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(Discovered) Volvo S90 XC90 XC60 S60 T6/T5 AWD Vibration Issue SPA (AWD) - Propeller Shaft

12K views 32 replies 9 participants last post by  Kp5609 
#1 · (Edited)
(Solved) Volvo S90 XC90 XC60 S60 T6/T5 AWD Vibration Issue SPA (AWD) - Propeller Shaft

Hello everyone,

In reference with my previous thread regarding the weird vibration that happens at our AWD cars. The link: https://forums.swedespeed.com/showt...-S90-XC90-XC60-T6-T5-Vibration-Issue-SPA-2018.

I finally discovered the whole issue of this vibration. Changing the propeller shaft CV joint and the changing the tires did not resolve my vibration issue. Initially, after the dealer changed the front CV joint in the propeller shaft and advised to change the out of round tires was the solution for the whole vibration, however, after buying and installing the new tires the vibration didn't go away.

This frustrated me so much and I decided to video and record the propeller shaft movement while driving the car. Guess what!! The propeller shaft is moving like the egg while driving the car :D:D:D. No doubt that this will create the weird vibration in the car. Now, in such situation the whole propeller shaft has to be inspected, corrected, and balanced and that should do the trick. However, Volvo should intervene and fix the whole issue of my car and of course under warranty. I'm not paying any single dollar out of my bucket. I have paid enough for my trips to the dealer, balancing, and tire changes :mad::mad::mad:.

After this issue, I do not think an AWD car is worth it. It's just a mess and very costly in repair just like an air suspension. If it breaks, I will dumb everything in the trash and drive my car FWD. My previous S80 didn't cause me such troubles even after driving her for 170K miles.

To check your car (at your own risk), there are two ways:

1- Video recording while driving (ensure to use a proper mount and use reliable Jack Stands... Your safety first)

2- (Not advisable and not recommended) Lifting the car (the whole four wheels) and driving it in the air only by maximum 25 MPH. However, you have to disable the traction and expect the ABS and TPMS lights to illuminate in the clusters. They will turn off automatically after you drive the car on the ground more than 20 MPH.

:angryfire::angryfire::angryfire:Update 2: My discovery today confirmed why the propeller shaft is circulating like an egg. It turned out the donuts (bearing) that hold the propeller shaft are in complete disaster causing the play in the propeller shaft. I'm really not sure when this rubber was broke. Very bad quality rubber. This type of rubber should last more than 100K miles not 1000 miles. Sorry Volvo but you have to recall all the propeller shaft in the market now and ensure the rubber is very strong and will last at least 100K miles. We have wasted enough money in dealer trips, tires, and balancing:mad::mad:.

Anyway... Enjoy watching the below two videos...

Video 1: The propeller shaft movement while driving the car...



Video 2: The broken rubber in the bearing of the propeller shaft...



Here is a video that explains the balancing of the propeller shaft and how it must be perfectly round and straight:

 
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#2 ·
Would you elaborate on “moving like and egg”?

Everyone who has been affected by the vibration greatly appreciates what you have done. I would even say Volvo should as well. Thank you!
 
#4 ·
Based on your latest video yes, your prop shaft carrier bearing failed. That would indeed cause some unsteady elliptical motion of the shaft and a vibration.

Thing is I highly doubt a failed carrier bearing is the culprit for most people. Your dealer may be dumb and missed it but that's a very easy failure to spot and I doubt the majority of dealers miss that.

Calling for a recall with a single example is a bit rash, if all the cars have the failure sure, but you're the first failed carrier bearing i've seen reported.
 
#6 ·
Based on your latest video yes, your prop shaft carrier bearing failed. That would indeed cause some unsteady elliptical motion of the shaft and a vibration.

Thing is I highly doubt a failed carrier bearing is the culprit for most people. Your dealer may be dumb and missed it but that's a very easy failure to spot and I doubt the majority of dealers miss that.

