Rear Right Rattle - S40 2001

[VuurtorenXL]

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping someone here might be able to help me figure out an issue I’m having.

I’ve got a rattle coming from the rear right suspension, mainly under heavy load or when taking corners. I’ve attached an MP3 file so you can hear the noise I’m talking about.

So far, I’ve replaced:
- Control arm
- Shock absorber
- Spring

But the rattle is still there.

Has anyone dealt with something similar or have any idea what else I should check? Any advice would really help.

Thanks in advance!

Volvo rattle RR.m4a

(149.4 KiB) Downloaded 29 times

[Vova585]

I would start with basics.
Brakes. Remove rear rotor and check if the brake shoes are properly adjusted and dont delaminate. Make sure all springs are properly installed. While removing the caliper- assure it is properly torqued and also if the anti rattle springs on brake pads are intact.
Check on the dust plate condition. It may be half rusted/broke and cause your rattle.
(I assume you checked bearing)

[VuurtorenXL]

Brakes I have also redone last year, this is all fine. The dust cover was indeed completely rusted away so this has been deleted for the moment. The rattle only occurs on corners to the left, and sometimes under heavy vehicle load so I sincerely doubt this is brake related.

[Vova585]

Still, I would recheck. If your dust plate is removed, it accelerates wear of your brake pads and brake shoes significantly. If you dod it last year, hopefully you put some antiseeze and it will be max 1 hour check. You already spent money to replace parts, you have nothing to loose but 1 hour of your time and a can of brake cleaner.

[VuurtorenXL]

Thanks for the suggestion, I really appreciate you thinking along.

I went ahead and checked the brakes again just to be sure, but everything seems to be in good condition and properly fitted. I don’t see anything there that could cause a rattle.

Still, it was definitely worth double-checking, so thanks for the idea!

[Vova585]

Thank you for the update. Is this a fwd or possibly awd/rwd car?(i am not an expert in s40 by any means). If you checked the brakes, already replaced half of suspension and rattle is there...I would look into muffler system. Sometimes you might have broken hanger or broken rubber support that makes muffler/resonator vibrate. Based on the audio, it does not sound to me like a heat shield of the exhaust system(but if you already there...). In case if rwd/awd i would look at support bearing condition and also if driveshaft has any marks/scrapes(famous case of v70xc "bam-bam-bam" after driving through a puddle). Good luck