hard to tell in the pictures I took, but they also didn't remove the remnants of the vulcanized rubber from the original bushings off the sway bar.
The aftermarket brackets for the poly bushings have metal ears on them that are folded over to retain the bushings, but they extend almost all the way to the sway bar, barely enough space to get the tip of a mini pick between them. So it seems the bushings or they sealant filler broke down and now the sway bar has enough vertical free play to clank against these metal lips over bumps.

So, new sway bar, steering rack, power steering hoses, subframe inserts, and subframe bolts are on order.