S40 (New) G/box : Loud drone from front of S40 T5 /54 plate.

[eethon]

Sorry my first thread is asking for help buy I'm starting to get a bit worried about my new car. It's an S40 T5 geartronic with 68k miles. I've had it a few days and juts noticed a droning noise (not quite a whiring but like really loud road noise) above 40-50mph it overpowers the sound of the engine and gets louder the faster you go. It got so bad on my way to work tonight I had to turn round and swap cars. I'm paranoid it's the gearbox as I Can imagine it will cost a fortune to fix. At speed it sounds like it's revving high but rev counter says RPM's are fine (1500-3500)
I did a search and saw a few people with similar symptoms saying it's wheel bearings. But I am unable to localise the droning noise all I can say is it's from the front. The gearbox seems to work fine at low speeds, very smooth etc.

Any ideas what it might be or how I could test it is the gearbox of wheel bearings?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
James

[Bandit12]

I would say it's more likely to be the wheel bearings, or one of them. Noise is hard to pinpoint in cars

[deathrider311271]

wheel bearing, get it to a garage they will check it FOC

[capt jack]

If the gearbox is otherwise working, and the fluid isn't burnt or low then a wheel bearing is by far the most likely culprit.

Jack the car up safely and firmly hold each front wheel at the 12 and 6 positions and try to rock the wheel, repeat at the 3 and 9 positions and try to rock the wheel from side to side.

Any perceptible movement suggests wheel bearing wear. Be warned though - you don't always get movement with a wonky bearing, but it's worth a try.

Run your hands over the tyres to make sure that they aren't damaged in any way!

While you've the car in the air (again with safety in mind) have a good look around for anything obvious - an oil leak from the gearbox, torn CV boots etc.

If you've only recently got the car can you not get it back to the supplying dealer (if you got it from a garage)?

Another simple check is to drive moderately round a steady right-hand bend (eg a big roundabout), if the noise gets worse it's probably the left hand bearing that's shot. Then try a big left hand bend - if the noise gets worse then it'll be the right-hand bearing! Driving round a wide-ish bend can stress the worn bearing making it a bit worse temporarily! I think I've got this the right way round - I'm sure an expert will put me right if not! It's not the most elegant of tests but it's worth a try!

Finally, take the car to quiet empty car park, wind down each front window in turn and drive in slow tight circles, first one way then the other. Any regular clicking noise would indicate a worn CV joint. With the windows down you should be able to tell which side it's coming from.

Hope that helps a bit

Cheers

Jack

PS: It isn't always easy - it took 3 garages to get my n/s wheel bearing noise diagnosed. One (a Volvo main dealer!) actually said they thought the gearbox was shot!

[eethon]

Cheers guys I'll have a good look tommorrow. I did have it up on the ramps today and there were no leaks and the cv joint gators were in good order. I did check the gearbox dip stick and it showed 1/3rd up in the area that said cold level although the car had been off and cooling for around an hour it was still warm it may have been a bit low. That may have been due to the angle with the fronts being up on the ramps tho.
The oil was red/brown but did not smell burned.

[eethon]

OK so I checked the wheels today and didn't notice any discernible play in the bearings.

So went out for a drive and when the noise got pretty bad I knocked it into Neutral and the Drone remained, This lead me to the conclusion it wasn't the gearbox and is in fact the front wheel bearings.

I then went round a roundabout at speed and the Drone got notably worse. When going round a corner the other way it seemed to get slightly quieter.

Using the afore mentioned logic I'm 99% sure its the passenger side front wheel bearing. Although it didn't have any play when jacked up all the other symptoms fit.

Thanks for the suggestions it really helped me pinpoint the problem to hopefully solve it.

Anyone know where I can get the bearing at a good price or any info on changing the hub bearing?

[capt jack]

Worth trying your local main dealers for starters -they should give a fixed price quote, and you'll know that it's done right with genuine parts.

I paid £185 last year to a good reputable Volvo indy (Dyrdals of York) for my 97 V70 auto, so I guess you could probably take that as your bench-mark.

The alternative is of course DIY. Try partsforvolvos online, but best bet would be Rufe on here. Genuine Volvo parts, main dealer so they know their stuff, excellent service and very competitive prices with next-day delivery.

Good luck

Cheers

Jack

[eethon]

Originally Posted by capt jack

Worth trying your local main dealers for starters -they should give a fixed price quote, and you'll know that it's done right with genuine parts.

I paid £185 last year to a good reputable Volvo indy (Dyrdals of York) for my 97 V70 auto, so I guess you could probably take that as your bench-mark.

The alternative is of course DIY. Try partsforvolvos online, but best bet would be Rufe on here. Genuine Volvo parts, main dealer so they know their stuff, excellent service and very competitive prices with next-day delivery.

Good luck

Cheers

Jack

Cheers for the heads up but i changed it over today.
I got the hub and bearing assembly for £50 with next day delivery.

Only problem is it didnt fix the damn droning noise! doh! Rekon its worth changing the right hand side bearing too? as i wasnt 100% it was the passenger side.
failing that what else could cause this noise?

Also its worth noting there is no way on earth to remove the bearing and hub assembly without taking off the whole carrier and paying a mechanic to press the old one out and the new one in.

[jco]

This may sound odd but are you sure its not the tyre(s) - you could try a front to back rotation although this may not help if they are all the same make.
If you can find (safely) a long hill you could try a coast down (leave engine on though for powerr steering and brakes)

[stevo48]

Originally Posted by jco

This may sound odd but are you sure its not the tyre(s) - you could try a front to back rotation although this may not help if they are all the same make.
If you can find (safely) a long hill you could try a coast down (leave engine on though for powerr steering and brakes)

I agree with jco, the s/v40 range tend to be very fussy when it come to tyres.
Block pattern tread tends to create a lot of road noise and as the tyres wear they can get very noisy (moreso the rears). I would try swapping front to rear just to see if it makes any difference.