I played around with SDD and I get the recommendation to "balance driveshaft".

Is this recommendation based on sensor information or is it just a guess ?

Can I read the reason of a recommendation somewhere in SDD ?

Help us out.
What is SDD?
Thank you.

My 2005 has a (feels like) driveshaft vibe at 48-55 mph. No matter what gear, accel or decel. Not bad, but noticeable compared to smoothness of power train at all other speeds. Is that similar to your unit?

I remember reading in it will popup based on a calculation involving time and distance.
Its also stored in the ECU and cleared by the procedure.
I have the same on my XJR and will get it done next time its in the shop

You need some special sensors to run the procedure

Cheers
34by151

Yah, I saw that in the SDD software too (n9912x, SDD is the diagnostic software the dealers use). That's a procedure I'm staying away from as a DIYer.

The 'Recommendations' list is sort of a misnomer.......

It's not recommending that for your car, it's just a list of applications, bulletins and documents that "might" be relevant based on the car, the symptoms you selected and the faults that it read out on the original data collection when you began the session. The faults show up under the "Related" and "Unrelated" tabs.

BTW -- The Driveshaft Balancing business requires about six thousand dollars worth of additional equipment, in addition to the SDD and VCM interface. That appliaction does not work with the MongoosePro JLR or any other interface.

Cheers,

ThnX.
At speeds above 200km/h I feel a slight vibration, depending on the amount of thrust I give.
Is there any sensor in SDD to log the level of vibration ?

Nope. That's yet another couple thousand dollars worth; in the form of a magnetic accelerometer and hookups.

You sure hit on the expensive stuff!

Cheers,

Somebody suggested jacking up rear, running at vibe speeds and looking at the shaft. If it's jumping around, then just take it to a driveshaft place and they can fix it. Barring center bearing problem, trans support rubber, front and rear jurid couplings, etc.
Many things...
Of course, road force balance of tires is almost mandatory.
Xjr guy, am I missing anything?
Thanks.

Somewhere in the workshop manual (powertrain) I recall reading about vibration and making sure the mounting flanges are properly aligned with the flanges on the trans and diff. They referred, I believe, to replacing the gasket between the flanges and making sure two paint marks (one on each flange) were lined up.

Stu

Well, yes my friend, you are.......

The jumping around thing is fallacy. You can balance a rock, but when spinning it would appear to 'jump around'. Then think about this; the special nuts we use in the driveshaft balancing procedure only have mass of 1.3 grams to 5.3 grams, that is not very much. But they can make a big difference in the feel of a car.

Lots of science going on with vibration........ frequency, amplitude, harmonics, natural frequency and vibration order [wheel order, driveshaft order] are just parts of the equation.

But yes, road force balance is pretty much always the first step in getting to the bottom of a vibration.

Cheers,

Doug,

I have the same issue as you describe. I have replaced tires, had the wheels re-aligned (fix any possible rim wobble), road force balanced, etc. Had the car in the shop twice, never one bit of improvement. My car also has a 'wander' to it. Even slight sidewind will make it go left or right. Definitely NOT Jaguar behavior! I am very disappointed with my Jaguar dealership that they have not been able to fix this. Next stop is asking them to balance the driveshaft.

I was wondering if you had any luck in solving this issue.

Bart

Sorry to hear of your problems. Actually I have not pursued it any further beyond some telephone conversations. My issue could very well be balancing after all. However considering what you have done, if it turns out the driveline balance works out I will try it. Please keep me posted and good luck!
Doug

Just offhand, balancing the driveshaft will not help the car wandering. If you describe a "wobble", then that is most definitely wheels or tires. A drive shaft vibrates at more than 3 times the tire speed, so it is a high frequency vibration instead of a wobble.

Wandering is a common sign for a car with toe out instead of the proper toe inward. Excessive camber can also cause it, but it would be obvious looking at the wheels that they were tilted too much if camber was the problem.

Doug,

I had all my wheels road force balanced and it makes a big difference. One of my tires had a blister on the sidewall, so they had to replace the tire. The tire was on order for a couple of days, and I noticed a dramatic reduction in vibrations. After they mounted the new tire I again had the vibration, even though they told me they had road force balanced the wheel before remounting it.

I'm going to bring it back to the shop this weekend to have that wheel rebalanced.

I've been doing some reading and I found several cars that seem to exhibit this issue. I think these Jags just need very thorough balancing. More to follow.

Due to your encouragement I researched the local tire dealers to see just who had a Hunter Road Force Balancing system. To my surprise the same shop that sold me new Pirellis, balanced them three times, replaced them for free with new Yokos, balanced those twice causing me to drive 10 miles each way per visit plus the wait time for each procedure...NEVER OFFERED OR SUGGESTED that we road force balance either set, even though they have the Hunter on site!

Having done business with these guys for over 10 years I went to another location near my home to have them do the road force balance job. In and out in less then an hour, no charge, and now my car floats along at freeway speed as a Jaguar should.

It baffles me that these guys at the original location where i purchased the tires and who are known for their excellent customer service felt they had done all they could do for me. Actually, as the manager was sending me off after the last failed balance attempt he said "if this doesn't do it take the car to the dealer. maybe they can figure it out". :-)

Thanks again for your encouragement!

Smoothy,

Not all Hunter balancers have the Road Force system. The one you want is the GSP9700. When I used the Hunter website to search for a local shop with the GSP9700, the nearest tire store was listed. But when I took my car there for balancing, I discovered that the Hunter they had was a lesser model without the Road Force system. I wonder if that was the problem with your first shop? It sure sounds like they went well beyond the normal call of duty to try to make things right for you, and it would be hard to understand why they wouldn't have used Road Force in your case if they have that capability.

Glad all is well now. As far as I'm concerned, the GSP9700 is the only machine worth using.

Cheers,

Don

They did go all the way in effort and attitude. The guys were great. The store does have the correct equipment as verified by the corporate headquarters which happens to be here. Its a long story as to why I would know folks at corporate but it is odd that the guys would go through all of that while leaving that last step out.

I'm really glad its solved too. Will probably still sell the car eventually for an upgrade to a later model but this has really put the fun back into driving this one.

Doug

I had mine road force balanced by the GSP9700 but still have the vibration. I plan to just replace the whole prop shaft and hope that's it.


The vibration starts at 50mph and varies as speed increases. Much more noticeable under load which is why I'm thinking prop shaft or the center bearing.

Vinny,
Exactly my situation.
Ive learned to accelerate right on up through the bad speeds, but I still know it is there and do not like it.
New tires and roadforce soon. If no success, i will be asking you how you made out with the driveshaft replacement.
Keep us informed!
Thanks.
Gary

No problem, will do. I hope this resolves the problem. It drives me crazy...