I recently bought a 95 Jaguar, 132,000 miles on it.

The car has a noise, a roaring or the sound of wind in a tunnel. It's a constant noise and occurs at all speeds. If the car is rolling, it's roaring--even if it's coasting.

My mechanic said the wheel bearings needed replacing on the back drivers side, and I had that done. It did nothing for the noise, and now the mechanic is suggesting a complete rear end overhaul.

I've been reading and trying to do a little research on the problem. Most of the threads I have seen describe a whine; this is definitely not a whine, and there's no shaking in the car. It's smooth; it just roars.

I'll do the rear end overhaul if necessary, but before I go that step, does anybody have any thoughts or things to check?

Thanks so much in advance.

 

Adrianne:
without hearing the actual roar, the mechanic's first diagnosis and solution sounds reasonable. It is extremely hard to distinguish between differential and wheel bearing noise. So, that did not fix it and the differential is next. X-300 differentials are not cheap, however, and you (or the mechanic0 will have to decide whether rebuilding yours, gatting a unit from a jumker, or having it exchanged at a re-builder like bulldog is the best option.
XJ6 differentials are one of the weaker drivetrain components in the car, apparently and it is not unheard of to have them fail.
Good luck.

 

I had to replace my diff at about 75k miles. In my case is was "rumble" and "knock", not roar or whine :-)

Cheers
DD

 

Thank you for the replies.

My hubby has priced a rebuilt rear differential for $950, and I'm sure that's the route I'll take. He also thinks we should go ahead and replace the universal joints and the wheel bearings in the other rear wheel while this is being done.

Anything else while the rear end is apart?

 

If the shock absorbers are getting weak, now would be the time to change 'em

Cheers
DD

 

Doug is right on, as usual.