So this drives me absolutely insane!

I got the car in 2020 so it was 4 years old. UK.
About a year ago I started to hear occasional creaks from around the driver's side door area. It's not the dash and it's not the door as I had these in pieces. The noise is louder when the door is open, so it's coming from somewhere in the front fender, door hinges, front wing or the engine bay area.
It doesn't always happen, it's unpredictable and it's more noticeable when turning at slow speeds (that's when I had the door open when trying to locate the noise) and in hot weather. When it rained the other day, it stopped for a day and now it's happening again.
I even took the plastic side skirt off and I was adamant that it was one of those yellow clips as the noise was identical when I was fiddling with them, but nope.

The other day, I asked my wife to drive the car slowly back and forth with the bonnet open and the wheels turned left (how ridiculous is that?!) as this is when I can replicate those creaks. Whilst I was holding on to the bonnet strut, I could feel the creak in my hand as it happened. It sounds more like a creak rather than a squeak :P

I cannot replicate the noise when bouncing the car in any way. This only happens when the car moves.

I saw a couple of threads about a similar issue:

• here: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...squeak-260141/ and
• here: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...6/#post2018652 where the user mentioned shock mounts - I haven't checked that yet other than a quick look earlier and couldn't see anything obvious.

I am also thinking whether it could be a windscreen washer reservoir making the noise?

Any other ideas?

I love the car, even with its DPF nonsense, but this noise is unbearable... it makes me think about selling it, but I don't want to... for now, loud music is the treatment.

 

Are you sure it's not simply the rubber door seals that move when the body flexes? If that is the problem, get a tube of Sil-Glyde made for the purpose of lubing the rubber so it slides. Others have said fabric softener also works. - Solved my creaking issue.

 

It's definitely not the rubber seal. I checked that too.

 

Read your links?
It's the top strut mounts I almost guarantee it! Looking at it most likely won't help but some do have the top strut rod off center from the mount. So take a look and maybe post a picture back to the forum? The thing with this noise is it really does NOT sound like it's coming from the top of the strut. Most people call is a dash squeak.

Now the top strut mounts are pretty easy to change and it does not require a front end alignment either. But I did it when I had a lift. They are also not very expensive so if you can DIY the repair you can do this in a hour or two.

Hopefully XJsss will read this as he has posted a very good picture of what his top mount looked like when it was making noise.
I drove the car I changed the top mounts on before the repair and if not for this list and the prior posts I would have NEVER connected that sound with a suspension or strut noise. I would have been removing parts of the dash looking for the noise!!

Change the mounts and report back if you can?
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I did look at the struts, but couldn't see anything obvious. They look like they're in place and bouncing on my car didn't do anything. I checked the 4 x 13mm nuts and they didn't seem very tight, so I tightened them slightly, but that clearly didn't help 🤬🤬🤬

I did see XJsss's post with pictures, and my mountings look rusty too, the same as his. He provided a list of part numbers needed, but they look like they're for pre-face lift XJ. Will they fit facelift XJ? I found the set here or should I order all parts from the main dealer? They don't appear to be available anywhere online in the UK, apart from ebay.

How do I replace them? What's the "procedure"? Do I just jack the car up, and undo the 4 nuts? I assume the mounting holds the spring in so I'll need to secure it before disassembling it?

 

You need to remove the entire strut from the car. Do you have the manual?
If not it's free in the sticky's?
It's not hard but again if you have not done it maybe not?

I do have a tip and that's to use a lift if at all possible. Next have a 6' pry bar handy. When the strut is disconnected the manual just says remove the strut. Well the problem is the "A" arms in the suspension have bushings in them and that creates a LOT of resistance. So you need to pry down on the lower arm to get enough clearance to remove the strut. Try to get one guy on the pry bar and another working on removing the strut. Again caution on where to pry so do watch out to prevent any damage from the pry bar.

Same on install. Note that you will probably need to "clock" the strut after you get it in place to align the lower saddle mount. This is not a problem and I used a pipe wrench on the lower saddle to twist the strut until the saddle is aligned and can be installed. Sounds a bit complicated but when you put the strut in you will see what I am talking about.

Line up the upper 4 bolts. Push strut up until the 4 studs stick out the top in the engine compartment. Attach the nuts finger tight. Only to hold strut in place while you align the bottom saddle. Now you can rotate the lower saddle using a pipe wrench. The lower suspension arm again will need to be held down to gain enough clearance for the bottom saddle to be installed.

Here is a thread where they took apart the entire dash looking for that noise! Note this thread also contains part numbers and pictures. Again look for XJsss posts as he went thru all of this.
Dash Squeaks

Here is another one for help?
Strut Mounts

Here is the mount and the red arrow points to what goes bad. Sometimes you can see that the inner bushing is off-center but other times it's not. So visual is NOT a good indicator! The car I changed them on looked perfect at the top of the strut but the mounts 100% fixed his dash noise. I really did not think those two things could be connected but they sure are! Note the mount shown is in the upside down position.



Parts are up to you but I favor factory if possible.
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Hi there , Listen I do not mean to be rude , car forums like this one are full of posts like yours and this is the truth , Owners getting problems and do not know how to fix , what happened to good old car maintenance, I.E. looking after your ride making sure it is being cherished with love , that includes all working parts are lubracated were that includes the engine or gearbox by serving or simple things like DIY WD40 or other to door locks bonnet or boot struts . I do this monthly . Just saying , when was the last time you gave yours some TLC

 

Yes I got it the day I got the XJ :]
It sounds pretty "standard" to me, but I have the following queries.
You mean this "A" arm?


Do I need to compress the spring to remove the mounting, or does it get magically decompressed when removed from the car? lol
I just want to be prepared as this spring looks quite compact compared to springs I've done in the past and the standard compressor I have doesn't seem like it will fit. Is there a recommended tool I should use?
I don't currently have access to a lift so I will have to manage with a jack or two.

 

I do this daily. Why do you think I'm desperate to resolve this noise? Things like that, rattling of some random plastics drive me absolutely crazy. But spraying WD40 on everything isn't the best idea 🤪

 

I had a door card on a xkr I had creak and creak it drove me mad , It only happened after car was put in to an Indy to have the door catch/ lock replaced , had it back at them taking door card off just to make sure , still never fixed this in the end a good spraying of silicone grease to all leather and rubber parts inc down the window gap , cured it

 

Sorry I was hitting the hi-lights? Have you done struts/mounts before maybe on other cars? They are all pretty much the same.

Jack up and support car so the front wheels are free to spin. Remove wheel and tire.
The top A arm stud nut needs to be removed (The one in your picture) and the spindle supported because it will want to flop around. I zip tie or wire it up using the hole the top ball joint stud goes into.

Remove 4 top nuts (30NM) and active suspension electrical connector in the engine compartment. Remove the large bolt on the lower strut mount and anything attached. I think some ABS stuff maybe? Now the strut is loose but you need to get it out of the car and to the bench to change the top mount.

Pry down on the lower arm with the 6' bar until the strut can be removed from the car. Take care and watch where your prying so no damage is done to the lower arm.
Take assembly to bench and use a coil spring compressor tool and remove top nut. Swap mount. Reinstall nut. I forgot what the torque is?

Reinstall as above and look up the torque spec's as these are suspension bolts/nuts. See my other post on how to "clock" the strut back in.
Just watch what your doing as your car will probably have some things not mentioned!
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