2012 XC70 — New owner, funny sound

[wellclay]

After years of driving an 850 and coming to love the dependability of that car as it carried me 300k miles I was excited purchasing my newer XC70. The car has 77k miles on it and is a one owner vehicle which I purchased from a non Volvo dealer who had it as a trade in. I did receive a 3 month power train warranty on the car.

Now I am noticing two things when driving the vehicle. The first is it seems to have some hard shifts in the lower gears. Shifting from 1 to 2, or 2 to 3 can have some shudders and small thumps. Should I be concerned about the health of the transmission, or is it time for a flush on the transmission and new fluid?

More concerning is I am noticing a grinding noise as a I turn at slow speeds. I will come to a stop and take a turn and I hear a grinding noise that seems to come from the wheels. Granted this does not happen every time, so it is hard to replicate. But it was not a one time fluke. Is it a problem with the axle?

I do want to come in armed a bit when I approach the dealer so they do not come at me with, "Oh, that is nothing to worry about." So any experiences would be helpful.

Thanks!

Patrick

[Skymongrel]

Patrick, regarding grinding noise on slow turns; I've had the dust shield on the wheel brush up against the rotor on turns after inadvertently bending the shield during a repair or wheel rotation. Maybe even hitting something in the road could bend it slightly.

[manovlov]

More concerning is I am noticing a grinding noise as a I turn at slow speeds. I will come to a stop and take a turn and I hear a grinding noise that seems to come from the wheels. Granted this does not happen every time, so it is hard to replicate. But it was not a one time fluke. Is it a problem with the axle?

I do want to come in armed a bit when I approach the dealer so they do not come at me with, "Oh, that is nothing to worry about." So any experiences would be helpful.

Thanks!

Patrick

Hy,

About the transmission, it could be a good idea to change the oil. It's not an expensive operation, and you will be good to know if the operation has solved the problem, or if you have to go further. If you do so, be sure to be able to open the screw that allow to do the level at first. Bleeding the old oil and unable to open the fill screw... A new seal will be helpful too.

Concerning the noise, it makes me think to the steering pump fluid. Also a small intervention. Jack the front of the car, extract the steering fluid as much as you can. with a seringe, unplug the return hose (low pressure hose) and plug it to another hose that goes in a bottle, fill the steering fluid reservoir, and turn wheels from right to left, several times. Keep an eye on the fluid level. At the end of the operation, you will see the new color fluid. Look a the level in the reservoir, drive couple of miles, control the level again to see where it is when the liquid is warm and you will be good to go.

I post you a French video to show you what I mean. It's in French, but the way to do is clearly explained.

Manov