Calling for a recall with a single example is a bit rash, if all the cars have the failure sure, but you're the first failed carrier bearing i've seen reported.
It's not just the bearing have failed, but the whole bearing design is poor and subject to failure. Also, the quality of rubber is really low. Such type of rubber should be strong to resist the heat and pressure coming from the exhaust and the circulation. The holder of the bearing is very loose and is not firm to hold the bearing very well even if the rubber was healthy.

I think many dealers have missed this because it's a bit tricky to see. Very tight place and two different sides. One side was completely fine and the other side was completely broke. So you have to look front and back of one bearing. Not all dealer's technicians will do this.

The nutshell, the vibration is coming clearly from the propeller shaft and/or the CV joint (head). There is a Kit for the CV Joint (front one only). For the bearing, the whole shaft has to be replaced (a $1,000 cost for parts). This will be very expensive for Volvo.... because many cars are affected by the same issue in all markets.
 
#7 ·
Could the prop shaft be a result of over torquing ? Big heavy car... Lots of power and torque... Maybe it's not quite up to the task under aggressive "off the line" acceleration. ??
I suspect the quality of the prop shafts (CV joint, rubber, design, bearing, etc...)because a shaft should be able to hold the power and torque regardless of how the car is driven. Even if the car was driven aggressively, such part should last more than the warranty period and not fail at very low mileage (20K miles or even less). I remember one case the dealer had for an XC60, where they changed the CV joint of the propeller shaft at 5K miles!!!

Just remember the control arm bushings that Volvo had in the old generation Volvos. They were weak rubber that will not last break and cause vibration and knock noises.
 
#9 ·
A rubber that fails at this very low mileage is NOT a high quality rubber for sure. This issue was not that common in the previous generation Volvos, that I think had a better quality rubber. BTW I'm not the only one facing this issue and I'm not sure what Volvo engineers are doing. They haven't addressed this issue yet!!!!
 
#10 ·
just an update regarding my vibration issue. Apparently the propeller shaft is still on the way. However, I discovered a 1 inch crack in the torque rod mount. I went to the dealer and they didn't see the crack at first. They called me out to pin point the crack location [emoji23]. Anyway I showed them the location and they changed it right away under warranty.

I discovered that 30% of my vibration issue is gone. I had some vibration on Idle and on acceleration. I didn't expect a 1 inch crack will cause some vibration on the car.

Anyway I will keep you posted after they change that defective propller shaft.

Here is a picture of the location of the crack on the torque rod. I highly suggest you inspect it really carefully in every section (inner and outer).



Sent from my YAL
 
#11 · (Edited)
Interesting! I've long suspected there are multiple separate issues causing the vibration and people will have a different mix of them. Not convinced that crack could be causing any, especially speed-based, but hey it's something. I'm betting 99% of your vibration is from the prop shaft

Just went an inspected my mount, no cracks, right in the middle there is where there's some excess rubber from the mold. I can't quite see the crack in your photo but if the dealer did replace it must have been one.
 
#12 ·
The pictures shows the new mount installed by the dealer. I couldn't take the picture of the old mount with the crack (around 30K miles of age) . Believe me some of my vibration issues are gone after changing that mount. The mount hold the engine when you press the gas. If the mount wasn't working properly, it will make the engine vibrate, hence, causing vibration on the car. Basic physics...

Will update you once the new propller shaft get installed. The dealer is doing it this week. I hope it will solve the rest of my vibration issue. Can't wait to enjoy my S90 vibration free.
 
#13 ·
Big news on a Dutch Volvo Forum. Since week 46 of last year some modifications have been made to the SPA platform which is in the subframe.
With these changes the vibrations should be resolved. Unfortunate for the cars manufactured before this week as these modifications cannot be performed on existing cars.
 
#14 ·
Anyway guys new update....

I test drove my car at the dealer and things have improved very well. 70 % of the vibrations issues are gone amazingly. The car felt more solid and smooth right now.

Here is the list of the things that have been replaced:

1- Right torque rod part#31430195. Info: Prior to replacing the propeller shaft, there was a crack on this mount. Changing the mount reduced vibration on idle and hard acceleration.

2- Whole propeller shaft part#31437055. Info: replacing the propeller shaft reduced the vibration issue heavily given the broken bearing rubber, per the dealer note.

