Driveline vibration

**srs** · 04-04-2006, 06:11 PM

Any suggestions on common causes of driveline vibration.

My 1998 V70XC vibrates but only between 65 and 70 mph. The intensity of the vibration does vary but for no known reason. It is felt throughout the car (steering wheel, seats, accelerator pedal, dash). I first noticed it after the propeller shaft was replaced because the "front CV joint of the shaft lost it's lube" but this may be a coincidence. Slipping the transmission into neutral has no affect, nor does increasing load going uphill, decreasing load while coasting downhill or while braking though the affected speed range. The dealership that replaced the propeller shaft could not reproduce the vibration because they are not near an expressway. It had a couple other inspections with no obvious problems.

There has been a lot of maintainance since the vibation began including replaced tires, brake rotors/pads, parking brake pads, front struts, outer tie rod ends, spark plugs, lower right and upper motor mounts and it has had two alignments and a trans flush all with no affect.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

**TScarola** · 04-04-2006, 06:18 PM

I hate to make an uneducated guess, but if I did I would have to say that the prop shaft was not installed correctly. You need to make that service center/dealership reproduce the problem ~ drive them to an expressway! I mean... if the problem started after the prop shaft was replaced, the logical explanation would be that there is something incorrect about the shaft. Maybe it was not balanced properly during installation? Just a guess. Good luck.

Originally Posted by srs

Any suggestions on common causes of driveline vibration.

My 1998 V70XC vibrates but only between 65 and 70 mph. The intensity of the vibration does vary but for no known reason. It is felt throughout the car (steering wheel, seats, accelerator pedal, dash). I first noticed it after the propeller shaft was replaced because the "front CV joint of the shaft lost it's lube" but this may be a coincidence. Slipping the transmission into neutral has no affect, nor does increasing load going uphill, decreasing load while coasting downhill or while braking though the affected speed range. The dealership that replaced the propeller shaft could not reproduce the vibration because they are not near an expressway. It had a couple other inspections with no obvious problems.

There has been a lot of maintainance since the vibation began including replaced tires, brake rotors/pads, parking brake pads, front struts, outer tie rod ends, spark plugs, lower right and upper motor mounts and it has had two alignments and a trans flush all with no affect.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

**srs** · 04-04-2006, 06:39 PM

I agree but the closest expressway is a one hour drive. Perhaps I will make the half day trek to one of the urban dealerships which are closer to an expressway.

I would think that propeller shaft balance problems would be more constant at all speeds. I was guessing maybe the bevel gear or AWD system might produce my problem.

**geofmd** · 04-05-2006, 08:00 AM

I'm having the same problem with my '99 v70 x/c. The same scenario as well. When the front CV joint of the drive shaft went bad there was a hell of a vibration and noise. I'm wondering if the vibration could have damaged the drive shaft. Is it possible to remove the drive shaft and test drive the car to isolate the problem? Has anyone done this?

**srs** · 04-05-2006, 05:03 PM

In my case the drive shaft, a $950 part (under extended warranty) was replaced with the 65-70mph vibration occuring afterward. No problems prior. They noticed it incidentally while evaluating a seperate problem they were having difficulty diagnosing which eventually turned out to be a broken right motor mount. This was causing a grinding vibration but only with left hand turns. The two vibrations were quite different but I suspect there is a potential relationship. It took a year and multiple visits and failed repairs (like new wheel bearings) before the broken motor mount replacement fixed the left turn vibration. Perhaps it caused the drive shaft problem.

Am I to understand you had a bad vibration/noise, then the front CV on the driveshaft was replaced leading to a problem like I am experiencing? I am not famaliar enough with this car to know if the CV joint is intergral to the shaft or if it can be replaced seperately. I have heard of the driveshaft being removed as a test but I have also heard this may damage the AWD system much like not rotating tires regularily.

**cossie1600** · 04-05-2006, 05:49 PM

i have a slight vibration when i let off the gas between 60-40mph too. The vibration is mostly at the steering wheel.

