'03 S80 Front Suspension Questions

Dave123 · Post by **Dave123** » 22 Jan 2010, 17:56

Recently developed a rattle in the front left (driver side) of my 2003 S80 that has 53k miles on it. Took it to a local mechanic who says that I need to replace the ft sway bar links, inner tie rod ends and outter tie rod ends. If the car had more miles on it I might believe it needs all of this work. The noise that started this investigation is a rattle that I can cause by cranking the wheel back and forth rapidly or when going over small bumps something rattles. It is not a clunk or creek typical of front suspension, I suspected maybe a strut. I can see where it might be the sway bar links rattling when they are not under any load. I went over to look at the suspension while it was up on the rack and could feel that there was a very slight amount of play in the inner tie rod ends. There was some slop in the outter tie rod ends while up in the air on the rack but I would expect that with the weight of the car on the suspension that this movement would be minimal. The garage owner said that the inner tie rod movement, which is minute, will cause tire wear and alignment problems. I've got no problem completing these repairs but having grown up in a service station find it hard to believe that all these parts are worn after only 53k miles, but alot has changed on cars since I was a kid.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Dave

Post by **polskamafia mjl** » 22 Jan 2010, 18:38

I know that on the 850/s70 cars there are spring seats up front that get worn and many times the sound is misdiagnosed as tie rod problems. I'm not a 100% sure that the s80 has spring seats. On the 850 you can do a bounce test to see if the spring seats are shot. Pop the hood and bounce the front of the car and look at the strut towers. If there is noticeable movement at the top of the strut towers the spring seats are shot (at least on the 850/s70 cars). Here's a link to a thread you should check out: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =1&t=23420

Dave123 · Post by **Dave123** » 23 Jan 2010, 03:45

Spring seat seem to be fine.

537playing · Post by **537playing** » 23 Jan 2010, 07:31

Start with the sway bar links first. They're a cheap part and easy to install. They are also the first suspension part to fail. I'm sure this will solve your issue.

Dave123 · Post by **Dave123** » 24 Jan 2010, 16:25

Thanks, that's what I was thinking. Also had a friend who is an engineer at Delphi take a listen an he thougt it might be a ball joint of the driver side front.

Magnum PI · Post by **Magnum PI** » 27 Apr 2010, 19:27

just went through this too. Thought the spring seat was OK, so replaced the lower control arm and bushings, but still slop, turns out the spring seats are next....