My 1998 V70 AWD has a recently developed a major shudder/vibration starting at about 40mph and incerasining in intensity until about 65mph. I have had the car about a year without this problem. The car has 73,000 miles and had a new drive shaft just prior to my puchase with the prior owner complaint of vibration. The wheels are true and properly balanced, but it is clearly a powertrain problem the way the car is shaking. Any ideas on this one?

Hi,

You could have the following problems;

1) Drive shafts are precision balanced. If an attached weight fell off of the drive shaft then you would have the problem you are describing.

2) Also there are several bearing assemblies that hold the drive shafts to the car body. One is located on the front passenger axial and the other 2 hold the rear drive axial to the body. If one of these bearing assemblies went bad then the drive shafts will vibrate.

3) The Viscous coupling could be bad and or the Free-wheel unit could be bad. There is an easy test procedure that the Dealer can do the test out these components.

4) And the Universal Joint located at the Transfer-case could be bad. Several Owners have stated that these units have gone bad.

So you can see there is a lot of components that can cause problems. Find a good Volvo mechanic and have this Diagnosed before you have any repair done.

Good Luck,

Steven---

Thanks for the detailed information. Brought the car to the dealer who diagnoised the problem as a bad front wheel bearing. Cost $375 to repair. I pick the car up today..I'll let you know how I make out.

Hi,

That is a tough one to swallow! If you had a “real” bad wheel bearing then you would have a humming noise or a small vibration in the steering wheel. If the wheel bearing was starting to go bad then you would not even notice it.

I am still sticking to my original story based on your description. You have some type of problem with the engine ignition system.

Let me know what happens.

Good Luck,

Steven ~:-)

Steven:

I authorized the repair on the LF wheel bearing. Dealer replaced the entire hub and bearing for $375 and the vibration/shudder is gone. I was skeptical about this diagnosis, but took a leap of faith hoping that it was not a more serious failure of an AWD component, i.e bevel gear, vicous coupling, etc. Someone else suggested possible engine mount, which probably would have caused similar symptoms. What I can't understand is why the steering wheel was not shaking or why I never heard any failed bearing noise. In any event, I'm just happy its fixed. Thanks for your help.