Popping sound when turning around

[nwxc70]

Hello, I am new to the forum but have been lurking for some time and enjoy all the advice that is shared here.

I have to do a fair amount of 3-point turns (also referred to here as K-turns) due to my under-building parking garage. I notice that when I'm cranking the wheel either left or right, I often hear a popping or clunking sound for a portion of the tire rotation, maybe a half-turn of the steering wheel before I reach the stop. This is my first Volvo, but from past experience with other cars I'd guess its sounds most like dried CV joints or bushings that are worn.

I've taken to the dealer (still under warranty) three times now with no luck. Each time they have chased the sound spending lots of time pulling the front-end apart. They've retorqued bolts which they said were loose, and most recently replaced "front/rear subframe bushings/spacers". This seemed to help a bit but I still heard the sounds as I brought the wheels through their turning radius this morning. The sound seems to occur towards the end of the wheel swing.

Any ideas?

[Vwvolvo]

I have a 2002 XC and it does the same thing when doing a sharp turn at low speed coming out of my driveway and in parking lots. The noise is made by the slight movement of the axles in the wheel hubs. Their is a bulletin for this from Volvo. A friend of mine told me about this issue and he's a Volvo mechanic. The bulletin suggest to " lock " the axles in the hub by using Lock-Tite paste but he told me not to do it. The reason is that it would be a pain in the b.......t to remove the axles if the car ever needed repairs in the future that require the removal of the axles. The dealer even did put some grease in the hubs instead of " glueing " them.

So I didn't do anything and it isn't doing any damage to the car. If the noise was constant while driving around, it would be a different story but a little clunk here and there once in a while manoeuvring the car isn't that bad.

Regards

Luc
Montreal Canada

[nwxc70]

Thanks for the reassurance. I'd about decided that after all their checking around and conclusions that there was nothing wrong, this was something that I was going to have to live with, and its really not that bad. I admit I'm quite sensitive to anything that sounds imperfect. :) I have heard other sounds in other cars' steering and suspension systems from worn bushings and dried-out CV joints, and this does not rise to those levels.

Strange that they tell me that they have consulted with Volvo engineers and that's where they came up with the replacement of the front/rear subframe bushings/spacers. I wonder sometimes why all dealers who talk to Volvo don't get the same story. They acted as if this was not a problem that anyone had before. If there's a notice out about this you would think they would have come across it.

[Vwvolvo]

Since you mentionned bushings, I just want to make sure that it is the same '' sound '' and/or it is the same '' problem '' we're talking about. In my case almost everytime I back out of my driveway it'll do it once rarely twice when I turn the wheels almost to the max. It'll do a little '' tonk '' and that's it. Same happens sometimes going forward.

Hope this helps you !

regards

Luc
Montreal Canada