So a month ago I started to notice an engine whine from my 2002 x-type. I took it to my usual mechanic (a guy me, friends, and family all have used for a long time.) and get referred to someone else, an "import specialist." Within five minutes, this guy just rubbed me the wrong way, I can't explain it. But I tell him my concerns of the engine whine and ask him to do an inspection of the car. After about an hour he says "everything looks pretty solid."

"What about that whine?" I ask him... He just shrugs his shoulders, "Probably just a belt or power steering pump... I wouldn't worry about it." So I ask him that he's 100% certain that it's not my transmission or x-fer case and he answers "if it was you'd have diagnostic codes."

Unsatisfied with that answer I went to my local jag dealer for an oil change and to top off all the fluids. They produced $8k worth of estimates, but didn't even bother to diagnose the whine. Right now I dont believe they even looked at the car. I waited around for over two hours and didn't see my car in the garage the entire time. I went for lunch for about a half hour and it just happened to be "ready" when I came back. When I got home the oil was still dirty and the coolant reservoir was still low. They told me there was a "severe coolant leak" and that the reservoir would be low again by the evening (quoting me $1,500 to replace a radiator hose.) I called BS and filled up the reservoir myself. a month later that reservoir was still full. So I'm going to go on a whim and say they BSed that whole list, and about all of it is 10x more expensive than it should be. But the whole reason I brought up this experience; I asked the Jag tech if he figured out the source of that whine and he, too, just shrugged his shoulders. "probably your AC compressor, which is leaking... but hey we washed and vacuumed your car, complementary." Yeah... thanks for the $120 car wash, douche bag!

So I went to a guy I know, a master engineer. He too says "dont worry about it, I dont hear any serious problem, probably just an bad bearing." Needless to say I'm not satisfied. I bought a cheap stethoscope, had my friend give it light gas while I poked around around the pulleys and bearings, and didn't hear anything. So I put it on the intake manifold, doesn't sound like that sounds coming from the engine either. So I go lower, putting it on the metal case under the engine and bingo! Question is, did I just listen to the transmission or the transfer case?

Picture shows when I put the stethoscope.

 

sorry the picture didn't attach correctly

PicPaste - IMG_0742-mDelg2sz.JPG

 

Here's your pic as an insert:



Graham

 

Thank you very much, Graham.

 

That red circle right there is not good news. That would be your trans. The transfer case is under the car. I would take it to a trans shop and have them look at it. How does the car shift? does the whine get louder or go away at Higher speeds?

 

After having my transmission rebuilt it now has a whine. Mine seems to vary with the RPMs and becomes noticeable after getting up to about 30 MPH. I took it in and the techs hear it too. They suspect a bad torque converter. Mine is under warranty from the rebuild so I'm taking it in to have them fix it this weekend. I'll update you after they fix the problem so you know what you're looking at, assuming you have the same issue.

 

The car shifts fine. The whine is mostly unaffected by the speed of the car, and only happens under throttle. It is, however, less noticeable at higher speeds. After at least a 15 minute drive the whine will be a bit noticeable car is idling in park. And you can hear it during that quick rev the engine creates when it's first started.

I was talking to a shop early that only does re manufacturing work on engines, transmissions, and transfer-cases. They can re manufacture the trans for under $2k, completely with a 3 year warranty. And since I'm sure they have to drop the transfer case out of the car to work on the transmission anyways, I can get the transfer case fluid changed.

I really just want to be certain what I'm getting done. I don't want to show up at this place and say "re-manufacture my transmission," to get it back and have had a whining transfer case all along.

 

And sorry, i don't see an edit button on this thread.

It just baffles me that none of the "professionals" I sought thought to do what I've done to diagnose the source of sound. There a reason no mechanic decided to spend two minutes doing what I did?

 

I went to AAMCO to have mine done and $3,000 later it's almost back to normal (aside from the whine). When I took it in they first looked everything over including the transfer case. It is my understanding that in cars with transfer cases they thoroughly inspect them too to determine the exact cause of the issue, whether it be the transmission or transfer case. The disassembly and removal fee was about $400, this allowed them to poke around inside the components. Then if there was no issue there I would have been only out the $400. Since there was an issue, the $400 gets applied to the total cost of $3,000.

 

This place does seem to do a similar practice. $400 deposite to start which will be applied to final price. The damaged is then rated to one of three levels. level three costing $1800. seems like a good deal to me, including a 3 year warranty. The guys says that from what i'm describing is sounds like between level 1 and 2. I imagine level 3 would be an un-drive-able car.

 

I wish I had been offered that! I paid about $3,200 total after tax and I only got a 1-year warranty. Plus it broke again about a month after they fixed it, which meant another 4 days without my car, more towing, and another rental.

After all that I still have the whine, but it's going in again soon to have that fixed (hopefully)

 

Catch is that this place is an hour drive from me. This place remanufacture a some 70,000 transmissions a year (and almost as many engines). Probably how they manage to do it remarkably cheap. But I worry, you know what they say; you get what you pay for.

I'd be pretty pissed if it stilled whined. As far as I'm concerned, that whine is the only symptom that my trans is faulty.

 

I actually postponed going back in for the repair until next weekend. I'll update again after it's fixed to let you know what exactly had to be done.

 

Well the prices I was given from those remanufacture were too good to be true. The best case scenario was about $2500. The worst case would be about $4500, which wouldn't be certain until it was torn apart. I wasn't going to risk my drivable car getting dismantled to lean I couldn't afford the huge bill. They did say some things that sounded like BS though. 99% certain the noise is internal. Expert fr Jaguar said this sounds like cracked casing. Torque converter is completely seized up. I'm pretty sure both of those things would have the car undrivable. This thing still runs, and shifts fine with no slips or grinding sounds.

So I'm reconsidering my options. I'm going to look into ordering a used trans and either installing it myself or having a shop do it (depending what it's cost.)