3- Left torque rod part# 31330594. Info: The dealer noticed some vibration left after changing the propeller shaft. The mount was very weak and needed to be replaced.

The result: all of these items reduced the vibration issue heavily and direct the dealer to the root cause of the problem. Now, there is no vibration under hard acceleration at all speeds. There's no vibration on idle as well.



The rest of the vibration issue: This only comes when pressing the gas pedal gently (1/5) or coasting, at all speeds (15 miles to 80 miles). It appears to be coming from the rear of the car somewhere in the rear differential. It feels like something is dancing on the rear or something that is not circulating in pure circle motion.

My evaluation, this issue is what caused the propeller shaft to fail. There seems to be misalignment somewhere in the rear differential that is causing the vibration issue. It might be the axle shaft on the rear or the whole differential components are faulty.


Anyway, the dealer noticed that vibration as well and they are preparing a technical report to be shared with Volvo technical help-desk and Volvo engineers before taking any further step or making any warranty claim. The dealer technician are really keen to solve my car issue. They are taking care of my car just as if it was one of their cars. I trust them now to solve the rest of the issue. Will keep you updated!!!
 
#16 ·
My directions and inputs played a role [emoji23]. The tech is also a motivated and experienced guy. He knows what he is doing and where to look for the problem.

Anyway will see how things go. The car still at the dealer and we are suspecting the axles and rear differential.

Sent from my YAL-L21 using Tapatalk
 
#17 ·
Anyway regarding that bearing rubber. I think the reason why it failed was because of some misalignment between the propeller shaft and the rear differential (final drive). I think the angle of the rear differential is wrong from the factory. This created some pressure on the bearing rubber when the propllershaft was circulating and caused it to fail miserably.

Also, I'm not sure yet whether the soft rubber of the bearing is real issue since there are some SPA cars are vibration free and they are using the same bearing rubber.

I'm currently investigating everything in the back of the car. I'm pushing the dealer to remove the rear two axle shaft and see if the vibration goes away. Per their note, the rear differential is fine.

If not, this confirms the misalignment issue between the propeller shaft and the rear differential. If this is the case I have to solve this issue at home by installing some washers (shims) to tilt the rear differential up and down OR right and left. Until the vibration goes away. You can see the below picture the number of bolts holding rear differential (I hope I highlighted them correctly).



Sent from my YAL-L21 using Tapatalk
 
#18 ·
I don't know if I would jump to that conclusion, the prop shaft in the Volvo has Constant Velocity (CV) joints not U-joints. That graphic is referring to a problem which is specific to the irregular motion of a U-joint.
 
#20 ·
Update 3:

Sad news for everyone... [emoji22]

I went to the dealer today to test drive two other S90 as advised by the dealer, as follow:

1- Brand new 2019 S90 T5 AWD with only 23 miles on it. Assambled in China.

2- Used 2019 S90 T6 AWD with 13,000 miles on it. Assambled in China.

The sad news: Both S90 exhibited the same vibration problem as my car (2018 S90 T6 AWD). However, the higher the mileage, the worse the vibration.

Vibration symptoms: It only comes when pressing the gas pedal gently (1/5) or coasting, at all speeds (15 miles to 80 miles). It appears to be coming from the rear of the car somewhere in the rear differential. It feels like something is dancing on the rear or something that is not circulating in pure circle motion. It feels like a wobble or bent wheel. Here is more details:

1- Changing the gear from D to N does not change the vibration behavior.

2- The higher the load on the proplershaft, the less the vibration (hard accelerations are smooth)

3- The vibration does happen when cruising on the highway at 60 or 75 miles per hour. Once you try to accelrate a little, that vibration comes.

4- best way to check the vibration at very low speed (15 to 30 miles). Try to acclerate slowly, then take off the gas pedal and so on...

5- The vibration is coming exactly from rear of the car. I notice it more on the rear right side.

6- All the tech at the dealer said this is not normal. The head tech said the same thing as well. They didn't feel such vibration on any other brand of cars (Mercedes, BMW, Audi...).

