Jaguar Stype assortment of strange noises please help

jagsbosteve · April 7, 2014

Hi guys I'm Steve and have just recently joined as I have trawled through the internet to no avail, this is my first jag, well my first Mondeo with a fur coat and I have noticed an assortment of noises from the car and I would be greatful if any of you could help, firstly after driving the car for 15_ minutes or so there is an irritating constant squealing noise which sounds like it is coming from the wheels, hard to pinpoint as I have both windows open when driving, but as soon as I depress the brake it vanishes, but as soon as I release the brake its back again, its quite a loud noise reminds me of a brake wear indicating noise, I'm not a fully qualified mechanic but I understand enough to get by, any ideas what it could be and what to do to fault find and eliminate? secondly, I noticed over the last week the car felt very skittish at any speed, felt like it was bouncing and jerking all over the place, so I decided to check the tyre pressure when I purchased the car a month or so ago I noticed that the pressure was low, so I referred to the handbook and inflated the tyres to the normal reccomendation, I think approx 2,2 bar don't quote me on that I can't remember off hand but I know I followed the normal driving pressures, two days ago I decoded to adjust the tyre pressure to the maximum comfort settings I think 1.8 bar again exactly I don't know as I don't have the manual to hand, the rear nearside and offside tyres were only 1.2 after re inflating them the handling has resumed to how it was when I purchased it, is my thinking right that perhaps it had to much air in the front and was too low in the back thus for affecting the handling? Thirdly the following description is alarming me somewhat, I can only describe to you how it sounds and feels from me as I am in the car I apologise I can not be any more precise, here goes, when I return home I have to perform a three point turn to park the car outside my house, as I do so I turn right into the side road, the steeringis not quite on full lock but not far off, I hear a grinding rubbing noise and can feel a slight rumble vibration through the wheel, but the audible note is quite loud, the sound is like a very loud creaking, like a creeping sort of creak if that makes sense, probably not then as I go to reverse I hear a loud grinding/rumbling grating noise from the rear of the car! And I know this probably will not make any sense but I can actually feel it through the car, when I perform this manouver, the road I pull into to perform the three point turn is on quite a steep gradient when I turn right, then stop then reverse down onto the flat stretch of road, I wondered if this made any difference, the only other way I can describe it is a very loud creaking coming from the rear of the car when reversing, sort of like when you pull off an leave the hand break on?, it does not always do this when I reverse on a flat surface but occasionally it does, any ideas? With regards to the noise I described when I turn right to do the three point turn the same creeping creak/vibrating rumbles occurs when I'm turning right onto a sharp bend, it doesn't happen through normal driving , for example, turning right on a roundabout, mini roundabout etc it always happens then, but never when turning left, sorry that this is so long winded guys but I thought if I explained it as I see and feel and describe as much as possible it might make it easier to understand, also the other day the gear selector for stuck in park and I could not free it, I haven't had the problem since as I leave it in neutral with the hand brake up, I thought that what ever is wrong with the car could be fairly easily rectified as the chap I brought it off, spent a lot of money it came with FSH, and a spanking not with no advisories, I had always wanted a jag, and I know being only 25 I am one of the youngest drivers to own one but I wanted something big enough for my children, something comfortable to get in and out of and automatic as I have had a hip replacement and suffer with ms, it is a lovely car and apart from the issues mentions she drives superb, the only other thing I have trouble with is the drivers side windscreen wiper arm, it catches on the top of the bonnet, and the wipers do not park, if you sweep the window they sometimes stop in the right place but often than most at 12, ten to two and three o'clock, I've inspected the wiper arm and the spring on the elbow joint is in tact but I can depress it down so it sits flush under the bonnet but does not stay, I don't know what I'm doing with regards to that, so any thoughts on that I would be very greatful, once again thank you for reading this and sorry its so long many thanks steve

Old Peter · April 7, 2014

Welcome to the Club, Steve.

I have read your post and there does seem to be some issues that, in part, will not be too difficult to solve.

But first, The S type is only 15 to 20% Mondeo, the rest is absolute Jaguar from Castle Bromwich.

Tyre pressures for the S Type should be displayed on the inside of the drivers door, but if they are not there they should be 31 psi all round, unless you are travelling over 100 mph.

There was a topic on the forum about a wiper arm catching on the bonnet and the solution was to bend the arm slightly.

Brakes/steering are something where you will need the right advice and those more expert than I will assist you with that.

Regards,

Peter.

