Hi all!
The first few cold days and nights have just hit in the south east UK. Usually it's more often mild than cold here compared to Jims part of the UK grin. We had a little snow last year when I first had the 2.5 x-type but only for a day or so. So the past few nights of heavy frost and slick roads has been first real test of the plusses and minuses of my car. It grips better than I'd expected. Even on roundabouts if it starts to slip it regains grip and straightens itself out within a second which is great. A slight high whine at 27 to 29 mph in the cold even with the clutch depressed suggesting the drive shaft bearing I guess. Being a classic model with air con but no climate control is actually a plus I've discovered, as I can direct heat at feet, face, and windscreen same time. No other car I've ever had has that option. The heated windscreen washers guarantee at least one jet nozzle always works but I do wish I had an electrically heated windscreen lol but thats the other oddity.. setting the heater to speed 6 just on screen is not as effective on frost as speed 6 on face and windscreen with recirculation on. In the cold with a classic a very important bit of knowledge I have discovered lol

Steve Sheldon
2002 X-Type 2.5 Manual Classic 95,000m
(using mobile app)

 

Steve, got my car back from dealer here in US. high pitch whine 20-30 mph. New drive shaft, was carrier bearing. However they told me I will probably have same problem within two years. I was told its the rubber not the actual bearing. Its been a cold winter so far here in my part of US that's why its been making noise. BTW loaner car for 6 days XJL awd. Nice car but $90k no way.

 

If you are having the whine occurring, get under the car and put some grease into the carrier bearing using a needle attachment to a grease gun. Most of us find that the little bit of grease gets rid of the noise and it will stay away for a long, long time.

 

If the drive shaft proves to be a problem even after greasing the centre carrier bearing and replacement is being considered, bear in mind that a newer version, fitted from MY2004 onwards, can be fitted to the earlier MYs. Jaguar describe it as follows:

Driveshaft (AWD variants)
The principal change to the AWD driveshaft for MY2004 is a new sliding spline, which provides a crash collapsible feature. The second notable change is to the center bearing. This driveshaft is a backward compatible fitment to earlier vehicles.

Front Tube Sliding Spline
The forward section of the front tube now has a sliding formed steel spline, which locates within an aluminum splined sleeve muff box coupling) on the front tube rear section. This replaces the current "swaged" tube design.

Sealed CV Joints
The previous driveshaft had open CV joints. The new driveshaft has sealed joints at both ends (steel can shaped fabrication). The steel can has two roles:
• To compress the sealing gasket between the CV joint andthe steel can.
• To retain grease in the CV joint.
Center Bearing
Minor changes are confined to the internal bearing geometry and grease.

 

Yes, I purchased needle for grease gun and greased carrier bearing this fall (nov).
Bearing started making a lot of noise the last few weeks as temps remained below freezing. So no luck with my car atleast.

 

Me neither, I had mine greased fairly recently and it still whines.

The workshop that did it did warn me that they hadn't had luck with the greasing procedure in the past. They also told me that they had inspected and tested the bearing in many ways, I think one of them included running it without the rubber seal in place and it still whined.

 

Should I be worried about failure, or repair costs? I am guessing its like a wheel bearing likely to last quite some time?

Steve Sheldon
2002 X-Type 2.5 Manual Classic 95,000m
(using mobile app)

 

Mega frosty this morning (well, compared to the usual frosts where I am).. cleared the windows OK (yep recycle, air con and speed 6 on heater and frozen hands lol).. and a reminder to anyone else with all wheel drive... just because you can GO without any trouble - do not under any circumstances assume you can STOP as easily lol.
I remembered this just after I accelerated away from where I was parked overnight cleanly thinking that's good, can't be too icy..... then struggled to stop at the end of the road just a few yards on...
So a word of warning - just because you can pull away on icy roads no problem do not assume you can stop after pulling away :-)

 

Very true

 

I'm used to two wheel drive - you know when it's icy as you have problems pulling away and therefore are much more cautious - unlike me today! - no slippage on pulling away so didn't even consider pulling away slower than usual... but now I know :-)