ok i have two (hopefully) simple questions and any help would be appreciated.

1. on my way to work this morning i noticed my wheel would shake back and forth noticably at about 25 mph. i stopped tightened my front lugnuts and checked the power steering fluid (which was a tad low, but my fluid in the trunk was frozen, so i didnt top off), and kicked off some snow from the wheels. the problem seemed to be solved, but i am wondering if there is anything else i should be concerned about (note: i have ruthlessly bombing my 25 year old rear wheel drive turbo 240 up my slightly snowy slightly inclinded driveway as nessacery according to the recent snow storm, and am a bit concerned it have have skewed something) any thoughts?

2. while bombing my car up the drive way i ahve noticed that when i get stuck my rear drivers side wheel doesnt spin (only one time, the most recent, have i noticed this), but the pasanger side does. is it possible that i have a rear axel problem or would that be more evident by my car always want to spin in left circle or something. it does veer a bit to the left but that could be any number of things. is this car equiped with a traction control system that would acctually stop that wheel from spinning if it thought it would be more beneficial i to spin just the right side wheel? any help would be appreciated.

thanks
steven

This time of year it's common to get snow in your wheels while driving, then when you park the car the heat from the brake rotors will melt the snow. The water from the snow sits on the bottom of the wheels and when things cool down the water freezes and sticks to the wheels. This causes the wheels to become out of balance, just like if you lost a wheel balance weight. the only way to fix this is to chip out the ice or put the car in a heated garage till the ice melts away.

As far as I know most Volvos don't have limited slip rear axles and are prone to slip sideways sometimes. My wife has a tough time keeping her 92 745 Turbo wagon from doing this. I'm planning to get something to put in the back to weigh it down to see if this helps...

Best of luck getting thru this New England winter...
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Volvos4me4ever 1989 245 274K miles still going strong, 1992 745 Turbo 110K miles real nice!

1. It was most likely ice on the wheel.

2. The passenger side wheel spins first on my 83' 242 turbo as well, its normal beacuse the car doesn't have a limited slip.

3. These cars don't have traction control or ABS, so there will be spinning and lockups when traction is low or brakes are applied too quickly.

As long as you can make it up the driveway without wrecking then the car should be fine.

Good luck with all the snow,

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Zack Silver 83' 242Ti (222k)

#2: non-limited slip diff.

As for it beign the same wheel, when picture the mecahnical side of the drivetrain... If the driveshaft spins counterclockwise then there will be mor edownforce to the leftside wheel... hence the rightside wheel is more prone to spinning. That's my thought, I believe my 89 (w/o limited slip) usually spins the passenger side rear wheel.).
THIS is why when you see drag cars they lean to one side when taking off, and this is why I had an inflated suspension baloon on one side of my 1991 5.0 back in the good ol' days :) !

My 92 940 (w/ limited slip) seems to drift the power to both wheels..

Greg Mustang
Montreal
Canada

...interesting ... I need to check my spelling ...
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Happy Motoring Miguel '86 244 and '87 245

On the first question, you may have had some ice or snow build-up on the wheel and suspension. Did you mean the trunk lid was frozen?

For your second question, unless you have a limited slip or locking differential, the power will go to the wheel with the least traction. That wheel will spin on ice. Why it always seems to be the same wheel may be coincidence.

1. Check your tie rod ends..

2. It just means that your differential is NOT limited slip.

Be inetersting to hear what others think.

Amherst, I was on that campus in the '80's. I remeber the Library was only open for the 1st two floors because it was designed without taking into consideration the weight of the books.... What ever did they do about that?
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Happy Motoring Miguel '86 244 and '87 245