2006 XC90 Control arm and both tie rods replaced..

flatlander84 · Post by **flatlander84** » 23 Aug 2015, 13:23

Hello!

I have been reading intensively for many days until today I got under car to replace the inner/outer tie rods on the left (driver's) side on my XC90 2.5T 2006 model.

Last year around this time I had both front control arms replaced due to cracking noise. The bushings still look like new and the car has only been driven like 3000miles since. So it is quite unlikely that the control arms are again shot.

The symptom is, when I turn steering wheel to the end, left or right, there seems to be certain spot that I can always replicate 'creaking' noise or more like 'pop' or 'click'!

After reading forum threads, I got both inner and outer tie rods replaced. I am not 100% sure if the sound is exactly the same but almost the same symptom would persist.

I unlinked the swaybar rod end and put the wheel back to test the issue and was able to replicate the sound again so it was not that end links either.

Now I started to think that, because I did not do the alignment after replacing both control arms, there might have been some stress to suspension, maybe steering wheel rack, the gears are broken or going bad? Is this possible?

One another symptom that might be related to this noise is, when I go down the hill, sometimes, I can feel the heavy knocking (sound very low though) from the acceleration pedal which I was not pushing but touching as it was a downhill.

Please help find the problem!

Thank you so much in advance!!

difflock54 · Post by **difflock54** » 23 Aug 2015, 16:11

Check your engine mounts.

flatlander84 · Post by **flatlander84** » 24 Aug 2015, 00:24

It did not make the noise when the left wheel was off and car was on the jack and turning steering wheel to the end to end.

I think the noise got more pronounced after replacing inner/outer tie rods yesterday....

flatlander84 · Post by **flatlander84** » 24 Aug 2015, 06:53

This is what it sounds like.

And again, control arm, inner/outer tie rod, spring seat/top bearing assembly have been replaced recently and they still look clean. This sound is getting bigger and bigger.. could this be CV joint? I took this to garage today to no avail- they said they need to unscrew parts in order to properly examine. Guy said he is suspicious about the CV joint though.

Post by **oragex** » 24 Aug 2015, 07:02

Definitely not a tie rod or control arm noise.

How are the torsion bar end link ball joints, upper and lower. Moving easily? You can try twisting by hand the vertical bar to feel how the ball joints move.

Maybe a broken coil spring ? Does the spring move on the strut seating? Was this before replacing the top plate bearing? What brand is the top plate?

flatlander84 · Post by **flatlander84** » 24 Aug 2015, 07:27

oragex wrote:Definitely not a tie rod or control arm noise.

How are the torsion bar end link ball joints, upper and lower. Moving easily? You can try twisting by hand the vertical bar to feel how the ball joints move.

Maybe a broken coil spring ? Does the spring move on the strut seating? Was this before replacing the top plate bearing? What brand is the top plate?

Thanks a lot Oragex for responding!!

Torsion bar end links- to you mean anti roll bar (sway bar) end links right? Those were good. I tested it with them unlinked and the same noise still was being made.

Broken coil spring- do you mean the strut spring? Can it go really like that? Not sure what brand strut top plate and seat were but looked good quality products.

flatlander84 · Post by **flatlander84** » 24 Aug 2015, 10:33

After all it does sound like a spring sound. Will investigate.

difflock54 · Post by **difflock54** » 24 Aug 2015, 18:14

Having watched your video and heard the sound I think Oragex has probably got the broken strut spring coil diagnosis right.
Bad CV joints normally click when the drive shafts are actually turning as opposed to merely turning the wheel left or right as was done on the video.
Best test for CV's is an empty car park area and to perform full lock circle turns both clockwise and counter clockwise at low speed.

Post by **oragex** » 24 Aug 2015, 19:02

Indeed there were several situations reported by Volvo owners, with strut/shock springs that broke because of advanced rust. Reported mostly on XC70 models.
The lower and upper portions of the springs tend to rust. The spring can break in the middle but also in the lower portion where it seats on the strut.

flatlander84 · Post by **flatlander84** » 25 Aug 2015, 01:39

oragex wrote:Indeed there were several situations reported by Volvo owners, with strut/shock springs that broke because of advanced rust. Reported mostly on XC70 models.
The lower and upper portions of the springs tend to rust. The spring can break in the middle but also in the lower portion where it seats on the strut.

I jacked up the car w/o removing the wheel observed the spring and it looked ok. But I noticed rusty spring and torn off spring coating materials. This is a confusing stuff.. At least I was motivated to "update" my control arm and inner/outer tie rods so far.