2000 Volvo S40 Bad CV Joints?

YJCARL87

MEMBER
2000 VOLVO S40
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
146,300 MILES

I have lately noticed a "click" coming from the front of the car when I accelerate. If I let off the gas, there is another "click." I am pretty sure it is slack somewhere between the transmission and the wheels. I was nixing the idea that it was a CV joint, since there was no "clicking" noise while turning - most commonly associated with a bad CV. I had this slack problem before on a wrangler (which had U-Joints). Please tell me it's not the transmission!

3 Replies

JIS001

MECHANIC
3,408 POSTS

Noises are usually pretty difficult to diagnose. Now does the click happenwhen you accelerate from a stop? What happens if you are stationed still and you put the vehicle in drive and reverse back and forth. Does it click that way as well? If it does then that could be the axles making noise. If you remove the center cap you will hear it better while having some one put it in drive and reverse. If this is your problem, you do not need to replace the axles. What you ca do is get some metal adhesive and remove the axle from the hub area only. Clean the axle splines and the hub splines. Apply a small amount of metal adhesive too the axle splines only and reinstall. Let the adhesive cure for 6 hours.
Keep me posted.

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Sunday, September 13th, 2009 AT 3:55 PM

YJCARL87

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Thanks for the reply!

I did try to do a little more diagnosing today, and learned a little bit more. It does not sound like the hub is clicking when shifting through park and drive. However, once you shift from park to drive (while holding down the brake of course), the vibration increases greatly - more so than the car usually does. Once you put the car back into Park, or even Neutral, the vibration subsides. There is a click when placing the car in drive, but it sounds pretty normal - as if it's always done. The main problem seems to be when accelerating from a dead stop, or letting off the gas, there is a slack of some type. Also, if I'm driving and switch to Neutral, there is a similar click. I had replaced three of the four engine mounts last month because of terrible vibration problems, so I really doubt it's the fourth mount (checked it yesterday and it seems fine).

I would like to avoid applying adhesive to the splines on the drive axles, since I know sometime in the near future I will have to pull them out to replace the CV joints (if they aren't already bad). If it's only a problem of slight wear at the drive axle splines, and it doesn't have the potential to get worse - I'll let it go. Hope this helps!

Thanks!

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Monday, September 14th, 2009 AT 12:32 AM

JIS001

MECHANIC
3,408 POSTS

Sounds like you really know some stuff about cars. Wish I could give you some more advise but with out actually driving the car and feeling it out, it is very hard to give a good answer when it relates to noises. Keep me posted if you think you have narrowed it down. If it is just the axle splines having some wear then you really dont have nothing to worry. If you start to get a vibration while accelerating then replace the axles.

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Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 AT 12:07 AM