hey all, thought i'd pick your brains on my 1990 240. seems that there is a thumping/knocking sound coming from somewhere underneath the car upon accelerating from a stop and braking to a stop. sounds like its coming from the middle or rear of the car. the frequency of knocks seems to correlate with the speed of the car, although the sound dissapears once i get going around 25mph or so. car otherwise runs great. i gave a general scan of the underside of the car and nothing looked out of the ordinary. any ideas?

I would have thought, Rear bushings. They Clunk at low speeds during acceleration. Mine started clunking pretty good at 150K. That's when I replaced them. The Exhaust hanger is a possibility Those 'Runnerbands ' do break but I would guess you would hear that at any speed. Are you sure you didn't stick Old Aunt edna in the trunk? :)
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The '89 Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me

Hello:

I am closing in on a solution to a knocking/thumping issue in my '92 245. Like yours, mine was most pronounced at lower (city street) speeds. In my case the torque rod bushings in the rear suspension were shot, causing noises as well as some sagging of the rear of the car. After replacing them with FEBI/Bilstein replacement bushings (4 x $8 from FCPgroton.com) things improved markedly. Further inspection revealed that both rear shock absorbers were completely shot-- leaking oil and no damping effect on either. I have ordered Boge replacements from VLVworld.com for $63 USD including shipping to Canada-- the best price I have seen anywhere...

This should solve my knocking and thumping sounds. You may want to look at your rear trailing arm bushings as well-- they are often involved if you are hearing the noises at starts and stops.

Good luck!
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Herb Goltz, London, Ontario, Canada '92 245 w/109K mi

My vote is also the center-bearing. Another possibilty ( kinda unlikely)- how about a busted exhaust hanger?

Hello,

I would figure the drivershaft center bearing or one of the u-joints is gone.

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Happy Bricking!!! - Richard - '87 245 DL , '82 242 GLT - Half a million km between them!!!