Hello everyone!

I just got a used 2007 Jaguar XK with 27,000 miles. I LOVE the car but noticed one thing on the drive home the other day. When I'm driving along at slow and constant speeds (around 30 mph) sometimes the car will start making a deep rumble/hum and once I accelerate or it down shifts it goes away. It never happens once I get up to highway speeds. It's not super loud, but enough to make you go "Did I heard something?" My wife heard it and just thought it was bass from the speakers but it was not. It seems to almost be tied to the RPM range being too low. If I flip it over to sport mode the sound never happens and I assume it's becuase the RPMs never dip that low. Has anyone ever seen this problem? Could it be a dirty mass airflow sensor or something simple? I'm hoping it's nothing major. The car drives perfectly otherwise!

That sounds like the usual 1250-1300rpm growl the XK has. The fix for it involves extra exhaust brackets BUT it moves the noise up to 1900-2000 rpm, right where you cruise on the freeway.

Agentorange,

Thanks for the quick reply! I did some looking around on what you said and that is exactly the problem! I've heard pretty possitive response for the fix. A couple of people said it "fixed it 90%" but it was still way better than before. My car is out of warranty so I assume they wouldn't do the fix for free... Anyone had any luck with Jaguar fixed the issue for free for cars out of warranty? If not, what did they charge?

For me the brackets moved the drone into the 2000 PRM range, much worse than the low RPM drone. So, my recommendation is to just live with the low RPM drone, after all you hardly ever drive at those RPMs. I did remove my dealer installed brackets and I can tell you that the low RPM drone, now that I know what causes it, is far less bothersome than the one right in my cruising range. Of course no way to tell if your particular car would respond to the brackets as mine did.

On the other hand if you are a DIY person, you may wish to experiment with different strappings of the exhaust, right around the cat converter to see if you can get rid of the drone.

Albert

ZMAN,

Excuse me for going against the grain but your problem, as you have described it, could just as well be "tire rumble". What is the condition of your front tires in terms of mileage and ware pattern?

tarhealcracker,

I think the tires are new and I don't see an odd wear pattern. I'm 99.9% sure it's the "1250-1300rpm growl" because I did a ton of research after agentorange mentioned it and that sounds exactly like my problem. But I thank you for the idea.

I too had the dreaded drone at 1250rpm on my 2007XK. I purchased the car last November and at first thought the noise was a tire rumble but a search of this site revealed the real cause. I complained to the dealership I bought it from referencing the TSB, the fact that Jaguar know all about this - otherwise why would they have a fix and I may have mentioned that I wouldn't accept this from a Dodge let alone an $80k car. Eventually Jaguar USA stepped in and approved the fix free of charge as a one time courtesy to a new customer. Otherwise it's a$650 hit- ouch.

Fortunatley the fix worked and did not move the drone to the 2000rpm range.

My advice is go back to the dealership and see what they say. If you dont ask you don't get.

Good luck.

Steve

UPDATE: GOT THE FIX INSTALLED AND IT WORKED PERFECTLY! No more 1,300 rpm rumble and the noise DIDN'T move to the 2,000 rpm!

I contacted my sales guy (who is AMAZING btw; If anyone needs a good salesman in the Nashville area let me know) and he said "Don't you worry about it, I'll get it taken care of for you!" They fixed it for free and I'm back to a quite Jag! I have the part numbers off the invoice if anyone is curious.

I've got a late production 07 XK. No issues with drone that I'm aware of but I'm curious as to how I can tell if the "fix" has been installed.

What do I look for ?

You need to be looking from under the car. The brackets are strapped all the way around the tops of both catalytic converters, the actual straps being black metal, about 5/8" wide. The straps, in turn are part of the complex shaped brackets which are bolted to the transmission flange bolts.

From my further experiences now I suspect that the cat converters are incorrect, producing the drone. The straps and brackets are basically band-aid fixes that do not fix all problems with the XK exhaust.

Albert

I also had this very annoying resonance on my 2007 coupe; I had my dealer install the Jaguar-fix brackets (parts # C2P13477 and C2P13478).
This installation immediately *CURED the problem 100%* with no transfer of the noise to a higher rpm. I would respectfully tell the person who found the noise transferred upward on the rpm scale that the brackets on his car may have been improperly mounted! Without that drone the XK is an absolute delight at any and every engine speed. A wonderful car.

Hmmm. I thought this resonance was caused by being in too tall a gear (sixth) at too low a speed. As in lugging the engine. If I had a manual transmission I'd never lug the engine at that low a speed in sixth gear. I just shift to fifth and that cures the resonance/lugging sound of being in too high a gear at too low a speed. Just my opinion.

Been meaning to tackle this problem but I am getting use to the vibration...

I have a 2013 XK with the Mina exhaust, and I have the same drone at the same rpm as everyone else has described. My remedy is exactly as you suggest...just hit the downshift paddle one gear.

I think the drone is a characteristics of the Jag V8. Since it came from the Ford years, the similarities are strong to the Ford V8 drone issues, which are fully documented in the Ford forums.

Years ago we did not notice these low RPM drones as the transmission ratios were much taller, the engine PRMs were never in the 1000-2000 range for cruising. With the advent of 6+-speed transmissions we are now cruising in the engine drone range.

I actually finally removed my Mina, giving up the high end power gains but, getting rid of the most audible drones by going back to the stock exhaust. Yet, now my ears are so tuned to the less audible (but real) 1900-2000 drone that I can even hear it (barely over super quiet road surface noises) with the stock exhausts of not only my XK but, my 2012 XJL, as well.

Albert

Dunlop tires 20" are noise my car has 14000 miles and is so noisy.

My '13 does not have any drone at any speed. I am familiar with the drone having rented an '07 for a week prior. My '13 has the factory performance exhaust.

I believe this is an XK only issue, and does not affect the XKR.

WOW this forum is great! I have had my 2007 XK for a month and have had it in to two different shops. No one could figure out why the car had a drone type vibration at 1200-1350 Aprox RPM. I have tried other forums with no help. I registered today I searched for 07 xk drone or hum and BANG! Being new to Jaqguar I didnt know this was a typical XK problem. I was ready to start removing serpentine belts, balance tires, loosen up the exhaust and retighten it and replce wheel bearings. I came here to you all and there it is with part numbers. I will order the brackets and install them confident by all the replies here it will take care of the problem and I look forward to having a drone free Jaguar. I cant tell you how excited I am because I'm the kind of guy that the smallest noise drives me nuts and I have been going crazy over this. My hats off to all of yo here. Thanks! Caperss

OUCH! Hey guys, those brackets are $460.00 plus S+H. Where do the brackets go? Is it a band that surrounds the Cat converters and mounts or???? If anyone has a pic they can post or a diagram I may be able to fabricate something myself. If anyone has them for short money and wants to sell a LH and RH bracket for a fair price please contact me.
Thanks
Caperss