My evaluation to the issue: I'm not an engineer but a business graduate. However, I can easily see where the vibration problem is coming from. There is a pure missallighment between the propeller shaft and the rear differential and axles. I doubt the vertical angle is not correct (up or down). I doubt as well the propeller shaft doesn't hit the rear differential in 90 degree (perpendicular on each other). I think this why there is a vibration.

What's next?
The dealer tech are going to test a FWD S90 to confirm if this vibration is AWD realted. Once they check this, they will prepare a technical report for Volvo and ask them for a solution for the issue. So, Volvo solution for sure will take a while...

If the dealer confirmed that it's only AWD vehicles have the issue, I will use my business knowledge to align that proplershaft angle with the rear differential. I will take a ruler [emoji424] and ensure everything is aligned as engineered.

I will combine all my write up and do a report and send it to Volvo as well. I will do everything to enjoy my beautiful S90. I'm not giving up. Period.

Sent from my YAL-L21 using Tapatalk
 
#23 ·
For a self proclaimed "not an engineer" you sure pretend to be one.

There have been MULTIPLE causes of vibrations, in the 90 series the tires **were the problem** hence balancing wheels/tires being the #1 thing to try first for *any vibration in any car ever*

In the 60 series there have been a multitude of different things causing it in various cars. There is no ONE cause like what you seem to be searching for.

I appreciate your effort and in particular your dealer's effort in figuring out YOUR car's issue, but you've gone from claiming the carrier bearing's rubber was somehow faulty with a failure N=1, to now fixating on the diff angle when you don't even understand the physics at play....you tunnel vision yourself looking for ONE cause when there may be many. If this was an inherent design flaw with angle it would be present in every single vehicle, it's not.

Keep up the good work with your dealer, but don't get in over your head pretending to be an engineer.
 
#24 · (Edited)
For a self proclaimed "not an engineer" you sure pretend to be one.

There have been MULTIPLE causes of vibrations, in the 90 series the tires **were the problem** hence balancing wheels/tires being the #1 thing to try first for *any vibration in any car ever*

In the 60 series there have been a multitude of different things causing it in various cars. There is no ONE cause like what you seem to be searching for.

I appreciate your effort and in particular your dealer's effort in figuring out YOUR car's issue, but you've gone from claiming the carrier bearing's rubber was somehow faulty with a failure N=1, to now fixating on the diff angle when you don't even understand the physics at play....you tunnel vision yourself looking for ONE cause when there may be many. If this was an inherent design flaw with angle it would be present in every single vehicle, it's not.

Keep up the good work with your dealer, but don't get in over your head pretending to be an engineer.
Sorry but you have not read my last update carefully.

I'm talking about that drivetrain vibration that so many are experiencing. I told you the issue is NOT specific to my car. Volvo is trying its best to address this issue and this is clearly reported in the Tech Journal 12803.20. If it was only my car, that journal will not exist.

I test drove two cars (one brand new car) at the dealer today and both had the same drivetrain vibration exactly that I'm experiencing with my car. That convinced me it's not the rear axle nor the rear differential that are the cause of this drivetrain vibration. This is why the dealer insisted for me to come and test these two cars. I thank them for their honesty.

Btw, if it wasn't a design flaw, then it's an assembly flaw. Mistakes can happen easily at the assembly line if the design was not solid, hence it increases the probability of human error.



Sent from my YAL-L21 using Tapatalk
 
#25 · (Edited)
Update 4: :angryfire::angryfire::angryfire:

I took my car back of the dealer and started investigating the rear differential (Final Drive) alignment with propeller shaft. This includes horizontal and vertical alignment (angle).

Here are my findings. Note: when analyzing the whole thing, the car was on the ground and not jacked up.

Horizontal Alignment:

Confirmed that the rear differential is not perfectly aligned with the propeller shaft. In other words, the propeller shaft doesn't hit the rear differential at the center (horizontally). Check the below photos for clarification. Whenever I try to put the Nut in the right side, it falls off. When I put it in the left side, it gets stuck. This explains why my propller shaft bearing rubber failed. The stress was too much on them.





