TRANSFER BOX OR WHEEL BEARINGS

[guskat]

Hi

Just joined the forum I have had a 2.5 Auto X Type with 130k on it in the past which drove like a dream, a XJ8 with 50k on it which was good to drive but still prefered the X Type, so i manage to get a 2001 Y plate 3.0 SE Auto with 77k on it .

Purred away for 3 weeks or so , the took her out in bad weather (snow) and getting a loud grinding , whirring type noise .

My concern was it the Transfer box, front drive shafts or wheel bearings .

I ran it down a hill in neutral still had the noise also turned off the engine still noise.

I had alot of snow in the driveway so got it spinning and looked like only the rear wheels were spinning .

As i was on my own i could only see what was going on from the drivers side so don't know if the passenger side front was spinning or not.

I am led to believe it is a AWD which is primerily front wheel drive ?

If i was in neutral and engine turned off and still getting the noise would this point towards wheel bearings , or drive shafts?

As you can imagine i am quite concerned about this .

The car was bought from a friend who is a bit upset too as he looked after the car and had it serviced every MOT he averaged around 3/4000 miles a year on it and only sould it as he just bought a 2005 XJ6.

I bought it from him with this knowledge and was over the moon .

I have bought new front wheel bearings and they will be fitted on the 24/03/2011.

I hope someone in the forum can advie me on this and share some tips or maybe have experienced the same problem.

Kind Regards

Gus

[ghoule211]

Hi Gus,

First things yep you have an AWD car 40% of the power going to the front 60% to the rear unless the viscous coupling Oil is heated via the friction of a spinning tyre.

as this is a pre 2004 car this uses the Land Rover Freelander system. some of the parts are not the best, I would say in the first instance to get the car up in the air and check the drive and propshafts for wear and exessive play you will need cv boot kits if not careful here but if you manage to do it without tearing the cv boots then use tie wraps to put them back on. as the noise is constant this would point to either prop or driveshaft failure. also check the rear diff and change Oil if not already done so.

if none of the above resolves the issue then your looking at a new transfer box at the very least you can get these crated or from eBay, my choice would be a crated post 2004 from dealer. although this is doubtfull due to the fact that no mention of crunching through gears which would point to gearbox\transfer box issues..

my guess would be prop shaft and or one of the four driveshafts have failed, which is not un common in any car with 130K on the clock, also remember to change both sides as they both have done the same mileage

[HARRISON]

Just another consideration. I had the same whirring sound, I did the Rear Bearings but the noise remained and then changed the tyres from budget to Hankooks and that almost cured the noise.  The old Budget tyres had feathered on the edge, much happier now.  :D

[kcey]

almost 2 years to late i could almost be 100% its a wheel front bearing common fault and a bit of a pain to change be carefull of the abs sensor if splitting the hub from the strut ...i don't i take the whole strut and hub off the car and press the bearing out