so I have a weird mechanical sound coming from the front in a very certain situation. This happens when:
• After a long drive (so battery is fully charged) & Transmission in drive or reverse & Turning the wheel at standstill
I’ll post the video of what I’m talking about here
Parts that I have changed:
Alternator from Bosch 4 months ago
Battery from Varta (max capacity stated from the owners manual) 3months ago
Power steering fluid 6 months ago
Power steering fluid reservoir with its inbuilt filter 6months ago
The serpentine/aux belt (free of charge, turned out to be 2cm longer than original but played no role as nothing really changed before and after) 10 months ago
Transmission fluid service at offical Volvo dealer 8months ago
my diagnosis was that since this happens only when the battery is charged (so alternator not working overtime to charge the battery) and turning the wheels at standstill produces the most load on the battery with transmission in gear, I assumed this to be a power problem. As when turning, the voltage dropped below 12V. Minimum I have seen was 11.3 while turning the wheel at standstill. But when the SOC of the battery was around 50%, so when the alternator was working, then no mechanical sound with or without being in gear. In this state, the lowest voltage I have seen was 12.2V then shoots back to 14.4V as soon as I stop.
Voltage level when turning in gear and SOC almost full
I also have to mention that the previous owner of my car mounted an Ultrasonic rodent deterrent to the battery. It has no low voltage protection like my Dashcams hardwire kit and works all the time. I haven’t experimented with this device as I thought no way this small thing could be drawing that much power from the battery. (See attachments for picture)
My last option is some kind of a bearing problem since it sounds like a mechanical sound. I assume since the Serpentine/aux belt service interval with water pump and all the bearings are 10 years or 240.000km, I assume a bearing or something is on its way out. My car is April 2014 model with 185.000 km, and it will be almost 11 years in 4 months. My last resort is I guess one of the bearings.
But regardless I still want to get some opinions before I begin.
I also like to mention I have no check engine lights and no codes in V-Dash and have been driving like this for quite a while. Just did a 800km/500mile trip to Netherlands. All is well.