Here is the video that shows the horizontal misalignment discovered.




Where is the issue?

Apparently, the rear differential is tilted slightly to the left, causing the misalignment. As illustrated in the rear differential photo, bolt #17 and the two bolts #20 are related to this misalignment. However, there are two bushings holding the two bolts #20 at the back of rear differential. One of the bushing is seated out of the subframe outer than the another bushing. This caused the rear differential to be tilted slightly to the left.







What's the solution?
At this point, I tried to reopen bolt #17 and push the rear differential to the right, and retight the bolt again. That seemed to work temporarily. However, the right solution is to install shims 1mm or 2mm in one of the bushings to align the rear differential horizontally. The issue is that the two bolts #20 are hard to reach. The place is very tight. So, find your way to get to these two bolts to install the shims.

Vertical alignment:
In this regard it's hard to understand the right angle for the whole thing. However, I didn't observe any angle in the whole thing to be more than 3 degrees. It seems to be aligned very well. However, when you add more weight on the trunk, the rear differential angle changes from 2.3 to 1.3. The more the weight on the rear suspension, the less the rear differential angle. So, if load your trunk with very heavy weight and the car vibration behavior changes, it is most likely the rear differential vertical alignment is the cause of your vibration. If not, it might be something else. From what I have tried, when I had heavy weight in my S90 trunk (bottles of water), the vibration was much less. So, this is a very easy test for you.

The geometrical angle of the Rear differential:



The geometrical angle of the last section in the propeller shaft just before the rear differential:



The geometrical angle of the first section in the propeller shaft just before the transmission:



End of the story:
Sorry Volvo but one of your engineers or your assambley line techs are the cause of this whole mess. I can't understand how none of your engineers and techs discovered this misalignment. So many people are complaining. Where are you Volvo?!!!

Anyway, I have done my homework very well and will share my findings with Volvo to open an investigation right away to solve this engineering/quality mess. Hopefully after they solve it no one will complain of such vibration. I wasted so much of my time and money trying to figure out this vibration puzzle, I feel sorry for myself. However, I don't feel sorry for Volvo and all the warranty claims they have done to solve this vibration issue.They deserve it. Period.

Sent from my YAL-L21 using Tapatalk
 
#26 ·
This is very interesting. Personally I'm not convinced that the angle matters, but we'll see what Volvo says, maybe this is in fact stressing the rubber on the carrier bearing and causing it to fail.

I am curious. trying to get my brain around... how does the angle of the diff and it's relationship to the prop shaft change with load? This is an independent suspension car, so the diff is bolted to the subframe, solid mounted albeit with bushings. The entire drivetrain shouldn't move with the suspension, other than the wheel driveshaft angles of course. Is that movement enough to shift the diff a bit in it's bushings?
 
#28 ·
Regarding the rear Differential angle in relationship to the prop shaft, it's too complicated to understand the whole thing since Volvo is using Multi-Link Leaf Spring. I don't know if this kind of setup will affect the rear differential angle under load. Spring rear suspension are easy to understand.

However, when I measured the geometrical angle of the differential under load, it was less. However, I should have taken the geometrical angle of the propeller shaft in the two specified sections as well. My mistake...

For now, I'm worried more about the horizontal misalignment because it is obvious. Once I correct this one, I will have a look on the vertical misalignment if the vibration didn't go away.

You may watch the below videos and read below book (p74 - p76).





https://books.google.com.sa/books?i...zontal alignment in rear differential&f=false
 
#27 ·
So those are *your* findings, not the dealers.

Yeah, again, i'm going to bring up the point that you sure like to act like an engineer when you aren't one. A small amount of deviation in the angle is absolutely acceptable in something soft mounted and is not likely to be the cause of your issues. Will be interesting to see how Volvo responds other than "please stop taking out bolts or we're going to void your warranty"
 
#29 ·
So those are *your* findings, not the dealers.

