Vibrations @55-80mph

Faults and Technical chat for the Volvo XC40
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thanoolhs
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2019 12:11 pm

Post by thanoolhs »

Do we know if the MY20 had the same issues;

ChrisLF
Posts: 1346
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2019 8:21 am
Location: Heart of England

Post by ChrisLF »

Mine's a MY20 and it's fine. Previously tested at up to 70 mph but now driven at 80 as well and nothing noticeable.

Chris
2023 B4 Plus Dark FWD in Silver Dawn. Tinted Rear Windows. Spare Wheel & Tow Bar dealer fitted.

Gone - 2019 T4 R-Design FWD in Bursting Blue. Winter & Convenience Packs, Power Seat, Front Park Assist, Rear Camera, Spare Wheel & Tow Bar.
thanoolhs
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2019 12:11 pm

Post by thanoolhs »

ChrisLF wrote: Wed Aug 28, 2019 9:57 am Mine's a MY20 and it's fine. Previously tested at up to 70 mph but now driven at 80 as well and nothing noticeable.

Chris
Thank you for the answer.

I am waiting my xc40 at 15 Oct with T3 and manual gearbox with 19 in rims.
Kipper
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue May 21, 2019 7:47 pm

Post by Kipper »

thanoolhs,
To be honest I have no idea, it still seems to be present but as the occurrence appears random, (it obviously isn't, but until a cause is found it appears so), we cant be sure. What concerns me is that the US market has a technical journal identifying the problem on Volvos from 2016 although the technical journal was dated 2019.

Lets hope yours is free of vibration, in any case please let us know, it might help to pin down the problem, if not for us, then maybe Volvo.

Kipper
XC40 T4 Inscription Pro / Luminous Sand / Blond
Kipper
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue May 21, 2019 7:47 pm

Post by Kipper »

To all,

This topic seems to have stalled, either Volvo have found a solution and it no longer appears on new cars, or people have got fed up with the situation.

For my part, at long last the garage started to investigate the issue and after 8 days they appear to have found the problem. Today I went for a test ride (I was not driving) and indeed all seemed to be nice and smooth, (Noticeable because the courtesy car was a new S60 R-Design with 20" rims and rubber bands for tyres, therefore very hard on the derriere).

The solution, remove the prop shaft. They now await Volvo's advice as to what to do, replace or re-balance. Now the clever ones out there might well be thinking that it might not be the prop shaft itself, but the interaction between it and the rear diff or the rear wheels / drive shafts. Such is the world of vehicle dynamics. (AWD by the way, I forget that the specs have been widened)

I will post the outcome.

Kipper
XC40 T4 Inscription Pro / Luminous Sand / Blond
Elvo57
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:14 pm

Post by Elvo57 »

Sorry Kipper, an overdue update…

The exchange prop shaft did nothing for our car… just as bad.

Talked to the dealership manager and explained that the car is now a year old and no resolution in sight. We both agreed next step was to get a Volvo UK tech out to look at it.
Volvo tech came and measured noise / vibration and agreed out of spec. Did several checks and said changing rear wheels to another size/manufacturer ‘cured’ the problem… but still not sure if this was the actual problem or a way of masking the real fault.
New rear differential ordered and fitted… no better.
Car taken down to Long Eaton (Nottingham area) for Road Force Wheel balancing (190miles round trip).
Call from dealership manager who said driver reported back that the outward journey was ‘horrendous’ but the return trip was much more pleasurable.
Car currently still with dealership (they presumably forgot about the faulty pan roof as they are now working on that), but hopefully back with us Monday (did not get a chance to talk to the Volvo UK tech in person about any of the above, but have been dealing with the dealership manager… who sounds just about as fed up as we are).

Summary…if the solution is road force balancing then it sounds like the problem is that the chassis / suspension is hyper sensitive to bad tyres. They have been balanced ‘normally’ three times and exchanged with other wheels / tyres previously to no good effect (must assume that the other tyres were suspect also?). Every other loan XC40 (at least 6 now) exhibited the resonance to some degree.

