Driveshaft center bearing?
Can I lube it?
Looks pretty clean under there. 48,000 mile 2005 vdp.
I see quite a few posts on the earlier xj8 but nothing on the newer aluminum cars.
Too bad the bearing can't be replaced. Got to buy the whole 2 piece driveshaft assembly. Used ones from wrecked cars are cheap but a crapshoot.

I know xjrguy knows how to fix these. I'm too far away, though.

Gary

 

Anybody know?
Thank you.
Gary

 

Please describe the symptom in more detail, theres not enough there to analyze. How long, how loud, where is the rumble felt, any new tires lately, any work on the car lately, hit anything lately, high center the car lately, and so on. I have never heard of a bad center bearing on the X350, so I would be suspicious that this was it with no information.

 

If you have a vibration at a specific speed range, could be unbalanced tires

 

My 132500 miles 2003 X350 XJR has exactly the same rumble.

The tires are new Falken's on 20" sepang rims, I recently changed from 19" customs to the sepang's and it made no difference at all.

I thought of the centre bearing as well,so i bought a complete very low mileage axle assembly from a jaguar breakers yard.
We installed it and straight after that we went on a trip to Italy with the car,(from where i live 3200km round trip) the rumble is still there albeit less.

Its starts at 85km per hour until 120, then between 130km and 150 its totally rumble free.
Above 150 until 175km per hour its starts again, and at 190km per hour again its totally gone and the car drives so smooth its unheard off.
I also found out the the cruise control doesn't allow you to go any faster then 190km per hour( more than 1000 km of German autobahn )
Above 200 until more than 260 on the speedo i cant feel it any more because of wind noise and tire rumble I guess.

I thought of rear wheel bearings(fronts are new already) but a wheel bearing should rumble all the time imho.

The only thing i can think of now is to do a complete drive-line balancing session, there is a company here in Holland who has a rolling road and they balance the complete drive assembly underneath the car.

Prop shaft and drive shafts without removing the items, which i hope cure my rumble for good.

Maybe some body has any other ideas?

Rgds from Holland

 

After reading the symptoms, it sounds like a differential issue. Take a look and see if there is oil in it and then check the output bearings. Wheel bearings can cause this also but the description of them in failure is more of a "howl".

 

Thanks oldmots and mille.
The diff is dry. The car is spotless underneath.
The "rumble" is not an audible noise. It just vibrates in the seat, floor etc.
Worsens with acceleration. That's why I suspect driveline.
I will take for a rebalance and look for bent wheels, etc. and see if it changes.
Standard 18 wheels and conti tires.

Btw cybersib. thanks for the pic and the castle. My wife says she wants one of each. Liking the color too.

 

Same here, its also felt in the seat and floor.
Only under acceleration it becomes less and on a flat road when the engine is hardly pulling its felt more stronger.

I will change the diff oil asap and see if there are any bits of metal floating around in the oil.

keep u posted

 

I have the same issue.
04 xj8 with 107.000km.
So far i tried new gearbox and diff oil
New tires
Its almost like a wheel bearing but is only between 80-115kmh and feels like its from the rear.

Not sure what to do next