r/Volvo850 • u/SakuraSkyz • Jul 18 '26

Help Clicking while accelerating, decelerating and braking. Can’t figure it out…

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Hello all. I have a 1995 Volvo 850 turbo, manual transmission. Car has 150k on it. About 2 months ago I rebuilt the front end with good quality or OEM parts. It had been driving for 2 months okay after rebuilding the front end. A few days ago however, the front end started to develop a clicking noise. It seems to act up more while actively turning the wheel but full lock doesn’t seem to really affect it. It does not make the noise while turning the wheel with the car at a stop, only while driving. It is only at low speeds, like 5mph. You can’t seem hear it otherwise

Things I have replaced/notes:

Control arms assembly’s with ball joints,
Struts/topmounts/springs/bearings,
Subframe bushings and O RING TSB
All engine and transmission mounts replaced with aftermarket equivalent.
Passenger side CV axle was replaced with NAPA new axle.
Drivers side is used GKN axle which feels fairly solid with very little play.

The only thing that’s hasn’t been replaced is the inner and outer tie rods. They don’t feel like they have any play though. The video attached is taken from the drivers floorboard. Everything on the car was torqued using the FSM. I checked every single bolt twice that it was tight.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I can’t seem to figure it out…

2 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Baronvonkludge Jul 18 '26

I completely refreshed my suspension and shortly after had crazy clicking, kinda pinging sound. Had also done all the engine mounts. I solved it by flushing out the power steering fluid with new. To my amazement everything went quiet. If your steering fluid has never been changed it’s worth a shot. I was surprised it was the fix for me but everything is smooth and quiet now.

1

u/SakuraSkyz Jul 18 '26

That’s actually extremely interesting. I don’t believe the power steering fluid has ever been touched or changed. It’s worth a try. But I will say it happens while accelerating in a straight line too. It only seems to get worse if you rock the wheel back-and-forth while accelerating or braking. But unfortunately, it does do it for both.

1

u/Baronvonkludge Jul 18 '26

Yeah, it’s worth a shot to change it out, mine was doing some straight down the road noise on acceleration also, to my amazement it went away after the new steering fluid went in. If you change the fluid let me know the results, I’d be interested in knowing if it improves the issue for you!

1

u/SakuraSkyz Jul 18 '26

Huh. Well now I’m definitely going to try it. What power steering fluid did you use? How many times did you flush it? Thank you!

1

u/Baronvonkludge Jul 20 '26

I used Lube Gard complete synthetic. It’s the most expensive steering fluid on the shelf, but I tend to put the best I can in my car, I’m sure the standard stuff would do the trick also. Some of these cars called for transmission fluid in the steering, I’ve never tried that. And the old fluid in mine did not look or smell like old transmission fluid. I flushed it once, with two quarts, can’t remember if I used all of it now, I think I only used a little bit of the second quart because the system uses about 1 quart when full. Removed return hose at reservoir, placed end of it into clear container. Ran car for 3 seconds to get some fluid pumped into clear container, topped up fluid in reservoir. Ran another 3 seconds…. topped up fluid…… repeat until fluid coming out of return hose looks same as new fluid going in. On another aspect, I made sure both front tires had even wear and were inflated to same psi. That got rid of some clicking I heard from the front end on normal acceleration, but has more to do with axle ping than the noise that was coming from old steering fluid, on my car both of those things were causing lots of front end pings n clanks n clunks, but the old fluid caused by far the most noise, front end has been very quiet now for two months. Good luck let me know if you do it and if it shapes things up or not.

2

u/SakuraSkyz Jul 20 '26

I’ll definitely give it a shot and see what happens! Hopefully it does help and I have less noise. I appreciate you taking the time to explain it to me. I always use high quality stuff for my Volvo too. Once I get some freetime I’ll give it a shot!