V70 Suspension: Knocking from rear

[lynns hubby]

Well its a 2006 XC70. There is a knocking from the rear when going over rough roads etc. It sounded exactly like the roll bar end links do when one of the joints are worn. I have replaced both sides on the rear and it has made NO difference. I have checked all the bushes etc that I can find on the rear suspension and can not find any play on any of them. I appreciate its difficult to diagnose this sort of issue if you can not actually hear it for yourself but was wondering if there is something common to this model that I should be looking at?

[green van man]

Rear trailing arm front bushes are common fault. Last about 40k miles and a 300+ job at volvo .
Volvo bushes are £80 ish each and you need a tool available off ebay for around £120 to change them on the car. Then you need a 4 wheel alignment check/ adjustment..

These bushes hide behind a plastic cover so not visible untill cover removed.

Paul.

Sorry just realised I'm in the wrong section. The above refers to P3 cars but I leave it there for information in case it helps someone.

[ThomasG]

how about checking your spare wheel well?

maybe you have something bouncing about in there. a screwdriver or something.

sometimes these simple things are the hardest to catch

also worth checking:

if you have a towbar- fitting of that

and pretty much anything else that could have become loose with time

battery cover?

exhaust hangers and silencer top cover

even fuel filter (petrol has is underneath the car, rear-ish, not sure about diesel)

open boot covering just behind rear seats and check top strut mounts, you may need to bounce your car a bit for these

[JE Jr]

Originally Posted by green van man

Rear trailing arm front bushes are common fault. Last about 40k miles and a 300+ job at volvo .
Volvo bushes are £80 ish each and you need a tool available off ebay for around £120 to change them on the car. Then you need a 4 wheel alignment check/ adjustment..

These bushes hide behind a plastic cover so not visible untill cover removed.

Paul.

Sorry just realised I'm in the wrong section. The above refers to P3 cars but I leave it there for information in case it helps someone.

I had one of these bushings worn badly on my S60 P2. It was so bad it had even starting to wear the subframe so I actually had to change complete subframe... Symptoms just as described, knocking sound. Didnt find it first until I unloaded the bushings in front/aft direction and could feel it.

[lynns hubby]

Well after checking all that was advised by you fine chaps, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The trouble was the knocking got even more pronounced.
In desperation (and to stop my ears bleeding from my good lady) I booked it in with our local independent Volvo garage. (where we purchased the car last year). I went out with the mechanic on the test drive and it could be heard straight away. The mechanic agreed it was from the rear O/S and said straight away, it sounds your rear shock, I will get it up on the ramps to confirm.
Well I was pleasantly surprised when he came back and said that we had both been caught out as he could find nothing wrong with the rear end. The only thing he could find was a worn joint in the front roll bar end link. He demonstrated by moving it up and down rapidly which did give the same noise.
I have since changed both link rods as there was slight play in the other side and to date, it appears to have cured the noise (and kept my good lady happy)
It just goes to show that noises can be deceptive. Everyone who had listened to it was convinced it was the O/S rear.
£20 for the garage to diagnose the issue was money well spent.

Thanks to everyone as always for your input/suggestions.