Will update next week… but suggest you get your dealership tech to talk to the Volvo UK tech called Mark, ASAP (there are only three UK techs, so should be easy to find).


XC40 | First Edition | D4 AWD | Bursting Blue | 19" Continental Premium Contact 6 tyres | Ordered 14/03/18 | Delivered 11th October 2018 | UK.
ChrisLF
Posts: 1346
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2019 8:21 am
Location: Heart of England

Post by ChrisLF »

Without reading back through the previous posts I thought that road force balancing had been tried on some cars with little or no improvement? And if in some cases it does improve matters it may be that if the chassis/suspension is that sensitive to the tyres then the problem could reoccur as the tyres wear.

The fact that my car is 2WD is probably why I don't have the problem given that removing the prop shaft has improved matters.

Chris
2023 B4 Plus Dark FWD in Silver Dawn. Tinted Rear Windows. Spare Wheel & Tow Bar dealer fitted.

Gone - 2019 T4 R-Design FWD in Bursting Blue. Winter & Convenience Packs, Power Seat, Front Park Assist, Rear Camera, Spare Wheel & Tow Bar.
Kipper
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue May 21, 2019 7:47 pm

Post by Kipper »

Interesting, I have been informed by the garage that changing the propshaft had seemingly cured the problem, at least in the technicians view, so I have been invited to try out the car on Monday to see if this has cured the problem to my satisfaction.

The whole issue is rather strange because of the seemingly random nature of the problem that must have Volvo equally puzzled.

I will let you know the outcome of Mondays trip.

Thanks for your input, every bit of info helps, even if is seemingly contradictory.

Kipper
XC40 T4 Inscription Pro / Luminous Sand / Blond
Kipper
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue May 21, 2019 7:47 pm

Post by Kipper »

Well got the car back with a new prop shaft and did a quick test drive and while it may not have cured the problem, it is much reduced. On the journey home, some 40 miles of M6, I noticed the problem was still there but only just detectable, quite possibly because I was looking for it. Easily low enough to drive with and even now it could be down to the road surface.

So I am monitoring it closely to see if it is there or indeed has been sorted, however in my bones I feel that it is a collection of components that if they are not quite right can cause the problem in varying degrees of severity and not always the same ones at that.

Moral of this story, never by a new model in the first year, let the bugs be resolved first.

Kipper
XC40 T4 Inscription Pro / Luminous Sand / Blond
Elvo57
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:14 pm

Post by Elvo57 »

Not got the car back yet, so just called for an update…

Apparently, the local engineer dealing took the car out Friday (after I was told the Road Force Balancing had cured the problem) and was still not happy. The positive report was just from the driver who took it down for the work on Wednesday!

The real story is that the RFB company found one wheel that they could not balance satisfactorily. Hence the Volvo UK tech has requested a new tyre fitted (and a spare) and is taking the car down himself on Thursday for a re RFB.

ChrisLF… I’m pretty sure nobody has had the RFB on this forum, although Volvo do recommend it as part of their 11 point check on the issue. We exchanged wheels with another car (identical spec) and the issue stayed with our car and was not as bad on the other with our wheels fitted… hence we thought we had eliminated wheels/ tyres and the RFB would be a waste of time (especially as it is a 190mile round trip for us).

As for the RFB being a long term solution, I totally agree with you in that all the information I am aware of says that the vibration is likely to come back as the tyres wear down over time (plus obviously will require re doing every puncture / new tyre etc).

Good luck if you think you can live with it Kipper! The current loan car is a high spec R-design T4 FWD and still has the issue… no real vibration, only the related low frequency resonance ‘noise’ (which only a few people seem to pick up on). Compared to our car, it’s much better, but still not good enough for my situation because the XC40 was intended to be a long term ownership car... due to recent retirement (and I no longer have my SLK to play with).

Updates to follow!

XC40 | First Edition | D4 AWD | Bursting Blue | 19" Continental Premium Contact 6 tyres | Ordered 14/03/18 | Delivered 11th October 2018 | UK.
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