I had that exact same problem. My car would violently shake but this was due to driving through a large pile of snow and having wet snow in between my wheel spokes.

 

I also get a vibration at highway speeds but I think its a balance issue more so than a driveshaft/propshaft issue. I say this because at highway speeds the driveshaft is spinning at around 2500 - 3000 RPMs. If Im cruising around the city in second gear at the same RPMs but slower speed it doesn't vibrate. If the cause was the driveshaft you would feel the vibration anytime the RPMs get to that level right? Not just at certain speeds? Just a thought...

 

rhriczko: The driveshaft matches road speed, not engine RPM. If the driveshaft was the issue, you'd feel the vibration regardless of selected gear. If you felt it at 55mph in 5th gear, you'd also feel it at 55mph in 3rd gear.

I, too, have this issue. My vibrations start around 52mph and disappear in the road noise/feel around 75-80. Here is what I've done so far:

Just yesterday, my father and I jacked my car up and put jack stands under all 4 corners, making sure to keep the suspension compressed, as if it were on the road. With the wheels and tires off the ground, I drove it up to speed, all the way to 70mph. Once the suspended car reached 50mph, the vibrations began, just as if the vehicle were on the road. This eliminates the alignment as being the issue.

Next, still on jacks, we yanked all 4 wheels, retightened the lugs on the bare studs (to keep the hubs/rotors tight) and ran it back up to 70mph. The vibrations continued. This eliminates the wheels/tires as being the issue.

Next, still on jacks, still without wheels/tires, we dropped the driveshaft (unbolting at the TC), eliminating all power to the rear. Drove it up to 70mph (best guess, as the speedometer reads the rear wheels). The vibrations continued. This eliminates the driveshaft, carrier bearing, rear diff, and rear axels as being the issue.

Now for the weird part. Still on jacks, still without driveshaft, we put the front wheels back on and ran it up to speed. The vibrations were GONE!

Now, it gets confusing.

Next, still on jacks, with only front wheels installed, we re-aligned and reattached the driveshaft and ran it up to speed. Welcome back, vibrations!!! What's going on here? We are going to wait for a warmer day and repeat our experiment, trying to figure out what we missed.

While below the car, we attempted to grease the carrier bearing using a greasing needle. My bearing didn't appear to have the slots to insert the needle. So, that was a bust. We also made sure the rear motor-mount (roll restrictor) was tight. It was very tight.

We did notice a little wobble/walk in the front passenger CV half-shaft. I'm wondering if this could be the issue? Thoughts? Anyone?

Thanks.

 

Been following this post and my 07 xk with 55k has the same problem. I've tried everything you all have and still no change. Diidnt pull and check propeller shafts but was told there is a TSB on these cars for driveshaft problems.....I;m still looking for the problem

 

Sure could. And the right hand side is the hard one to do. If you change it be sure you separate the cv joint from the intermediate shaft and leave the intermediate shaft in place. There are several threads on this repair and I posted some pictures on one of them.

 

Yup I have exactly the same problems. A vibration at 55 mph plus. I replaced both rear tyres and had them balanced. This did help by 30% at a guess. However the vibration is still there and it does feel like its through the seat of your pants. Problem is the transmission on the X-type Jaguar is from the Land rover Freelander which sucks! I worked in a mechanical breakdown insurance office for the AA and RAC. We replaced transfer boxes and propshafts on Freelanders morning till night. A new propshaft and trabsfer box will eliminate the vibration. However it will return and in as little mileage as 30k! I love this car in every other way so I am sticking with the vibtration as I don't have £2000 to spare!!!! next time I will but a rear wheel drive 3.0 S-Type problem solved.

 

I see lots of fellow X-Type owners have had this inherent vibration from the rear at speeds over 55 mph. I'll tell you what I know. The 4x4 transmission on the X-Type is from the Land Rover Freelander. The weak points are the propshaft and transfer box (Most important parts and expensive) the bearings wear out in the transfer box which will eventually fail and leave you stranded. the propshaft joints wear and the whole propshafts go out of balance. Remedy replace both on a regular basis. I am a retired motor-mechanic and sort out a Jaguar specialist in my area to consult with. He drove my car X-Type 9 years old only 50k one owner immaculate car. He said straight away "Your propshaft is out of balance and your transfer box bearings are shot" If you are not rich like me then I guess its used parts and a local mechanic to sweat changing them. what guarantee do you have that the donor parts are any good? answer is none! you take a risk or buy new ones or reconditioned ones. I love the look of the X-Type and the way it drives its superb in my opinion. If I could time travel I would buy an S-Type 3.0 rear wheel drive. No transmission troubles (Manual) Trouble is I don't like the front end on the S-type and nor do a lot of people.However they are cheaper to buy than the X-Type and more reliable. So as I can't time travel I shall save up and buy a new prop and transfer box : (((

 

I've had a vibration since I got this car back on the road a couple of months ago. It was there even at relatively slow speeds. I could take my hands off the steering wheel and watch it rock quite a bit to the left and right as the car rolled forward. The tires were really bad and I assumed it was the tires that caused it, and had been assuming the vibration would go away when I replaced the tires.

