I have a 2005 X-Type with 154,000 miles. Engine still runs great, transmission a bit "whiney", but not excessively so. As a means of reducing drive line noise, I brought the car into my mechanic (I don't have a lift and I'm almost 80) and had him replace the center support bearing on the driveshaft (didn't think you needed specialized knowledge for the job). I also provided him with the pertinent pages from the shop manual as well as a TSB. When i got the car back, the noise was way worse (loud whirring noise, drone and vibration). I brought it back and was told that he followed all of the directions regarding marking the position on the u-joint flanges and was at a loss as to why the noise got so much worse (the drone as the car nears 70 mph gets really bad, then fades as you get near 80 and above, probably a harmonic issue). I took the car back home and will try to fix it myself, but first I need to know how to isolate the problem which I understand affected 2002-2004 cars from the factory to a lesser degree. From what I've read on this and other forums, it could be any of the following:

1. He messed up the indexing of the driveshaft flanges which threw everything out of balance
2. He installed the center support bearing incorrectly (I don't know if that's even possible)
3. The new center support bearing is bad (unlikely)
4. He left the flange gaskets out (if they were originally fitted)
5. Some combination of the above items.

As I stated in the title, this is somewhat of a self-inflicted wound, so I'm probably not deserving of too much sympathy. Fair enough, should have left well-enough alone.. Logic would suggest that since all of the original driveline components were in decent shape (the noise wasn't there prior to the support bearing being replaced which puts the blame squarely something he did or didn't do. I'm considering putting the car up on jack stands and watching the driveshaft with the car in gear and the speed gradually increasing. If that doesn't show me anything, is there any way to start from scratch to find the problem? I couldn't find anything in driveshaft problem posts on this and other forums that can point me in the right direction. Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

 

max224, taking the driveline apart and putting a new bearing on the driveshaft puts a lot of components under new stresses. You could have a bad U-joint, the carrier bearing could possibly be bad (but like you said, unlikely), or things are not indexed correctly. I would be going towards the u-joints being worn out and needing replaced. Now, how you want to go about this is up to you. Most people just buy a new driveshaft and call it good. Granted, I am sure you can find the u-joints and replace those.

As for diagnosing things, about the only way I can think you can diagnose something like this is to get the car up on a lift and be under it as the wheels are turning, listening for where the noise seems to be the loudest.

 

Given the noise has gotten worse since removing and refitting the driveshaft, I would assume it'd be with that. Anything is possible, whether its a new carrier bearing faulty out of the box, or the mechanic didnt install correctly.

Was there any evidence of oil leaking from the output of the transfer case? These were notorious for leaking through the output shaft/nut. Gear oil would get into the front cv joint of the driveshaft and dilute the grease.

Which leads me to say if the driveshaft has been changed, the front section would be bigger in diameter than the rear as they were superseded. If it hasnt been changed, hopfully he put fresh grease in the front and rear joints/flanges...

 

Hi Max,

Sorry to hear you are having the problem.
Please excuse me for replying when I have no experience on the AWD driveline myself apart form my old Range Rover, but from a straight forward mechanical interpretation from your description of events - here are my thoughts on your situation.

The two drive shafts whould have been initially independently balanced in the factory before being paired into one final amalgamated assembly. They were probably then re-balanced as a pair and the final assembly possibly marked for registration.
If your mechanic has managed to follow the instructions and keep the registration intact of the two driveline shafts (as there is no reason to split the shafts unless you are having to replace the midway the U joint), then I can only foresee a couple of scenarios that would give you that vibration - post repair.
I have to assume the new bearing is OK and hope that the U Joints (front or mid) have not sustained a heavy shock and become unsettled in some manner.

The first gotcha is a small piece of debris has mistakenly been trapped in between the mating flange faces, effectively creating a subtle offset at one end of a driveshaft (transfer flange face or differential flange face). This would make the driveshaft effectively rotate in a very slight orbit giving you a balancing error.

