Hi guys,

There is a weird sound coming from the propshaft probably when decelerating or when in reverse. As I read some posts, people had similar problem and it's probably the sound of an cable that has fallen of a failed plastic tie and it's rubbing the propshaft.

Has anyone got any experience with this? How to easily fix it and what "new plastic tie" to use etc.

Here is my video:
And here is a video of another guy that had confirmed that it was a cable hitting the propshaft:
And here is the third video of another guy that have had the exact same problem:
Any comments?

Thanks.
Rok

 

Hey Rok,

That's an awful sound! To be honest, it could be anything. Is it just sound you hear or do you feel anything coming through the car such as vibration in the seat or the console?

If there is a slight vibration, it could be the propshaft itself. If the center bearing has failed. Mine recently failed and the slip joint failed along with it - but the sound I had was much less obvious than yours and it cost a small fortune to replace the entire propshaft with another one.

At a wild guess, I would say its your heat shield that protects the prop from the exhaust that is rubbing up against the propshaft when you drive. You need to get the car to a tire place where you can lift the entire car, put it in drive at idle and let the prop turn slowly while you check the heat shield - you will quickly see where it is rubbing or hear where its rubbing and can bend it away from your prop (its like tin foil so it can easily bend).

Good luck and keep us updated on the outcome or fix!

 

Hi Hilton,

Well, the sound can only be heard from inside the car and it feels like coming from the center console, where there are 2 cup holders. When on driver's side it feels like it's coming from the right front, and when on passenger side it feels like it's coming from the left somewhere. But it's definitely from the center when I really think about it.

There are no vibrations at all, not that I or my girlfriend would notice any.

The noise is there ONLY when decelerating or when reversing. When at higher speeds, there isn't any noise (again when accelerating or driving at a certain speed). The noise is strictly connected to the rotation speed of the propshaft.

I've read the experience of 2 Jag owners with this problem and I'm in contact with them. For both, the sensor wire somehow got loose from the plastic tie and it started touching the shaft. One guy repaired on his own, removing the metal plate to access the shaft, laying under the exhaust. He managed to sort it out without removing the exhaust. He saw the mark from the cable on the propshaft using a flashlight and pinpointing where the cable is loose.
The other guy took it to local garage where they removed "DPF section" of the exhaust to easily access the problem. They replaced the sensor (25€) and it was 3 hours of labour.

I'm not an expert and I have no idea why the sound is there only when decelerating or reversing... Who knows?

I'm gonna try to do something about it this weekend on my own if I can, since my mechanic is on holiday. .

I have a mini endoscope camera with a flash, maybe it helps finding the problem. I bet there will be no sound at all when the car will be on the ramp, because one guy with this problem said that there is no noise when the car isn't under load. If he drives alone it doesn't make noise, but when driving around other people, it makes the noise.
Also when my girlfriend drove it to back to my hometown ( I wasn't with her ), she said there is much less noise than when we were driving together. But who knows, maybe she was trying to calm me down.

A stupid question, can a propshaft change diameter or something when reversing, decelerating or when the car is under bigger load?

Will update, hopefully with pictures.

Rok

 

Hey Rok,

It could very well be a loose sensor wire or something loose touching the shaft when in motion.

Keep in mind that the faster you go, more air passes under the car and the wind will **** whatevers haningh there away from the prop shaft which would explain why it's more prevalent at slow speeds such as reversing.

A prop shaft is what it is and won't change diameter. I doubt it's the prop since you have no vibration or bearing noise. The are two flex discs on the prop, one at the gearbox side and one at the diff side. These look like rubber doughnuts and are black. Its not that either or the centre bearing so you can relax. Those are the only suspended items connecting the prop to the body. And any one of them would cause a vibration at around 60-70 mph.

I think your hunch that something loose is causing this is spot-on and you will see it as soon as you remove the heat shield. As I said, it could be the heat shield itself. Perhaps debris has gotten stuck between the heat shield and the prop shaft.

Let us know what you find.

 

Gotta jack it up and take a look. Seems like it will be obvious once you get it up in the air.

 

Hi guys,

So here's how it was. The day before I took it to mechanic, there were no sounds when driving it for about 5km... Weird. I guess it's somehow heat-related.

Anyway, took it to garage yesterday. We removed the metal plate, loosen the heat-shield and could see the whole propshaft without removing the exhaust. There is a nice looking black cable going from the start of the propshaft and then 30cm along with it.

The cable seems smooth and so does the shaft, so I couldn't quite imagine such horrible sounds coming from that. Anyway, the mechanic was sceptical that was the cause, since the cable was still around 3cm above the shaft. He used existing cable holder in such way that the cable won't touch the shaft again (hopefully).

He was a bit worried at the center of the shaft. When he held the shaft just behind the centre carrier bearing, he could move the shaft up and down for around 1cm. Is this normal? Is it suppose to have some flex? He's a very young mechanic and he didn't know. I don't know either.

Anyway, I sat in the car on the ramp, turned off DSC (you need to press the button for 10 seconds to completely turn it off...googled it while in the car) and then I drove it at 90km/h and he was looking at the shaft and said everything's looking good. I got ABS failure warning, but it was due to the car being on the ramp. It dissapeared while driving away.

Afterwards I made around 150km on highways and everywhere, going slow, going 170km/h, reverse, turning etc, and NO sound at all. So I think that's great news.

What do you guys think. I'm 90% sure it was the cable twisting to the shaft at high temperatures or when there are people sitting in the car.
If there was any propshaft related problems, the problem should be there like all the time right?

p.s. It took 30 minutes for repair and everything. Costed almost nothing.

This is the area in where the black cable is above the shaft.


This is where the cable comes from and then goes right above the shaft.


This is where the flex was.. Up and down a little if you hold the shaft and try pushing it up and down.


This is a picture from internet. This is the part he mechanic was worried about... Can the shaft be flexible on one side of this bearing?

 

That last pic shows one of the two propshaft flex joints or "guibos" which are prone to wear out eventually, and the one in the pic looks worn and could explain the movement or even some/all of the noise you were hearing.
See this thread for info: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ighlight=guibo

 

Hi Rok,

Glad to hear your noise is gone. As far as your prop is concerned, if you don't feel any vibration or hear any bearing noise (when the center bearing fails, you will hear it for sure!) just leave it alone. A new one will cost the earth! I just replaced mine due to a droning vibration which was ever so slight but the droning was more irritating than the vibration - it didn't solve the drone, so lots of money wasted.
First of all, the guibos are at each end of your propshaft and these are called flex discs not flex joints. One attaches to the gearbox and the other to your diff. The other thing is, the propshaft itself has a slip joint in it to allow it to become longer and shorter as the car goes over mild bumps at speed. So you prop will move a little if you tug it with your hands, its totally normal.
That cable in your picture is the e-brake cable and runs to the rear just above the diff where it attaches to another T-junction which applies the e-brake when you activate it.

Glad your noise is gone - long live the XF!

 

After a few weeks, I can confirm that the cable was really the problem. Some woman contacted me and showed me a video of her Jag making horrible sounds and it turned out her car had the exact same problem. Easy fix for cca. 20€ . ( 20 minutes of work ).

Regards,
Rok