**hotvolvo** · 04-13-2006, 06:27 PM

I have a 98xc with the same condition which has now worsened to vibrating all the time...and pretty anoyingly in town at 30mph. I replaced the rear drive shaft and carrier but that didn't help (thought carrier had excessive play but ? what's excessive). I've replaced brakes rotors and the wheel bearings were all tight. Perhaps it is the front passenger side driveshaft. Anyone else solved this vibration?

My 1998 V70XC vibrates but only between 65 and 70 mph. The intensity of the vibration does vary but for no known reason. It is felt throughout the car (steering wheel, seats, accelerator pedal, dash). Slipping the transmission into neutral has no affect, nor does increasing load going uphill, decreasing load while coasting downhill or while braking though the affected speed range.

**moose_man** · 04-17-2006, 04:08 PM

I had started a post some time ago about a problem with vibration, and more noticabley at first, noise coming from under my car. The noise was the same as you would get when tapping on the driveshaft with a metal object (ie: the blade of a screwdriver) and sounds like a "pinging" type of noise. At first I though something was hitting the driveshaft, but I could find no such thing. Fianlly I took the car to a Volvo shop and they correctly diagnosed the problem as the rear driveshaft itself.

At first I discovered that it would be around $1000 to replace the rear drivshaft with a new one, so to be sure before I did anything else I removed the driveshaft and gave it a little test drive around the block. The noise and vibration were gone, so I figured that the original diagnoses was correct. Then I searched on the internet for a used driveshaft and after quite a bit of looking and calling I was able to find one for $275 shipped to my house. I have since replaced the drivshaft and had no other problems with noise of vibration.

A few notes of interest. I drove the Volvo aproxitmaely 4000 miles with this condition and while the vibration did get a little worse it did not seem to cause any other damage. I considered driving without the rear driveshaft, using the front wheels only, but was discouraged from this idea by the shop who had correctly diagnosed the problem. They claim that continued driving without the rear driveshaft in place will damage the rear end. Also, after removing the original rear driveshaft I discoverd that the u-joint coupling near the transmisson was bad. Unfortunately it is a sealed deal, connected by a flange to the transmission. No way to replace the u-joint only, so I had to replace the whole shaft. I hope that this helps some folks out there experiencing the same problem. Good luck!

**steve1957** · 04-17-2006, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by hotvolvo

I have a 98xc with the same condition which has now worsened to vibrating all the time...and pretty anoyingly in town at 30mph. I replaced the rear drive shaft and carrier but that didn't help (thought carrier had excessive play but ? what's excessive). I've replaced brakes rotors and the wheel bearings were all tight. Perhaps it is the front passenger side driveshaft. Anyone else solved this vibration?

My 1998 V70XC vibrates but only between 65 and 70 mph. The intensity of the vibration does vary but for no known reason. It is felt throughout the car (steering wheel, seats, accelerator pedal, dash). Slipping the transmission into neutral has no affect, nor does increasing load going uphill, decreasing load while coasting downhill or while braking though the affected speed range.

All, I have a 2001 xcv70. I am always experiancing bad vibration....I take off the rear wheels, clean all the stuck mud from inside the rims. big chunks gather inside after driving on a wet gravel road..... This causes a lot of serious imbalance and bad vibration. Very poor designed alloy rims I must say.

**hotvolvo** · 04-22-2006, 06:48 PM

First I replaced a broken right (passenger) motor mount. It helped by eliminating motor movement that I hadn't really noticed before (makes the engine smoother-at least in the engine bay). I also replaced the viscous coupling to eliminate the pinging/snapping sounds. And, I replaced the driveshaft with a used one...which lasted about 5,000 miles and needs to be replaced again due to the vibration it is causing. I believe it is the carrier bearing that is worn. I have started to also get the pinging back from the new VC just like it started before. I removed the driveshaft and drove a couple miles out of town to take it up to speed. Vibration is gone with the driveshaft as is the VC pinging (since it is no longer operational without the driveshaft). I plan to drive it without the rear driveshaft until I can save $2000 for a new VC and driveshaft. We'll see if it breaks anything in the tranny without the rear driveshaft installed.