Alternatively I can only think the remaining registration point is the rear flange coupling that had to be removed from the shaft to allow the support bearing to be removed. That coupling I assume is on a spline and has a retaining nut to secure it to the shaft.
Being a casting, it is likely not separately balanced, therefore would have been mounted to the shaft and balanced as the sum of the rear shaft or completed assembly. Therefore when removed it may need to be returned onto the shaft in the correct registration to maintain the original factory balancing.
If he mistakenly did not refit that flange to the correct rotational position on the shaft, then you might have incurred a resultant balancing anomaly.

I would drop the shaft and check the flange faces for any dirt, swarf trapped in between, or a bruise on the drive shaft flange edges (drop impact creating a lip) and also for peace of mind check U joints for any subtle play.
I would also look at the shafts to make sure that there hasn't been any disturbance to the factory balance weights they would have originally spot welded to the shaft unlikely but while you are there looking - what the hey).

 

Wow, thanks for all of the great ideas and advice! Assuming the registration/indexing got muddled somehow, it seems that it would be a huge trial-and-error process to get them back to their factory positions. Suggestions in that regard welcomed. What stands out to me (glaringly) is that prior to this "repair", there was almost no noise from the driveshaft, hence the description of the problem as a self-inflicted wound. I'm leaning toward replacing the driveshaft with a new one (I'd considered a used one, but that might create another problem. The amount of labor necessary to pursue the trial-and-error option is daunting, with no guarantee of success, although likely an improvement. Swapping out the driveshaft seems to be the quickest solution albeit probably the most expensive one. Since the possibility of a leaking transfer case was raised, I've parked the car temporarily in case the current level of vibration effects the seals in transfer case and the transmission.

Again, thanks for all of your help.

 

Hi Max,

Yes I imagine it would be a bit of faffing around and trial and error to find the correct rear flange spline registration again if that is where the problem ultimately lies, but not impossible and let's not get ahead of ourselves.
I would hope the mechanic marked the original position with a dab of paint, marker or good old center punch dots!

But, before you go out and get a $1000 part, if you have the means and patience, disconnect the drive shaft front and rear to check for any trapped foreign debris or impact deformity that might be not allowing the flange faces to meet flush.
Just like when you replace your brake disks, you clean off the face of the hubs to ensure the disks attach flat and run true, other wise you get a pulsing back through the brake pedal due to the offset in the disk.

It would be a shame to write off the part before being sure there has not been some misadventure or a simple contamination issue that has created the problem.

If you cannot find a fault in the flange facings and think the issue is the rear flange spline registration has been lost with no markings to reinstate, then again if you have the means and patience to go further I would temporarily mark the current flange to shaft position then rotate the flange on the spline 180 degrees and test (noting if better or worse). If not resolved rotate another 90 degrees and test. If no better rotate a further 180 degrees. You would have then covered 12, 6, 9 and 3 o'clock in relation tor your original markings. One position would have made it better and one position would have likely made it worse. From there you can go back to the best course position and increment by one spline in either direction to hopefully refine the position.
I hope it is not required, but an afternoon under the car might be far cheaper than a new shaft assembly.

I would love to have a pit in my garage for such jobs, but alas the "bubble wrap brigade" have made them illegal here due to confined spaces and potential fume pooling.
They would rather we jack up cars and put them on stands and blocks to work underneath them....I can tell you from experience....not a comfortable place to be during an earthquake!!!!
Give me a pit any day for access and vehicle stability if you don't have access to a hoist.

 

I did a complete driveline rebuild on my car this spring, from transfer case to differential chasing the cold weather whine, so I can offer some insight. To go through your point:

1: U joints need indexing, as they do not rotate at a constant velocity. They are always speeding up and slowing down in the course of a revolution. The joints on a traditional driveshaft are aligned so the acceleration of one is cancelled out by the other and create a constant angular velocity. As an analogy, if you were to think of it as electricity you're trying to convert AC to DC. A CV joint is just that, constant velocity, so there is no indexing needed.

2 and 3: A possibility. I have found that the whining noise is from the centre bearing, but I think it creates a harmonic in other components and that is the noise. What I would try is getting the mechanic to take an 18 gauge needle on a hand grease gun and gently lift the seal on the backside of the centre bearing, work the needle past the cage the holds the ball bearings ( this may take some positioning, it can't be forced) and inject some synthetic grease into the bearing. Try to do it at 4 positions around the bearing if possible. There is a step right behind the seal, so you have to get the needle past that. If grease comes out past the seal right away, the needle is in the wrong place and not deep enough. That made a huge difference to my bearing noise.

