I'm hearing a noise coming from engine/driveline.

The noise is not loud, having the fan on covers it up. The noise does not occur when parked/stationary and revving the engine. It is not dependent on vehicle speed, but when in gear it varies according to engine speed.

I've recorded it and put it up on youtube here:
Any suggestions would be helpful. This transmission has about 30k miles on it. The transfer case has less than that.

 

Prop shaft carrier bearing maybe?

Being it does it under load, but not during a rev kinda leads me to that.

I would wait for one of the experts to chime in though.

p.s. - where are you in Illinois?

 

I'm hoping it's something like that, rather than something in the transmission/transfer case going...

I'm in DeKalb.

 

I couldn't really hear the noise sampled but in my situation my X-Type Wagon started making a rubbing, grinding friction-sounding noise when coasting or decelerating when it was around the 70K mark. All gears shift smoothly during acceleration and I don't hear my noise then. No discernable pulling (AWD) either. I now have 101K miles and cannot stand the noise which has gotten progressively worse. Jaguar service has adamantly concluded nothing is wrong while my favorite local shop put various noise sensing devices and concluded my t-case is the source. They extracted a sample of fluid from the "sealed for life" t-case and it was not fluid but chocolate pudding. I am now deciding whether to pay the $3K for a remanufactured t-case or just put the car out of my misery and get a new Outback. I suggest you take the car to a trusted shop so you don't get the "sealed for life" response from your Jag dealer. Good luck.

 

It's that taptaptaptap sound you hear. Almost like a washing machine on spin cycle.

I checked my oil and it's a bit low, I'm going to put a quart in today before I take the future wife to the mall and see if it changes at all.

 

Adding oil didn't do anything, didn't expect it to, but just letting people know.

The noise isn't noticeable right away when driving, it takes a few minutes of driving/warm-up before it gets loud enough to hear.

 

get your hands on a grease gun with a needle and inject some grease in the prop shaft bearing.
if that does not help may be a good idea to change the oil in the TC case and rear dif. (probably not a bad idea to do this anyway)

 

Brought it to a local tranny shop for a *quick* look-over. The guy heard the noise, didn't think it was tranny/tc related. We checked transfer case and transmission fluids, nothing looks wrong, fluids smell/look ok. I didn't have time to leave it, but we're all scratching our heads on this one.

I'll have to see about greasing the propshaft bearing, I'm not getting a whine, I'm getting a noise that sounds like something is loose/wobbling/hitting something.

 

Yeah, that is what my Subaru Legacy sounds like. On the Legacy, it's the prop shaft carrier bearing. It makes the noise under acceleration (not revving) and sounds like someone constantly hitting a hammer. I can catch a video of it tonight if you like, to see if the sound is similar.

Think Driven in Sycamore has been reliable and knowledgeable for me. Maybe give him a shout?