Since I just now got the last of the codes resolved and the car is running well, I bought new tires today, all 4. The slow speed vibration is gone. But I still have some vibration that starts to come on about 65 mph, and is fully there by 70 mph. It gets worse as speed increases. The steering wheel is still rocking left and right when the vibration is present, but now only a tiny bit.

Since I did an engine swap on this car, I've had the whole front end of the car out: engine, transmission, subframe, suspension. I'm going to go back over all that again. I'm also going to check the tie rods, struts, wheel bearings, and anything else I can think of.

I replaced all the propshaft bolts with new ones and torqued them when I reassembled after the engine swap. So I don't suspect that. Also I replaced both the front halfshafts while I had everything out on the ground. So those are new. JTIS has a subframe alignment procedure and a propshaft centering procedure that I don't have the equipment to attempt. I suspect I'm going to end up at the dealership.

 

Sounds like you guys are experiencing severe vibrations. This is a well informed thread with a good break down of the whole drive train, suspension system(s). Esp.
rclangelan's jack-stand experiment above. ...Pretty ballsy to run it with the tires on in the carport at 70mph, imho. But, those steps are sound troubleshooting, now you just need to have that ah Ha! moment. Good luck.

I had some steady rattling of the steering wheel at 70 mph plus or minus 5mph. I usually keep the tires at 33 psi. Upon gassing to drive from Phoenix to Tucson AZ. 100 mile trip, I decided to pump the tires all up to 39 psi. I noticed a significant drop in steering wheel vibration, it's basically gone.

I didn't have good reason for keeping them at 33 psi, except maybe for a softer ride. Anyway, the ride is actually better with stiffer tires. I wouldn't have guessed this.

 

I'm experiencing the same problem. The only thing is though, we replaced all the bolts already. My mechanic wants to try replacing or straightening the rear drive shaft.
This is going to be expensive. I would pay it if I knew for sure it would fix the problem. Any advice?

 

Seems to me that "bent" would be easy enough to prove or disprove by checking runout. Folks I know that have had driveshafts straightened have had limited success with that. You might be better off going straight to replacement with a new driveshaft. Another alternative might be to retube yours. But retube is usually reserved for when new parts are NLA.

 

Yeah, we had the same issue, did the obvious, but that didn't work and the mechanic didn't catch the bad tires. We changed to new perrili and fixed it for good!

 

I ordered the front motor mount (top), and the rear (roll restrictor) motor mount from JAGbits. I hear the top one is pretty easy to replace. Does any one have advice on replacing the roll restrictor?

Here is a pic of my top motor mount. Looks pretty wasted.

 

Our X-Types are known to develop wheel bearing wear problems. I just replaced one of my rear bearing assemblies (driver's side) that had made "tree frog" sounds for a couple of years. It finally began making the rurr rurr rurr sound bad bearings make which forced me to change it. After taking it off I can feel the hub "give" inside the bearing side-to-side when I hold it down and torque the back of the bearing mount by hand. Now those two problems have been eliminated I can hear the passenger side making a slight whirring sound while under way so I ordered another rear bearing assembly. I can hear this since the one I replaced is totally silent. All things being equal I believe I should replace the front bearings too. Looseness in the bearings from wear could make the wheels wobble and the hubs right along with them.

My steering wheel wobble seems to come and go as I drive, never remaining constant. I've been the only driver of my car and have never hit a pot hole or rubbed against a curb. It is a 2002 2.5 automatic with 96k miles on it. While I had the driver's side rear apart, the original bearing was quite rusty so I primed and painted the replacement to hopefully cut down on corrosion. I also took the opportunity to sand and refinish the dust shield and wire brush wheeled the brake caliper which I primed & painted with red 500 degree ceramic caliper paint. It looks great and I'm happy some rust has been taken care of. I'm working my way around and soon will get to the front bearing replacement. I'll let you know what happens. Hopefully the wheel shimmy will be gone.

 

1994 VDP 4L 126K miles
I do notice a little "twitch" in the steering wheel. I will attend to that later.

My concern is a vibration (almost pounding) that started a few weeks ago from the rear. It happened when I got just over 70. It is getting worse and now starts to be felt at just over 55. It feels like a BADLY out-of-round tire, or trying to drive on a flat. Changed tires, no change. Put car up and ran without tires. Still there. Left side seems a little worse when tested separately. I know it looks like a town car but really I do want to go on the freeway. Can't. This feels way bigger than a loose bolt. No accidents, potholes, incidents, etc.