I have been experiencing a whine for some time and I am not sure where it is coming from. I suspected the differential, but the shop I take it to says there is no problem with the differential. Now have 93K miles, but it has been whining for about the last 10K miles. Could it be the front wheel bearings? If you have ever ridden in an old taxi or livery Town Car with a couple hundred thousand miles on it and heard a whine all the way .. that's what it sounds like.

Thanks

 

So what does the shop suggest it might be?

 

They said they drove it and couldn't hear it, but they probably didn't get on a freeway. It is more noticeable on a smooth road. I wonder if it is temperature related -- a little louder when whatever worn parts are the problem, warm up. Would worn front wheel bearings exhibit this symptom? It seems to be a little more pronounced going around a curve. I've never had the front wheel bearings replace and now have 93k miles.

 

I have never had a wheel bearing make a noise that I would describe as a whine and normally you can tell if it is front vs back and left vs right.

Having driven many XJs -- many do whine. The differentials are a little noisy and I have been told that the design of the rear makes the sound harder to control. They also are known to leak and loss of fluid will make them louder. My 95 made was making a slight noise when it got up around 100k - although it was not annoying ........ British sounding maybe .....not as loud as my TR4a

The XJs are also sensitive to tire noise and this can be much louder than you would think.

Normally on a smooth road at highway speeds you can hear the differentials sound change as you take you foot off the gas and then reapply. Tires will often change sound as you pass 40mph.

 

Is the whine constant or does it change during cornering ?

My front right wheel bearing gave a whine which varied with gentle left or right curve at 50mph, hence I felt certain it was a front wheel bearing.

I found it very hard to decide left or right based on the position of the noise, but a mechanic pointed out that the wheel carying the increased weight during the whining corner was probably the bearing which was failing... and was correct.

Pehaps observing the noise during cornering might help you diagnose.