I am new to Jaguar since March of this year and absolutely loving this car and wanting it to be as perfect as possible. This can be a dilemma because it is far from new, a 2005 and has 96,000 miles on it so it is not perfect. One of the issues I am dealing with is a noise that seems to come from the rear and is most noticeable between 40 and 50 mph. It is a wa wa wa wa sort of noise that gets faster as speed increases and seems to fade into the background above 60 mph and cant be heard at all above 70. This is not a loud noise and can be masked on rough roads where the tire noise is predominant but on smooth new blacktop it is real annoying.
I had my trusty mechanic check it out and he did not find any wheel bearing or rear end differential problems.
Does this sound familiar to anyone that might have a suggestion or two to get rid of it? I suppose I could drive above 70 as much as possible that that might cause other problems in the long run.
Any feedback is appreciated.

 

Rotate or change the tires first. Tire noise is hard to figure out but changing them will tell you right away.
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Thanks tbird6, I like the easy ones that won't cost a lot. I will have the balance checked at the same time.

 

I remember forum member "carelm" reporting a very similar whine in his 2005 S-Type 3.0 in 2009 or 2010. It began kicking in around 50 or 60 mph and then disappeared over 70 or 80 mph. His local dealership in the Northern Virginia area replaced his differential and possibly other rear end components under a known TSB at no cost to him. I'm guessing his car was still under the Select Edition warranty at that time. This action immediately silenced the whine and I don't believe he has reported any similar problems since. You may want to search on his posts and read up on his particular situation....

 

Following up to what Jon said, my dealer brought my car up on a lift, ran the car in gear up to around 60 mph and then used a stethoscope to listen to the differential. The mechanic confirmed the noise and had the rear differential replaced under warranty. Jaguar redesigned some of the bearings inside the differential so I had to wait about a month while the redesigned differentials became available.

 

Thanks for the response. Was your car still under the original warranty when you had this done or was / is there a separate warranty for the differential bearings that might still apply to my car. (2005 with 96K miles).
My mechanic, who is not a Jaguar specialist but trustworthy, did have it up in the air and used a stethoscope on the wheel bearings and I think he also tested the differential and did not hear anything abnormal to him. This is why I have shifted my attention to tires and wheels.
Another aspect of the noise is that when it is at it's loudest, around 50 mph, if the road has any dips in it and the car raises and falls a little,the noise will go away when the car rises and be louder when in the car falls. It also seems to be less when the road curves to the right and more when it curves to the left making me think it is located on the right side of the car. I don't know if any of this helps but if it sounds familiar to you or anyone else reading this, your feedback is always appreciated.

 

It was done under the Select Edition Warranty. At the time my car was about five years old.

If you're sure it's at the right rear, you may want to check the various lines, bushings etc to make sure they aren't loose and are rubbing against your tires, axles or brakes. You may want to remove your right rear tire and check to see if anything has rub marks on it. If it's a loose cable or something you might be able to zip-tie it in place.

 

Doesn't sound to be the diff. Maybe a wheel bearing, they're a pain to diagnose sometimes.