Frank here, I have a MY 16 S coupe with 36,000 miles. I have a constant differential whine, it doesn’t fluctuate with speed. It’s not loud but noticeable and only under load. At 33,000 miles I had the pinion gear replaced. You thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated.
Frank Hudson Valley NY

 

If it's not proportional to speed, why do you think it's the differential? I can see the load being relevant, but would expect it to be related to speed as well.

 

Thanks Steve, good question. I hear the whine coming from behind, and assumed it is the differential. I have p-zero tires and I can hear them drone on. I’ll have to pay more attention when I drive, if the whine fluctuations were speed related louder faster lower slower I will relay that information, I don’t hear the whine when off the gas. Is there something else I should be doing to isolate and identify the location? Thanks again for the question
Frank

 

Most of my professional wrenching was on FWD cars (Saabs) and they had a relatively small number of failure modes in the driveline. They also had a combined transaxle, so pinion problems could manifest in ways you wouldn't see with a separate diff.

You need a bit more data as I see it, unless the dealer that did the repair is going to diagnose for you. I don't know if they replaced the diff assembly complete of overhauled it themselves. Draining the oil to look at what comes out is one way. If there is a bad bearing or the ring/pinion were not set up properly, there would be excessive metal, possibly even visible bits. There are two key places where bearing preload is critical (pinion and diff carrier), and two key places where clearances are (pinion depth and backlash). If any of that is incorrect, early failure is much more likely.

The on/off throttle could indicate a differential problem. I would expect that the pitch of the sound would rise with increasing vehicle speed. If you select one gear and accelerate in it, note the sound. Try again in a different gear and compare. If you force a single gear you can also see if the sound is there in some form during engine braking.

Try getting an assistant to listen with you. Have them roll down the window and see if they can better locate the sound. Possibly driving past an observer would help isolate it too.

 

Thanks Steve I’ll follow your suggestions. The jag dealer just replaced the pinion gear seal and refilled the differential. Is the JLR protocol: repair/replace entire differential when pinion gear seal requires replacement?
the invoice state “renew pinion gear seal and refill differential”.
Thanks again for your suggestions.
Frank

 

If they only replaced the seal, then nothing was done internal to the differential assembly. I had a leaky seal too, replaced under warranty.

A bad seal won't cause that kind of noise unless so much oil is lost that the unit is running essentially dry. If that's the case, the bearings will be shot at minimum, and the gears probably in poor shape too.

What was your original complaint? If it was the noise, they may have just patched over the real problem with a fresh fill of oil.

 

The original complaint was leaking pinion gear seal which was corrected under warranty. I’ll follow your suggestions and relay what I find.
Frank

 

Thank you all for your suggestions and comments. Just returned from my drive and this is what happened:
a) whine noticable at around 60 mph in 8
B) no difference in tone when accelerating
C) drove in 2-4 gears at 3k rpm no whine
d) when warming up oil doing 40-50 no whine

I'm thinking it could be tire related noise.
Frank
Again thank you all for your comments and suggestions. This is a great forum with very knowledgeable passionate owners.

 

Any whine in 4-6 at 60 mph?
Any whine in 7 at 60mph?

 

I noticed no difference in whine in 6-7-8 at 60 - 75. No whine in lower gears. whine doesn't fluctuate with speed or gear selection.

 

My guess: bad bearing(s) on the overdrive lay shaft. Tranny probably has to come out.

 

Would that generate a code.? And can JLR detect this issue with their computer diagnostics

 

Nope. Strictly mechanical. I’d put it up on a frame lift, start the engine, do whatever necessary to get it into 6th gear and then take a stethoscope to the tranny. This will take an old school mechanic. The modern techs will generally just guess at it and swap something out. A good transmission shop should be able to replace the bearings. The Jag dealer would just replace the whole unit.

 

Unhinged, Not what I wanted to hear😱 the last time I took it to Paramus for inspection I mentioned the whine and I suggested they put it on the lift and run the jag to locate the whine. No can do, due to insurance restrictions, understandable. They did take it out with a technician and shop foreman and they said “no whine noise from differential or wheel bearings verified noise from tires”. They noted on invoice the whine at 55 mph from the rear my “differential concern”. The jag is under new car warranty until 12/20, so this should be covered under warranty. Now I just have to have the technician ride with me at the appropriate speed and listen for the whine. I’ll be calling them on Monday. I’ll keep everyone posted.
Frank
question: is this a known issue or will this be “never seem this before “

 

On this forum, I have not heard of these specific symptoms under the circumstances Described.
I can’t believe it’s the tires if you can make it go away by downshifting to 5th gear.
I can also understand their reticence to testing on the lift, though the risk is far less than mounting the car to a dyno.

 

If you buy a set of ChassisEars you can hear different parts of your car while driving. They are piezo-electric clamps that act like mechanic stethoscopes that send the sound to a set of headphones. You can listen to several channels/ sounds at the same time.

There are wired or wireless versions. I have the wired set and can listen to 6 parts at the same time. Wireless are probably easier as you dont have to worry about wires dragging on the ground (I used garbage ties to keep the wires tethered to the car).

Best of luck figuring this out.

 

A quick update, my mechanic had it up on his lift and with a stethoscope, he located the whine from the differential bearing. He said when a bearing seal leaks it usually ruins the bearing due to lack of oil. Since I don’t know how much oil was in the differential I’m going with a bad bearing. I’ll update everyone again when Jaguar Paramus has a look and see what they say as to my mechanics write up. Lizzardo, kudos you nailed it.
Frank my16 S coupe

 

Hi Frank,

Was it confirmed to be the bearing?

 

Hi to members of this forum. I apologize for not updating my problem. I honestly thought that I had, so this is what happened. The whine persisted and finally the tech at Paramus Jaguar heard it while in my car in the parking lot exiting to Rt 17 for a test drive. The differential was replaced under warranty July 2021 with 43,000 miles. No issues since replacement with current 62,000 miles. I must say that the whine was there when Paramus Jaguar told me it was everything but the differential even when they knew the pinion seal was replaced by Glen Cove Jaguar February 2020 at 33,700 miles. This is a wonderful forum and I’m happy to put a result to my previous post. Chers Frank