Thanks Beth,

The dealer replaced my right front axle earlier to no affect. I still think this problem is related to the sub-frame mounting. We'll see on my next visit to the dealer.

I am working on a similar problem with my 1999 V70 AWD. I first took it to the dealer at ~48,000 miles 6 months ago. I heard the clunking initially from the rear wheels but the same noise has since moved to the front wheels as well. I'm now at 57,000 miles and dealer still can't fix the problem (luckily they're still working it under warranty since it's the same problem they can't solve). The car is back in the shop today to work on it again.

There was a service bulletin related to the XC suspension that supposedly fixed this noise problem. The service tech said the clearance (or lack thereof) between the spring and other suspension parts was causing part wear. The fix was to replace the spring seats with a redesign and replace other misc. parts. However, since my V70 has a lower ride height, the Volvo North America service rep had the dealer replace only the spring seats.

Of course that hasn't worked. It's frustrating to have a noise that isn't always repeatable. At least the service reps have ridden around with me and heard the noise, but they've gone over and over both front and rear suspension and can't see anything obviously wrong. Could I have the bevel gear problem? I've heard this is a huge repair bill, like $3000-5000. Is the "figure 8" test a good way to verify the problem???

Jonathan

Thanks for your response Herb. On my first couple visits to the dealer I offered to demonstrate the problem for the service manager, he said, "don't worry we'll fix it". On a latter visit to another dealer, I test drove it with a tech and as luck would have it we couldn't hear anything over the ambient noise in the area. BTW, do you know what a bevel gear inspection consists of and what it takes to condemn one? Also, the noise I'm hearing sounds very much like the noise I often hear when shifting from drive to reverse and back etc. This noise started concurrantly with the turning noise. I've demonstrated this noise at both dealers and they haven't thought much of it. Could this noise also indicate a bad bevel gear? I'm on the verge of 50,000 miles and really don't want to pay for a bevel gear. Thanks in advace for any light you can shed on this.