Diddler · April 8, 2014

Peter is right there Steve. I think that the main reason for your grumbling etc are all down to your brakes. I should give them a good going over, sounds like they are binding and in a right old state.

Stan.

Old Peter · April 8, 2014

Some years ago, Stan will guess how long, but it was during the war and I was nine, I was given control of a cart pulled by a pair of horses. It was very easy to keep them moving, but a bit more difficult to stop them . The brake was a block on a large lever that you yanked towards you, and if the horses thought correctly you stopped where you wanted to. The Mark 1 Ford Escort was similar.

Modern brakes are brilliant and you should give them the best treatment!

Peter.

Diddler · April 8, 2014

My very first car was a bit like that Peter, a VW beatle imported from Germany in 1946. no hydraulics. no syncromesh.and still in its army colours. Great car.

Stan.

Diddler · April 8, 2014

By the way, Peter. I had given up getting my hands dirty until last week. until I sorted my rear brake distortion. it aint arf hard work now. couldn't move for two days after, worse than tatty picking.

jagsbosteve · April 9, 2014

Hi guys! Thank you ever so much for responding to my post, and thank you for your time in assisting me , I apologise I have not responded sooner, I'll health dictates when I can get on this, as the weather is fair to middling today I shall attempt at having a crack at the wiper blades, is anybody able to help as to how I would go about getting them to park properly! I shall try and have a look at the brakes, what specifically would you suggest I look out for? Many thanks again for your time rgds, steve

Diddler · April 9, 2014

Steve I would be looking for worn pads, sticking calipers and sticking hand brake mechanism. Try some wd40 or some such thing but keep it of your brake disk and pads.

jagsbosteve · April 24, 2014

Hi Guys, thank you for getting back to me, I ordered a set of wiper arms,from eBay, with the seller advertising that they were pretty 2003, I think and assured me they would fit my vehicle, they arrived today and noticed that the driver side was identical to what I already had on the car, I noted that the passenger side on the new set was similar but slightly longer with a slightly different shape, I moved the old set passenger arm to the drivers side, and the new set passenger side to the passenger side and fitted smaller blades, alas I have a sweep without interruption and without causing further damage to the bonnet, I am happy with this for the moment as it provides function, and as it isn't broken...... Etc, to my joy I had to replace the rear near side tyre due to an embedded screw, swapped the wheels over but I can not seem to tighten the bolts up, they just seem to keep spinning,and now since changing the tyre there isa noticeable grinding noise from the rear when braking down hill, I thought this was due to the nuts not being tightened enough, went to tighten up and one of the bolts has sheared off, any ideas guys? I'm going to try and get the remaining thread off, the remaining four are on OK but I need the car to get about, and I'm pretty rural, is the car OK to still drive? I don't have a torque wrench, I removed and replaced the wheels with what was in the boot, I'm presuming it is jag standard as it didn't seem the jack had ever been touched the wheel was a bugger to remove with this oversized bar and made it difficult on the roadside, would kwick fit or similar be able to rectify this by tightening it up with a power wrench? Etc

April 24, 2014

Hi Steve, I would recommend you purchase a torque wrench if only for your wheel nuts, I have one and that is all I use it for. You can get them at a reasonable price, new from Amazon or a good second hand one off eBay. The torque setting should be 125 newton meters (92 ft.lbs.) and I would not trust most tyre fitting establishments to torque them up correctly as they seem to just "whap" them up with the air impact wrench, (have you ever seen them adjust the wrench before tightening up wheel nuts?) It's not a bad idea to remove the wheels from time to time it prevents them from corroding and seizing on the hub, a smear of an anti-seize compound on the bore and back face of the wheel when you refit them will also help, be careful not to get any on the wheel stud threads as this may affect the correct setting of the torque and of course don't get any on the brake disc or pads. You can clean the inside of the wheels when you have got them off and kill two birds with one stone, it's amazing how much better they look when the inside is bright and shiny. As far as the gear selector getting stuck in park, depress the brake pedal with the engine running and then try to shift it out of park, there is a gear shift interlock system on automatics and you cannot move the lever out of park to reverse, drive or neutral unless you have the brake pedal pressed. You can also do it without the engine running by turning the key to position 2 and then carrying out the same procedure. Hope this helps, all the best Geoff.

April 25, 2014

Hi again Steve, a puzzling thought has occurred to me since my reply to some of your queries. How did you manage to get the key out of the ignition with the car in neutral? It has to be in park before you can remove it. All the best Geoff.

