Picked up an '05 X-Type this week for a daily driver. Car is almost flawless with 58K miles. This is the first Jaguar I've ever ridden in let-alone owned. During the test drive I commented on how loud the drive train seemed; sales person commented that was the nature of the AWD. Sound is more pronouced at low speed and deceleration. I have a hard time believing that a car of this caliber would have that much noise. I think I'll take it to an independent shop this week for an evaluation. Am I chasing ghosts or is there something to be concerned about.

 

Rantsc, based on what you are describing, you have 1 of 2 possible issues. While I hate to jump to this conclusion without more information, it is sounding like the transfer case is about to take a dump on you (hopefully they have a 1,000 mile/30 day warrantee on the cars they sell). The other possibility is that you have a joint going out on the rear driveshaft and that will lead to a vibration in the floor of the car, leading to a lot of cabin noise. You can normally rule this out by using a needle attachment to a grease gun and greasing the centering bearing (the bearing in the middle of the rear drive shaft). if the noise changes significantly after the greasing, then it is the centering bearing. If the noise continues, then I would be looking at the transfer case.

On a side note, the transfer cases are reliable if you drive the car sensibly. If you like to use the sportiness of the car and shoot light to light, you are going to find this a very expensive car to own. What I mean by sensibly is normal accelerations have the tranny shifting at about 3,000-3,500 RPM. I will let you go from there.

 

Just heard back from my dealer. They are replacing the transfer case with a used unit with 51k miles. Not sure how I feel about this. Yes this unit has fewer miles than the car and yes the dealer will warranty it for the balance of my six month contract, but I'm still uneasy. Not sure I have any options, the repair is on them and they have the unit ordered. Giving serious thought to extending my third party warranty when it comes due.

 

Don't worry. Lucky that you caught this though. One thing that you MUST do is contact the dealer and tell them they must FLUSH and fill the "new" transfer case with synthetic gear oil otherwise you will not buy it. You shouldn't have any troubles with that transfer case as long as its got fluid in it. The #1 killer of tcases is not having enough fluid in them because of jaguar's "sealed for life" BS