S60 Suspension: Groaning noise from the rear offside

[ilmiont]

Lately I've noticed a kind of squashing noise from the rear.

While rocking the rear, there's an obvious groan from the offside. The front is quiet. I think this is the same sound I'm hearing as a softer squash/squelch inside the car.

+ YouTube Video

Am I looking at new shocks?

Car rides fine, handles fine and sits fine, and I've noticed no change in those characteristics during my ownership.

[bkulcsar]

You might have a broken spring... You have to check it thoroughly. It is not always visible at first sight.

[Georgeandkira]

+1 on the care it takes to locate a broken spring but my money's on aged shocks.

[ilmiont]

To update this, back in September when I created the thread, the noise had been around since approximately mid-August and was clearly audible when rocking the car, as shown in the video.


Sometime around mid-October, coinciding with several hundred miles on B-roads (which had the other side-effect of knocking the exhaust loose), the noise disappeared and has not been heard since.


Rocking the car now and it's silent, no noises when driving, everything seems to ride and sit normally. Has been like this for weeks now, but prior to that the noise had been conspicuous for several weeks and many hundreds of miles.


Took the car in this week to have the exhaust replaced, showed the video attached to this thread and requested it would be looked into. Came back as no fault found... springs/bushes all looking OK, no visible shock issues (although as it's at 132k and original rear shocks, I'm still thinking of having all four done next year). Garage failed to replicate the noise in any way, same as me over the past several weeks.


Not much of a resolution for this thread though as root cause still unknown. Possibles include some internal shock issue which resolved itself, for now, or some debris stuck somewhere perhaps?


For now, it's cleared up and the car drives silently at last, after tolerating first this issue and then the exhaust which began as a gentle rattle in October and then rapidly worsened to a violent knocking which shook the whole car over bumps. The original Volvo exhaust lasted 90k and 10 years; the first owner's generic replacement (cat back) has only managed 40k and 6 years. Almost double the price but I've had her restored to Genuine Volvo parts and am delighted to have the factory chrome tailpipe on the car for the first time in my ownership! Here's hoping that with careful use, this exhaust runs closer to 90k than 40k, in which case the price difference would be eliminated.

[Georgeandkira]

Spend some of this Wintertime deciding what kind of shock/struts you want.
The damping power of your originals is quite diminished at your mileage.
Don't go cheap on dampers.

[paddy74]

I missed this thread in September

My bet is on nuts. This sounds like my XC a few years ago, a squirrel (or something like that) had "parked" two hazelnuts and one small stone between my struts and my shocks.

Good to hear it is gone and you got it sorted (in some way).

How much was the original exhaust from Volvo? In hindsight, having changed a few Volvo exhausts to no-names, only on the 960 the after market exhaust was comparable to the genuine part. With all others the genuine part would have been the cheaper alternative in the long run.

[ilmiont]

Originally Posted by paddy74

My bet is on nuts. This sounds like my XC a few years ago, a squirrel (or something like that) had "parked" two hazelnuts and one small stone between my struts and my shocks.

Hmm... the car is left parked less than 100 yards from a mature hazelnut bush that drops nuts all over the road in late August and early September. We have squirrels in the area too.

Plausibility of it being the same as yours... maybe it's possible!?

Originally Posted by paddy74

How much was the original exhaust from Volvo? In hindsight, having changed a few Volvo exhausts to no-names, only on the 960 the after market exhaust was comparable to the genuine part. With all others the genuine part would have been the cheaper alternative in the long run.

Part prices excluding VAT, paid to local independent Volvo specialist:

- 8684279 (Middle Section) - £228.50
- 30672324 (Rear Section) - £364.00

I also got a quote from FRF in Swansea with the forum discount code; it worked out almost the same, a little cheaper (about £20 I think) but the difference was small enough that it made more sense to have the garage handle it all for me. It had to be shipped from Sweden, apparently there's no S60 rear sections in the country at the moment.

Altogether quite happy with it; as you've said, all the posts I've read suggest the Volvo exhausts are better and I decided I did want to get the proper tailpipe back on the car. The first owner paid £231.67 for the generic parts (excluding VAT) back in 2014; taking into account inflation and 90k miles vs 40k miles, I think it not unreasonable to assume that my investment should pay off, while giving me the pleasure of having the authentic tailpipe styling.

Attached photo of the new, photos of what was on the car before -> here (when I bought the car I wasn't even too sure what tailpipe style it should have for the year, hence that thread, makes me feel stupid now though because in retrospect it was obviously wrong).

Been only 21 miles so far and it stinks of what I hope is just new exhaust smell. Hope to give her a couple of good long runs at the weekend, get the factory residues burnt off, and then give the tailpipe a first polishing to bring the shine up.