FarmerFox · April 27, 2014

Peter, you say that the tyre presures are meant to be 31 psi all round, I'm assuming thats for the 16 ins wheels, except for travelling at over 100mph. What should they be for that speed and why is it different?

Josh

Old Peter · April 27, 2014

Hi Josh,

I am assuming that the pressures are specified by the tyre manufacturer and they appear to be the same for all the sizes suited to the S Type. My tyres are 18" and I run Pirellis on 31 psi. When you are going at speeds over 100 mph the tyres are affected by the speed, as is the roadholding and steering.

I am not a tyre expert, but I do know that when a tyre is under inflated or over inflated it certainly affects road holding. I had a slow puntcture some years ago and found that the car was all over the road at about 50 mph when the pressure dropped to about 5 psi.

Regards

Peter.

FarmerFox · April 27, 2014

Many thanks Peter, I was just wondering as to why it would be different at higher speeds.

Josh

jagsbosteve · April 27, 2014

I only go by the recommendations in the handbook, I did have the tyres inflated to the recommendation under normal driving, I decided to deflate the tyres and follow the maximum comfort directions! Which list 1.9 bar at the front and 1.8 at the rear, it says maximum comfort for speeds up to 100 mph and as I do not exceed 80 on the motorway I felt this was sufficient and found that the car handles much better under the maximum comfort recommendations, and no you do not need the car in park to remove the key from the ignition!, it only occurred once when I could not remove the car from park, I simply managed to free it from park and ever since I park the car in neutral with the hand break up,

April 27, 2014

Hi Steve, if you can remove your ignition key without the transmission being in Park then there must be a problem with it somewhere. You obviously have a drivers handbook as you refer to it in you last post, so look in section 2-1 under the heading "To remove ignition key." For automatic vehicles it states, "The automatic gear selector must be placed in Park P before the key can be removed from the ignition switch. When the key is removed, the gear selector will be locked in Park". It could be that if there is a fault that it is all interconnected with you having had it stuck in Park. If I inadvertently turn off the ignition on my S-type before putting the gear selector into Park (as I occasionally do as I also drive my wife's manual quite a lot and turn the engine off on it as soon as I stop the car without having to worry where the gear stick is) I get an alarm sound to tell me the car is not in Park and I cannot remove the key until I have shifted the selector into Park, hence my puzzlement at you being able to remove your key. Best wishes Geoff.

bilmac · May 5, 2014

Hi guys I'm Steve and have just recently joined as I have trawled through the internet to no avail, this is my first jag, well my first Mondeo with a fur coat and I have noticed an assortment of noises from the car and I would be greatful if any of you could help, firstly after driving the car for 15_ minutes or so there is an irritating constant squealing noise which sounds like it is coming from the wheels, hard to pinpoint as I have both windows open when driving, but as soon as I depress the brake it vanishes, but as soon as I release the brake its back again, its quite a loud noise reminds me of a brake wear indicating noise, I'm not a fully qualified mechanic but I understand enough to get by, any ideas what it could be and what to do to fault find and eliminate? secondly, I noticed over the last week the car felt very skittish at any speed, felt like it was bouncing and jerking all over the place, so I decided to check the tyre pressure when I purchased the car a month or so ago I noticed that the pressure was low, so I referred to the handbook and inflated the tyres to the normal reccomendation, I think approx 2,2 bar don't quote me on that I can't remember off hand but I know I followed the normal driving pressures, two days ago I decoded to adjust the tyre pressure to the maximum comfort settings I think 1.8 bar again exactly I don't know as I don't have the manual to hand, the rear nearside and offside tyres were only 1.2 after re inflating them the handling has resumed to how it was when I purchased it, is my thinking right that perhaps it had to much air in the front and was too low in the back thus for affecting the handling? Thirdly the following description is alarming me somewhat, I can only describe to you how it sounds and feels from me as I am in the car I apologise I can not be any more precise, here goes, when I return home I have to perform a three point turn to park the car outside my house, as I do so I turn right into the side road, the steeringis not quite on full lock but not far off, I hear a grinding rubbing noise and can feel a slight rumble vibration through the wheel, but the audible note is quite loud, the sound is like a very loud creaking, like a creeping sort of creak if that makes sense, probably not then as I go to reverse I hear a loud grinding/rumbling grating noise from the rear of the car! And I know this probably will not make any sense but I can actually feel it through the car, when I perform this manouver, the road I pull into to perform the three point turn is on quite a steep gradient when I turn right, then stop then reverse down onto the flat stretch of road, I wondered if this made any difference, the only other way I can describe it is a very loud creaking coming from the rear of the car when reversing, sort of like when you pull off an leave the hand break on?, it does not always do this when I reverse on a flat surface but occasionally it does, any ideas? With regards to the noise I described when I turn right to do the three point turn the same creeping creak/vibrating rumbles occurs when I'm turning right onto a sharp bend, it doesn't happen through normal driving , for example, turning right on a roundabout, mini roundabout etc it always happens then, but never when turning left, sorry that this is so long winded guys but I thought if I explained it as I see and feel and describe as much as possible it might make it easier to understand, also the other day the gear selector for stuck in park and I could not free it, I haven't had the problem since as I leave it in neutral with the hand brake up, I thought that what ever is wrong with the car could be fairly easily rectified as the chap I brought it off, spent a lot of money it came with FSH, and a spanking not with no advisories, I had always wanted a jag, and I know being only 25 I am one of the youngest drivers to own one but I wanted something big enough for my children, something comfortable to get in and out of and automatic as I have had a hip replacement and suffer with ms, it is a lovely car and apart from the issues mentions she drives superb, the only other thing I have trouble with is the drivers side windscreen wiper arm, it catches on the top of the bonnet, and the wipers do not park, if you sweep the window they sometimes stop in the right place but often than most at 12, ten to two and three o'clock, I've inspected the wiper arm and the spring on the elbow joint is in tact but I can depress it down so it sits flush under the bonnet but does not stay, I don't know what I'm doing with regards to that, so any thoughts on that I would be very greatful, once again thank you for reading this and sorry its so long many thanks steve

