Occasional knock when turning near full lock
 

As the title really, the S60 makes an occasional (new i should add) knock when turning at or near to full lock (such as that is), happened yesterday as I turned right then full left at a roundabout.

I've had a quick search of the forums and sounds like it could be any number of things anyone have any ideas where I should start looking (haven't had time to jack it up yet)

Also whats the best point to jack up the car?
Thanks

Is it both ways or only one full lock?
Check that it's not a steering limiter has not lost the plastic cover. On full left that would be the offside. Check the tie rods, the inners especially. Check the steering rack mounting bolts and the wishbone bushes. After that you're into strut top mounts and drive shafts.

Thanks for the reply, can't remember if it was both ways or just the one.

Jacked the car up this morning and everything felt pretty solid with no play apart from the arrowed arm on the attached picture.

Is it supposed to do that or does it need replacing, also what is it?

That's a track rod end and play can increase as the rubber bush deteriorates.
luckily they aren't expensive to buy or replace.

As cheshired5 says that's your tracking or tierod. The can wear at either or both ends and can be replaced as a unit or just the inners or outers.

From memory, this joint can be rocked easily from side to side - that is to say the rod end can be rotated a few degrees either side of vertical and that doesn't indicate excessive wear. Although others refer to track rod ends as being a weakness prone to failure and replacement, I have never seen this on my own S80. Brendon's original list of suspects is pretty much spot on and it's quite difficult sometimes to identify the culprit whilst it remains on the car. Drop links can appear to be ok until removed and the same goes for the upper strut mounts and bearings. More easy to diagnose are the lower wishbone bushes where the front fails fairly regularly - 80 to 100k or so if you are lucky and the lower suspension ball joint.

On my own car, the failures were in the following order:
Droplink
Wishbone front bush
Upper strut mount assembly (rubber and swivel)
Shock
Lower ball joint.

Although I have replaced them as a matter of course when doing the fronts, the rear wishbone bushes haven't packed up on me. As I have already said, the steering track rod ball joint has always been ok and I am now up to 195k.

Interestingly, a loud crash/bang/wallop from the front suspension has been part of Volvo motoring for pretty well the entire life of the car (I have had it from new) and it really does seem to be a weakness in the overall design.

The arrow points the tie rod end, it should rotate with a little effort.

If you hear a tack tack, it's possible the CV joint (also called axle or trans axle). Have a look at the large black grease boots near each wheel (on the thick axle from the transmission) for leaking grease of cracks.

If you hear a clunk clunk, I have that too and I think it's a plastic steering stopper, don't think that's a problem. I should be same noise with steering both full right and left.


Jacking this vehicle sucks, because the standard jacking 'points' are two each side, near in between the doors. It's two rods, easy to see. But to easily jack it you can choose a thick triangular plate near each front wheel, one that has three bolt heads on it. Careful not to lift on other points that can be too weak.