4. Should make no difference to the noise.

5. The usual culprit is the centre bearing, but did he tip the car on it's side to check the oil level in the transfer case? The bottom of the sill needs to be 540mm (21") off the ground to be able to get sufficient oil in the transfer case. Any less of an angle and the oil will drain out when the plug is removed.

 

I should also mention that in the process of chasing noises, I changed CV joints, got another driveshaft from the junkyard and put my original CV joints on it and the noise got worse. The only thing the same in this swapping exercise was the centre bearing. The noise definitely originates from the centre bearing, at least the cold weather whine. My noise would generally go away when the temperature was above 7C, and appeared at various speeds below that temperature.

 

Here's a very nice thread with instructions and lots of clear pictures.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...earing-187890/

 

A s---t-load of information to go through here and all very helpful. I think you can see why starting from scratch with a rebuilt driveshaft has its appeal. My mechanic claims to have marked the joints and the spline to maintain the original registration though it might be worth a brief look at the drive shaft to confirm that.. I'm sure he'd be willing to try to correct his mistakes if I knew what they were, although I don't think he would commit to re-indexing the spline and the u-joints which would probably kill the better part of a day. It would be an interesting project to take on personally, but age and the lack of a lift have precluded my doing this work. (If anyone has a lift and is within reasonable driving distance of West Chester, PA I would be happy to buy them a wonderful dinner complete with the beverage(s) of their choice for their help, and throw in a few X-Type spares to boot!).

I do have a few questions:

• Is it possible to put the carrier bearing in backwards? I might be able to jack up the car enough to determine that, which would explain a lot.
• The factory manual recommends replacing the flange bolts which I'm almost sure he didn't do. Is there a place to get them other than the dealer ($$$), and can conventional hardened bolts also work?
• The shop manual makes mention of flange gaskets that may or may not have been originally fitted to the driveshaft; would they have an overall effect on driveshaft balance or harmonics?
• Could either of the CV joints been damaged in the removal and re-installation process?

As I read over everything I've written, it would seem that the easiest (not the cheapest) way to resolve the situation is with a rebuilt shaft, which eliminates most of the unknowns (although I'm beginning to think that I've already gotten the shaft LOL).

Thanks to everyone who provided a wealth of information on the subject, I owe you all.

 

After considering and re-considering my options, I decided to go with (of course) the most expensive one. New driveshafts are almost impossible to find, but I found a vendor that had two as well as rebuilt ones. The new one was an eye-watering $ 1,254.00 while the rebuilt was $ 495.00. Easy choice there and also ordered two new gaskets (obviously made from unobtanium judging by the price) and 12 new bolts which are being shipped directly to my mechanic who has promised to re-do the job very cheaply. I still believe that the original driveshaft was not installed properly after changing out the carrier bearing but have no way to prove that other than to try to find the problem, fix it myself and demand a refund of the labor he charged. He's been absolutely great at repairing all five or our cars at very reasonable prices so that's not a hill I want to die on. Should be interesting to take a look at original driveshaft after it's removal (has to be returned as a core) and I'll update on this project as soon as it's completed.

And they ask me why I drink.....

P.S. Anyone have experience purchasing and using a portable lift and, if so, what brand and model was it? Notwithstanding my age (80), it would help to get me back to some semblance of independence with three Jaguars.

 

Btw, member Dr Dome who parts out X's is in Hellertown, PA. You should pm him.

 

Thanks Dell,
The thought had occurred to me. I've bought parts from Joe before and he's a great resource nice guy. I wanted to avoid a used driveshaft because of the possibility of a similar problem in the near future due to the propensity of this part to cause problems. Not the cheapest way to go or even the most logical (I don't drive the car a lot so even a used part is likely to outlive me. The way I look at it, Jaguar ownership is the triumph of emotion over logic, and I wouldn't have it any other way!