Steve, I am worried that perhaps you have something wrong with your braking system, this is serious and should be inspected immediately. Bring it to the nearest Garage A.S.A.P. It does not have to be a main dealer, any one will do.

What you want them to tell you, is there is nothing wrong with any safety systems and its ok to drive the car.

Please it won't cost much and will give you (and us ) peace of mind. bilmac

StrayCat · May 5, 2014

Hello Steve,

Good advice from bilmac. My own S Type hasn't been faultless (no car is) but the repair bills haven't been too much of a shock either.

Incidentally, while the Jaguar X Type does share a few components with the Ford Mondeo, our S Type’s platform is a very different beast which was a joint venture development between Ford and Jaguar engineers. The platform was employed in the Lincoln LS, Jaguar S Type and I am led to believe it also underpins the current XF model.

I wish you luck in identifying your mysterious noises.

bilmac · May 9, 2014

Hi Guys, thank you for getting back to me, I ordered a set of wiper arms,from eBay, with the seller advertising that they were pretty 2003, I think and assured me they would fit my vehicle, they arrived today and noticed that the driver side was identical to what I already had on the car, I noted that the passenger side on the new set was similar but slightly longer with a slightly different shape, I moved the old set passenger arm to the drivers side, and the new set passenger side to the passenger side and fitted smaller blades, alas I have a sweep without interruption and without causing further damage to the bonnet, I am happy with this for the moment as it provides function, and as it isn't broken...... Etc, to my joy I had to replace the rear near side tyre due to an embedded screw, swapped the wheels over but I can not seem to tighten the bolts up, they just seem to keep spinning,and now since changing the tyre there isa noticeable grinding noise from the rear when braking down hill, I thought this was due to the nuts not being tightened enough, went to tighten up and one of the bolts has sheared off, any ideas guys? I'm going to try and get the remaining thread off, the remaining four are on OK but I need the car to get about, and I'm pretty rural, is the car OK to still drive? I don't have a torque wrench, I removed and replaced the wheels with what was in the boot, I'm presuming it is jag standard as it didn't seem the jack had ever been touched the wheel was a bugger to remove with this oversized bar and made it difficult on the roadside, would kwick fit or similar be able to rectify this by tightening it up with a power wrench? Etc

Steve, I like others on here, are curious as to the causes of your problems, have you any update?

jagsbosteve · May 9, 2014

Sorry I do not use the internet very often only for trouble shooting, and the occasional purchase, I took the car to a local dealer who removed the original wheel nuts for me and put a new set on, as he removed the rear near side wheel it was apparent that the calliper was sticking, so I chopped around for a bit and managed to get a new set of rear discs pads and callipers and the car is good as gold