Hi all.

Well I am experiencing my first major issue with my "new to me" XJ that I bought last July.

I am experiencing a front end "shudder" or banging when I take my foot off the gas pedal. It sounds like going over a rumble strip. Just the sound part NOT the shaking/vibration.

It is rapid, occurs on all types of road surfaces, and of course is sporatic.
HOWEVER the dealer just rotated the tires to see if it was tire noise. (I knew it wasnt), and now the problem is worse.

I can "feel" something shuddering or banging rapidly in the front end when I come off the gas or am coasting, again it is sporatic.

The dealer tech didnt hear it on Friday, but its back today because they ordered the wrong harness for a rear bulb, and had to reorder. They are going to test drive it again.

The car is covered under Jag's certified preowned warranty....i'm hoping they can identify the noise and its a covered repair.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for anyones help!

 

A duff engine mount maybe ?

 

it may seem like its coming from the front of your car, but it could an unbalance from the driveshaft or U-joints worn out bearings. when these wear out it can cause a "shimmy" of vibrations all the way to the front of a car. Also, the center support bearing or I've always known it to be called "carrier bearing" might need to be replaced. by your description it sounds exactly like a problem i had with one of my jags back in the day and this was my problem.

 

Thanks for the input!

I am told its the rear differential.

I guess my auditory senses are not quite up to par, thought the noise was from the front.

Luckily it is covered under the certified pre-owned warranty. If it wasn't I think it would have been a very expensive fix.

Thanks again for your help.

 

Do keep us posted. This is very interesting.

 

I will.

I was getting very nervous because the service advisor woudnt confirm the fix would be covered under the warranty until late yesterday afternoon.

She was kinda offish with me about the whole thing.

I'm not sure exactly whats wrong with the differential but when I get the repair receipt I'll have a better idea what was done.

I was VERY relieved to get the call approving the fix.

Its a big job so I won't have the car back until the end of the week or early next week.

Kinda a bummer for a 4 year old car.

 

Maybe there is no commission for more work in a warranty repair for the service advisor. It would be unprofessional for a service advisor to treat a customer with less enthusiasm just because the compensation was different. A professional takes the bad with the good.

But at least you got it fixed under warranty, and you will be driving with a new differential even though the car is 4 years old. It would have been very expensive if not covered by the warranty. $3K maybe?

 

Long-lived and reliable as these diffs usually are, sometimes a bad one gets through. Also previous owner may not have been too kind to the car, you really have no way of telling, unfortunately.

 

This is true, however the car had only 22,000 miles on it (a 2008 I bought July 2011) and I knew the dealer (now closed) and the car was sold and serviced there, and was able to review all the service records. It was owned by an older couple which I can vouch for because it took me 6 months to get the granny perfume smell out of the car...LOL.

I think the fix would have been more like $4-$5000 as I checked on Merriam Jaguar Parts and the Diff assembly itself is $2550, never mind all the little parts that are needed and of course the tech hours its gonna take to replace the whole thing.

Just glad when I got the phone call from Bea, (I call her Bea Arthur because she reminds me of her LOL) saying "you can sleep now......its covered".

 

Very rare issue. I don't think I've seen any posts on X350 diffs since I started posting. I have had most of the other issues though, but so far nothing outrageously expensive, knock on wood !!

Off to Germany again in August. High-speed cruise there and back from Dunkerque to Bacharach on the Rhine. No trucks on the roads on Sundays, what a difference this makes, if only we had this law in the UK.