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First thing I'd check is that it's got the AWD driveline - there should be a driveshaft from the gearbox in the front connecting to a diff at the rear "axle", plus driveshafts from each rear wheel to the diff. If that's missing, well, there's your problem... Assuming it has an AWD driveline, my suspicion would be that the center diff that is supposed to ...

The first step is to pull the ABS codes. That will give us a starting point for trouble shooting. This model supports flash codes, you will need to jump across terminal A and H of the ALDL connector (under the drivers side of the dash). It may take about 30 seconds before the ABS light starts flashing codes. Count the flashes to get the code, they ...

Different outer tire diameters creates a different rate of rotation for each wheel. Depending on the design of the differential, maintaining higher speeds for a lengths of time with great enough differences in rotational speeds can create too much heat, which I imagine leads to break down of the lubrication and damage to the differential. It would be wise ...

This is something I've commonly heard said, usually by tire salesmen, but I do not buy. The difference in speed of the rotating tires between 6/32" is very small and likely less than many other factors such as alignment and tire inflation differences. The differentials are meant to handle small differences between the different tires rotation speeds and ...

Just as a note, awd systems I worked on in the past had a limit of 1 inch difference in circumference of any tire to avoid abnormal wear of the transfer case. And I did see several cases where the chain the case was already stretched with a bad jerking on take off, and new tires fixed the symptom although of course the underlying cause remained.

"It depends"... I've historically opted to replace all 4 just to be safe (on my AWD with 3 LSD beast, on the RWD open diff I replace 1 at a time if needed :-) ). In theory a small difference won't blow up the transfer case or the diffs (there's always at least a TINY difference anyways). Normal wear with a normal rotation obviously doesn't violate the ...

FWIW, I've driven an AWD Volvo XC90 several times before and that was my experience as well. If that's normal, then it's the worst AWD system I've ever driven. Had terrible torque steer under hard acceleration, and front wheelspin was a major issue on loose surfaces. Didn't think much about it (even though it was new when I first drove it, and continued ...