Hi everyone. I just joined this forum and its my first posting so bear with me.

I just got a 1999 V70 XC Turbo and the car is awesome!! It comes loaded with so many features and the ride is just outstanding. Its used from a dealer "as-is" with one previous owner with 100,000 miles.

I had it only had for one week and figured to give a real test drive... I drove 250 miles to Florida over the weekend and everything was great until the last 20 miles before reaching home that I started hearing clunking noises from the front right. It started sounding like a vibration then it became louder and more frequent. The noise became consistent and I worry that it will be the start of a series of expensive turnings.

This morning I drove it to a local mechanic and neither I nor the mechanic heard the clunking noise again. I'm not sure what the problem might be and I hope someone here may know. BTW, I am moving to the west coast in a couple of months in the Volvo. If anyone can help it will be MUCH appreciated!!

Based upon my experience with my 2000 V70 XC, I would guess it is tie rods and ball joints. If the sound seems like a thuinking from the front and seems as though something loose is making noise whenever you are rolling, especially when you are on anything but the smoothest pavement, I think it would be tie rods and/or ball joints.

Brian

If the clunking occurs only when you are turning, its sounds like you might have a bad CV joint/axle. I just replaced mine after experiencing the same symptoms.

The axles can be expen$ive new, but you get get refurbed ones for 1/5 the price.

I had that on my V70, it were the Front Top Shock Plates with the bearings in bad condition, new ones fitted, all ok now.

We didn't keep the car long enough to figure out problem. Anyway, the sound went away for a couple of weeks only to come back louder after about 2,000 miles into drive from east coast to west coast. As it turned out, the sound was just one of many problems we encountered... here's a short list:
* bad transmission (3 weeks in the shop and $4,000)
* erratic headlight wipers
* rear seat got stuck in folded position (seat belt locked)
* radio locked (theft security activated and needed to call dealer to unlock - did not work)

Think the sound was an indicator that the bearings and/or coils were going bad. We did not want to waste any money on a vehicle that just keep getting more problems so we traded it in for a new Toyota!!

Lesson learned - Reliability followed by Safety are the most important factors in buying a car. Safety is 2nd because all cars must pass a minimum safety test and all new cars these days have air bags and safety restraints. What is unsafe is to drive along side reckless drivers and drivers with false belief that bigger is safer.

I have a 01 v70 clunking as well, If you raise the hood and have someone bounce the car up and down look at the strut mount on that side and see if it moves, if so strut mount I found them on ebay for 115.00. hope that helps.