For anyone following my dilemma here, i was under car today and think (once again) that i may have found the noise! i have quite a bit of play in my center bearing of the driveshaft!, Even if it isnt the sound, i think i should replace it anyways, as i can wiggle shaft left right and up down and from back side i can see a wider space on one side than the other on the bearing itself not the runner mount, plus it looks like its had a grease explosion!!
It does roll over smoothly though, but with the noise sounding like something that spins hitting a heat shield ( which isnt the case) my guess its its moving over just to hit as its only on acceleration, not while coasting, and i cannot make it do it in neutral, nor can i duplicate it it drive whilst holding brakes and remaining stationary.

Anyone got any tips on an easy way to get to the bearing? manual says i have to pull trans mount (again) and center exhaust! and to be honest i dont wanna!!!!!

 

You are going to have to do what you dont wanna do.

ALL that stuff must come out, and the bearing pressed off the shaft once the shaft is seperated.

Make sure you, or whoever, ORIENTATES the 2 shafts BEFORE seperating them.

That will be the nosie for sure.

 

I will be doing it myself! everything is out and laid on the bench awaiting parts to come, gonna do all the u joints as well while its out! everythign is marked as to orientation so it will all go back together and in car exact same way it came out!!! I sure hope this really does fix the noise! if not i am at a loss!!!

 

OK, sooooooo, went through entire drive shaft (propshaft) got battled all the way, the u joint caps were so brittle that when trying to remove them the end snapped off of two!, luckily a 3/4 inch drive 3/4 inch socket was perfect size to drive them out!, center bearing itself was pretty simple to swap out, got it all done and back in car, now not only do i have the machine gun sound (yup still there) i now have a small vibration when i first pull away! book says to slide center bearing over until that goes away, i ran out of daylight and was just a little pissed that noise was still there, so tomorrow i will try to adjust the vibration out, and continue to look for the noise!
As a side note, everything is put back in exact same position as it came out, i even went so far as to number the nuts and bolts! (i know book says to replace the nuts but i just used some thread locker)
Also there are no signs of anything rubbing either on the drive shaft or in the tunnel!!
im wondering if maybe something is rattling around by the torque converter, this rattle only happens at higher rpms , its not detonation, nor is it the fan hitting the shroud (although thats exactly what it sounds like!) so if anyone has any ideas, im open to them all, good and bad! lol

 

BUGGA.

Torque convertor, maybe, but not convinced. Usually on the BW66 they make noises sitting in D when stationary.

High revs makes it less easy.

Top timing chain a tad loose, again, more noticeable at idle.
Lower chain hydraulic tensioner worn out. NOT common, and usually a very sluggish engine with the lower chain running loose.

If it sounds like the fan, take it off. Go for a run at the revs you usually hear it at, and take note. Obviously car moving thru the air is paramount here to keep it from getting hot, so a cooler day would be a smart idea.

The S3 had issues with the torque convertor flex plate cracking and causing strange noises, but never had the privilege of hearing that one.

 

Do you only hear the machine gun noise when car is moving, or at idle or higher revs when stationary?

 

only when moving, hence thinking it was to do with the driveshaft, i cannot duplicate it in driveway, revving in neutral doesnt do it, and wont do it in drive while holding brakes and accelerating either, all that seems to do is overpower brakes and i do a burnout!. which of course means i have plenty of power so slack lower chains are out! i adjusted upper chain and its good.

Of course its hard to tell , but when driving it sounds like the noise is coming up through the console area, but that can be deceiving!

 

When sound is present,:Any change in pitch or sound when in 2nd gear or 3rd at same speed?

 

gonna have to drive it to check that out, but to be honest i just aint up to it today!, its sunday and i need a day off!!

 

Darren,

Just reading your vehicle specs in your signature.

I have had a huge day with BBQ etc for Australia Day, so now relax and read what tehe Jag world is doing.

The Euro spec exhaust is what in the real world??, maybe just no cats?, dunno, but those thru rear cradle pipes can "machine gun" on the caliper bleed nipple if not set "just right".

Also I read LSD, now those things can give that noise as the clutch packs "judder" on take off, and that I have experienced. Some of our local GM V8 beasts here had that, and GM put out an additive to reduce/stop that "judder".

Straw clutching I know, but I reckon you are at that point with this thing.

 

You are correct my exhaust has no cats, not just deleted, its the european exhaust system that never had them, while i was under doing the driveshaft, i tried shaking exhaust even tried kicking it, could not get it to hit or rub anywhere! But im still looking! Gonna get a borascope from work and remove starter amd stick cam in to see if i see anything in that area...
I do remember that when i first put exhaust on car i had a grumble and it took sone finessing to get rid of it, i will look back at that area too..

 

Only machine gun like sound I ever had were loose flex plate rivets but only heard at idle. Went away as speed increased. Yours may be REAL loose. These can be seen thru lower inspection plate.

 

i was up in there today looking, everything was tight and no visible cracks!

 

still no luck!!! everything is tight, no rubbing on exhaust, no driveshaft rubbing, It seems nothing is relative as to when it happens!
It generally starts making the rattle noise at around 2k, so i dropped it to 2nd a few times to see what difference it would make, some time it would go away, other times it stayed, I would say the only thing that changes when rpms go up is volume!

I have a feeling it may be inside transmission!
Other than the noise it runs flawlessly! plenty of power, trans shifts nicely, rides smooth!

 

Finally found some info that may be relative, apparently these cars especially quite a few 83s from what i have been reading suffer from the flex plate chatter, its when the rivets holding the flexplate to ring gear become loose! So tomorrow i will be staking all the rivets, wish me luck!!!!!

 

Have fun.

Hope you find it, or at the very least, change what happens, then a path is formed.

 

Darren- on my 82, instead of the hammering on the rivets, I just put a quick dab of mig weld on each rivet to flex plate interface. Took about 15 minutes. Saves the beating with a hammer. That was 10 years ago.

 

my welding days are long gone! too much welding when i was but a nipper, also repairs to tanning beds and booths, I am lucky i can see at all! lol
I sold my welding equipment after my last attempt at welding in a floor pan on an mg! (about 7 years ago, all older stuff) my eyes were all watery when i got done and wife said i looked stoned! decided it was time to hang it up!!

 

Please dont think i had ignored your comment here, i did check everything was tight but didnt actually test each rivet, i was in there with a scope and everythign "looked" tight!
Gonna stake all rivets just to be certain! Hopefully you were right!!!