2015 XF S Rear diff noise/leaking pinion seal replaced 2018

[WJ9]

My 2015 X250 XF 3.0D S had an advisory for a rear differential fluid leak on its first MoT in 2018 at 15,000 miles. A new seal was fitted by the Jaguar dealer in 2018 and I assumed the problem was fully resolved. However, I took the car in for a Jaguar dealer service today at 40,000 miles and was told there is a noise coming from the differential and that rear diff pinion seal is moist. The noise is very slight and I can only hear it from the passenger seat, it just sounds like the air conditioning fan is on at a very low setting speed. The car still drives 100% fine. When my wife turned off the engine yesterday, I noticed a short noise from the rear wheel on the over run.

I've read lots of horror stories online about XF rear diffs failing and it costing a fortune to replace them. Can someone recommend the best course of action to take?

I've found a transmission/differential specialist not too far away and I was thinking they should be able change the diff Oil and put a new seal on. However, if the diff is already making a noise is it already damaged to an extent that a diff Oil change won't improve things?

Also, I've heard that changing the diff Oil and seal involves rebalancing the diff and this is a tricky job and that the diff won't be as smooth afterwards. Am I best to take it to a transmission/diff specialist rather than the Jaguar main dealer? I can't imagine the Jaguar dealer has that much experience of changing diffs unlike the specialists that work on transmissions and diffs every day and the Jaguar dealer wants £132 just to look at the problem again!

Am I best to get the diff oil and seal changed at a specialist and hope that the noise is resolved by this. Which is the best type of diff oil to use and am I correct in saying 0.85 litres should be used?

In the very worst case scenario, if the diff fails in the future, I have seen a few second hand diffs on eBay for around £250 - how much would it cost to get a used diff fitted and is it possible to fit a used diff without losing the smoothness of power delivery associated with the XF? I've read online that it can cost several thousand pounds to replace the diff but as I say there are always quite a few used diffs on eBay and I can't imagine that the labour would be thousands of pounds at an independent garage.

Ideally, I'd like to keep this car for many years to come - aside from this diff issue, everything is 100% fine with it but I am worried that this rear diff issue will be a persistent pain

 

Last Visit

[GolfyG]

Last of the older model, you maybe seen my post. Jag wanter over £1200+vat to replace my Diff Pinions Seal last month. Instead I bough the Oil and seal from them, they even gave me 20% trade discount and a friend who is an AA mechanic (also has a wheel free lift in his garage) he did it in three hours and asked for £60. I gave him £150.

Now on the noise, if it is from the diff I would assume it's junked already. In my case it was paranoia once I was aware I had a leaking diff, I was hearing all sorts (not saying you are paranoid), thing is, the diff only holds one litre and it is like a fully synthetic Oil, not like the old thick stuff. When he dropped my Oil there was 850ml, so only lost 150ml over time but the casing was very wet and occasionally there would be a mark on my mono blocks.  

I would advise finding a back street garage with an older mechanic that will take on the job, and get the seal changed. Worth £300 say, to work out if it's junk which I would be surprised if it was. Jag would have quoted for a diff not and seal change if they felt the diff was junked surely???? Anyway good luck, I feel your pain. 

[WJ9]

Thanks for your reply GolfyG, much appreciated. That's incredible Jag wanted over £1200 to replace the seal! Looking at the service history of mine, the last owner paid about £350 for Jag to change the seal back in 2018 25,000 miles ago. I was aware of this before I bought the car but I was hoping that work resolved it back then. It certainly went fine for 4 years and 25,000 miles with no problems. When I took the car in for a service on Friday I was advised there is a noise from the back and that the seal is moist. I can hear a very, very light noise very much the same as an air con fan and I can only hear it as a passenger.

If it's already making a noise though it's likely that the diff is damaged and I'll need to fit a used one. I'm just not sure whether to get the diff Oil changed and a new seal put on or whether to just go for a new diff.

I can get a used diff quite cheap on eBay and I'm told it's 4-5 hours to fit so although I could do without this, it's not the end of the world price wise. I've heard stories online of people paying several thousand for a diff but it's hardly the same as having to change an engine.

Ideally, I'm hoping to keep the car for many years so if this is sorted, hopefully it will run fine. It's probably tempting fate lol but at the moment everything else apart from the diff is fine, even the main dealer health check didn't find any other faults.

