Could the gland nut securing the strut in the tube have loosened? That will cause clunking. Check your top strut nut as well. Couple years back I had front struts replaced. Gland nuts loosened after a few months causing rumbling clunking, almost sounding like bowling pins being knocked down.

Good Luck, Erich Zappe
Ottawa

Here’s an IPD Tech Tip for front end clunks. Maybe this will help.

Check the following first:

Front crossmember bolts (2 on each side) accessed from each side of the engine compartment. 17 mm socket, loosen one-half turn, torque to 55 ft pounds.

A-Arm front bushing bolts (2 total) accessed from under the car behind the steering rack bellows. With weighted suspension, 19 mm socket, loosen a bit, torque to 54 ft. lbs.

A-Arm rear bushing mounts, three bolts each side, 14 mm socket, loosen a bit, torque to 29 ft lbs.

Rear A-Arm nut is hard to reach, torque to 40 lbs.

My son's car clunked like crazy. It had very loose A-Arm rear bushing mount bolts. Torqued them and the clunk disappeared. Free and easy.

Good luck.
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Thanks to everyone for the help, Doug C. 81 242 Brick Off Blocks, stock, M46; 86 244, 140k , auto.

I had a clunk after doing rear control arm bushings. I could hear it from the right side when turning hard left. I could trigger it by making drastic left and right turns while weaving between lanes driving about 20 mph down a deserted road. Turned out to be the lower bolt on the link rod, where it connects to the control arm. I left it loose while feeding the top through the sway bar eyelet, and forgot to tighten it up afterwards.

I had the same problem and was looking for a diagnosis at last weekend's local Volvo Club DIY session at Annapolis Volvo. My car is a 1991 240 DL with 119 k miles. The tech showed me how to test the rear control arm bushing. Take a pry bar or very large screwdriver and lever at the forward flange as is trying to pry the bushing out of the bracket. A work bushing will move noticeably while a tight bushing will hardly budge.

Mine gave at least 1/2", and he said it was worn but could wait if I wanted to for a while. He also said they delaminate when they fail and get really noisy. for some reason, the left wears much more than the right, so Volvo OEM rca bushings are thicker on the left than on the right.

HTH,

someguyfromMaryland

I looked at the rear control arm bushing through the hole with a light, and really I must say it looks 100% intact, I could not move the arm but then again much couterpressure from spring... but again really it does look 100% intact - I am assuming it's ok.

Given your description I'd still suspect the control arm bushings. When you go over a bump there is a lot more force delivered to the A-arm than you can begin to duplicate with the car jacked up. And a visual check won't always tell you what you need to know. Did you tighten the bolts at the control arm? Also tighten the crossmember bolts, and the end link grommet bolts. Tighten up everything you can see on the suspension. If none of that gets rid of the clunk, swap out the control arm bushings and report back the results.

Did you check the torque on the 4 crossmember bolts inside the engine compartment? These are know to loosen up overtime
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1990 240 Sdn 277K,tach,strut brace,turbo sway 1990 240 Wgn M47II 157K,tach,strut brace,poly bushings,IPD sways

retorque the subframe where it bolts to the car. good luck, chuck.