C70 Severe Vibration when accelerating

xk150 · Post by **xk150** » 22 Mar 2012, 21:17

Good Evening,

Have a new issue with my 2002 C70 HPT... 167K Miles... I am starting to get a pretty severe vibration when accelerating... Mostly coming from a stop but it also happens when cruising and Iaccelerate.

Just had a new set of tires installed... first I thought they had not balanced tires properly... the shop rebalanced the tires and my issue is the same.

Only other thing I can think of... at times when making a sharp left turn, hear an odd noise...

Could this be a bad ujoint in one of the axle drive shafts?

Hope it is not the transmission faiing...

Thanks

Post by **MoVolvos** » 23 Mar 2012, 00:09

Vibration in the steering wheel, car shake, lurching, side to side, engine miss, what speed etc...

Have you tried a different gear from a stop does it do so in reverse?

Please describe the odd noise on the turn and does it do so turning right? Go to an empty shopping center and do circles left and then right increasing and decreasing the radius on the circles but holding the various radius and accelerating and de-accelerating and describe what you hear and feel? If there are issues try this backwards also. Careful if there is a problem not to push it!!!

Blessings,

BKM
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xk150 · Post by **xk150** » 24 Mar 2012, 19:50

Thanks for the reply...

The vibration seems to be coming from the power train... I get the vibration when accelerating... more so when the car warms up... also, transmission seems to be slipping a little... engine revs a little at the shift points.

Will head over to a school parking lot tomorrow... will be empty and try the driving in circles.

Engine running like a top... no lurching, no side to side...can definately feel the vibation in steering wheel...

The noise almost sounds like the tire rubbing on something when I make a hard left turn...

Do you think a bad u-joint could cause the vibration... am also going to check the front motor mount by crank pulley.

Thanks

Post by **MoVolvos** » 25 Mar 2012, 00:15

xk150 wrote:Good Evening,

Have a new issue with my 2002 C70 HPT... 167K Miles... I am starting to get a pretty severe vibration when accelerating... Mostly coming from a stop but it also happens when cruising...

Did this happen before the new tires? IMPORTANT!
Check for broken CV Boot?
What brand of tires and Do you see any obvious blister/bulge in the tire? Tires can balance with a bulge but will ride bumping and feel like a vibration.

Can your car start in neutral, meaning are you able to shift the car to neutral while driving/cruising when the vibration happens and see if it goes away when it is in neutral and see if it changes and then shutting the engine off and restarting? I do not recommend this unless you can get yourself on an empty road and your skills allows you to put your car in neutral and shutting down the engine and see if the vibration goes away and restart. This is a good way to eliminate engine and transmission as a factor (not perfectly) and shift the focus to suspension including drive-shaft (u-joint) and tires.

Blessings,

BKM
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Post by **anodyne** » 27 Mar 2012, 21:21

Not sure if you fixed your problem or not, but i had the same problem recently. Culprit: left rear stay, or toe rod, corroded and broken clean through. Not sure if your car (without AWD) has one, but car vibrated pretty bad as it should have-the tire must have been wobbling. Thought it was the propshaft and in the process of removing that, noticed that the stay was broken. Might be the same for you.

xk150 · Post by **xk150** » 30 Mar 2012, 20:49

Got under the car last night... when the car was on the ground, I noticed some play in the right axle shaft (outer ujoint) when I grabbed it and pushed up and down... the car has not been driven in about a week... My vibration issue does not occur right away but after i drive the car for a period of time... wonder if the grease in the axle shaft gets thinner after heating up a bit... and if the issue is a worn out ujoint it get more pronounced.
On the drivers side... after I jacked up the car, I grabbed the tire at 12 and 6 tried to move back and forth... all tight... at 3 and 9, getting a little play... which is funny since I just had volvo replace the inner tie rod...

Anyway, I ordered 2 aftermrket axle shafts from FCP... will install and see if the corrects the problem...

By the way, i did take take the car to a empty parking lot and drove in circles both left and right... right no problems... even going pretty fast... Left, i get a strange noise.. like a grinding... I this occurs while going left... would it be the left axle shaft?

Thanks

Post by **MoVolvos** » 30 Mar 2012, 21:09

xk150 wrote: right no problems... even going pretty fast... Left, i get a strange noise.. like a grinding... I this occurs while going left... would it be the left axle shaft?

Thanks

Axle Shafts usually click or knock when really bad on turns rather than create a Grinding noise. Grinding could be the brake pads or rear brake shoes but that means something is flexing creating an air gap in front brake pad or rear shoe as they are just barely touching the Rotors front or rear. I just installed some OEM Honda Brake Pads on an 2001 Odyssey and the previous person put Aftermarket Pads which were slightly smaller. The Rotor (Did not get them turned) had to cut the new pads in other to seat and will hear the grinding noise only on left cornering or left turns. Lessening with time but sounds like two rusty Swords rubbing together but constantly.

I would first bring it back to Volvo as this occurred after their work so they need to check it out for you!

Blessings,

BKM
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