Can I just ask if changing the Oil and seal cured yours and what type of Oil you used? I've read that the following oil is recommended:

Castrol TRANSMAX Axle Long Life 75W-90 Fully Synthetic Rear Axle Fluid

https://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-737-castrol-transmax-axle-long-life-75w-90-fully-synthetic-rear-axle-fluid.aspx

Also, I've seen brand new 2.2 litre diffs for £575 on eBay but I'm not sure if these will fit my 3.0 XFS - off the top of my head, I'm sure all XF models apart from the XFR with the e-diff used the same diff but I'll have to check part numbers first.

Jag didn't give any verdict on the diff, they just noted the noise and that the seal was moist - I haven't noticed any drips on the drive so I guess it is possible it hasn't lost much fluid but Jag wanted £132 just to have a look at it and my logic is Jag aren't used to working on diffs very often and even if they did a good job they'd charge a fortune! So whatever happens, I think I'm best staying away from them for this work. They promised me a video showing the moisture but I haven't got one - I'm not sure how easy it is to see the seal on the driveway.

Thanks again

[BattyB]

I bought my XF 2.2 just short of 6 months ago. The dealer (Citroen dealership) had tried to rectify a problem on the dif but whatever they did, didn't work culminating in a very loud bang whilst I was bomming down the motorway and an intense grinding noise thereafter. Fortunately, the Jag was only 1:3 into its warranty and the dealer fitted a new dif. All now seems well with this issue 5 months on (but I'm not holding my breath).

There is however a further repetitive fault. If I am doing a lot of stop / start driving, the engine gets rather warm (hot). When this happens performance drops through the floor and I have to drive with the paddles and rev high before changing gear to avoid a desperate limp. if I let The jag cool for a few hours, performance returns until things get hot again, when the fault becomes apparent again.

The dealer (perhaps being coy) didn't have a clue what the problem is. They did a test drive and said that they couldn't find a fault (a likely story). Over winter, the problem didn't show up quite as much but now that the weather is changing, the fault is becoming more prevalent.

Anybody got any ideas what the problem is and what the solution may be?

many thanks and B.W.

[WJ9]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:36 PM, BattyB said:

I bought my XF 2.2 just short of 6 months ago. The dealer (Citroen dealership) had tried to rectify a problem on the dif but whatever they did, didn't work culminating in a very loud bang whilst I was bomming down the motorway and an intense grinding noise thereafter. Fortunately, the Jag was only 1:3 into its warranty and the dealer fitted a new dif. All now seems well with this issue 5 months on (but I'm not holding my breath).

There is however a further repetitive fault. If I am doing a lot of stop / start driving, the engine gets rather warm (hot). When this happens performance drops through the floor and I have to drive with the paddles and rev high before changing gear to avoid a desperate limp. if I let The jag cool for a few hours, performance returns until things get hot again, when the fault becomes apparent again.

The dealer (perhaps being coy) didn't have a clue what the problem is. They did a test drive and said that they couldn't find a fault (a likely story). Over winter, the problem didn't show up quite as much but now that the weather is changing, the fault is becoming more prevalent.

Anybody got any ideas what the problem is and what the solution may be?

many thanks and B.W.

I'm sorry to hear that, it is quite a worry that diffs are a relatively common problem with the XF. I've had a couple of early 2.7s and didn't have any trouble with either of them but I've since found out that even the early models suffered with diff failure.

I'm glad your dealer fitted a new diff - I'd imagine you'll be fine now but I know how paranoid I get with cars, even if a problem is fixed I half expect it to happen again. Do you know if they fitted a used or new diff? If I need to get my diff replaced I'd pretty much have to go for a used one to keep the costs down. Mine is now out of dealer warranty, typically nothing went wrong in the warranty period.

That is strange about the repetitive fault as ironically since buying my 3.0, I keep hearing that the 2.2 is a much more reliable engine that is easily capable of 200k whereas a few people seem to get engine seizures with the 3.0 - it's made me paranoid about changing the Oil regularly. I once went over 2 years without changing the Oil on my old 2.7 as I did a very low mileage but looking back it was daft to leave it that long. I love the smoothness of the 3.0 but in some ways I may as well have gone for the 2.2 as I don't do many long journeys these days.

I've noticed that Jag engines seem to run extremely hot but so far I've not come across your problem. A friend has had a few Evoques with the same 2.2 engine so I'll ask him. 

Thanks again for your message.

 

[Tomato]

It could be a faulty sensor somewhere (temperure one) which is tricks the car into thinking it is overheating putting it into limp mode.

I assume the car is not actually overheating, worth plugging in a car code reader to see if anything pops up error wise, can also read temperture of the car too to see what its doing.