Yeah, again, i'm going to bring up the point that you sure like to act like an engineer when you aren't one. A small amount of deviation in the angle is absolutely acceptable in something soft mounted and is not likely to be the cause of your issues. Will be interesting to see how Volvo responds other than "please stop taking out bolts or we're going to void your warranty"
I clearly said it at the beginning "this is my analysis not the dealer". The dealer and their tech are unable to do anything about it given the parts they have replaced under warranty with no luck. As I said earlier, I tested two other S90s like my car and they both had the same drivetrain vibration. The only thing the dealer can do is to report the issue to Volvo.

Sir, If you are happy driving your luxury car with such vibration, continue driving it. If you want a solution, kindly share your useful insights and knowledge to help us. Again, the factory that assembled my car, have assembled thousands of cars with the same flaw and misalignment. This is why thousands of people are complaining. Some people have balanced/replaced their tires thousands times with no result. Some have sold their cars just because of this vibration. Don't tell me again "it's your car".

Kindly for you to understand the situation watch the below video and read the following book (p74 - p76).





https://books.google.com.sa/books?i...zontal alignment in rear differential&f=false
 
#31 · (Edited)
Update 5 :):):):

Finally guys..... I have discovered the last thing that was causing a vibration on my S90 :D:D.

It was the front driver side axle bolt. It was loose somehow :angryfire::angryfire::angryfire:. Just another quality mess from Volvo. No tech or Technical Journal advised to check that. So happy that my mind told me to check it.

Background: In 2019, I discovered a play on the front passenger axle shaft. The bolt of the axle was loose also in that discovery. The inner boot was already damaged at 27K miles!! The dealer replaced the whole axle under warranty.

There are three assumption why these two bolts were loose:

1- The factory forgot to tighten the axle bolt :D

2- The bolt is very low in quality considering it's 8.8 grade bolt not 10.9 grade. 8.8 grade bolt and the torque spec weren't enough to hold that bolt tight for a long period (probably in the first 10k miles the bolt was loose already). :D

3- The axle shaft inner/outer boots are starting to wear out, thus, causing more play in the axle and loosen the bolt :eek:

My opinion: I would go with assumption 1 or 2 but not assumption 3 since these shafts should last more than 100k miles easily. Forgetting to tighten that bolt from the factory will not doubt damage the Axles after a period of time and this explains why I had my Drive axle replaced at 27K miles. BTW, I check the rear axle bolts and they were pretty tight compared with the front axle bolts.

For now: After replacing the axle bolt and tighten it, the car vibration is much less and I find it really acceptable. To be honest, the car is not yet buttery smooth at low speeds but, at the same time, it's not bothering me as before replacing the axle bolt. I think uneven roads and AWD both are contributing to the left vibration at low speeds. I will need to drive the car more to evaluate things.

However, now, I find the car to be really smooth and buttery at high speeds compared with before. I didn't imagine one bolt was the cause for such drivetrain/cabin vibration.

Anyway, I will continue raising that differential misalignment issue to Volvo to open an investigation.

Here is a summary for my journey with this vibration issue and I think all of these things helped a little (the car is less than 32k miles) - start with 1, 4, and 7 on your own.. if the vibration was still there check the other items with your dealer:

1- Fixed Bent Wheels

2- Volvo Warranty claim to replace front passenger drive axle because of excessive play

3- Volvo Recall for the propeller shaft CV joint

4- Replaced the tires 255/35/20 on my expense

4- Volvo Warranty claim to replace propller shaft due to worn bearing rubber

5- Volvo Warranty claim to replace top right engine mount (torque rod) due to crack

6- Volvo Warranty claim to replace top left engine mount (torque rod) due to weak rubber

7- Replaced loose front driver axle bolt with a higher quality bolt. I also checked the other three axle bolt for tightness. (This one made a big difference)

8- I'm happy and enjoying my S90 :whistle::bow:...

Here is a video for the discovery of the loose axle bolt and a DIY for replacing it. Enjoy it guys....

:cool::cool::cool:Ensure to use thread locker and tight the new bolt. You better use Volvo OEM bolt but It has to be new. Here is Volvo torque: spec for the front Axle bolt: 35 nm (26 ft/lbs)+ 90 degree.



Here is a video for my discovery of the defective front passenger axle back in 2019.

 
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