Turns out the sound is not gone--it is worse than ever. I am planning on taking it into the dealer in the new year. I have barely put any miles on it this year!

I hope all of this can be resolved with a new FEAD pulley.

 

I'm bringing the car into the dealer on Saturday. I asked them about the TSB with the pulley--they said that my VIN is not affected by that TSB. They also said that if I want them to do the TSB work, it will cost me a whopping $1400!!!

Is it just me or is that crazy?

 

What did you end up doing? If you took it in, how much did it cost?

I can hear my idler pulley doing the same thing on my non-S/C engine, but with the limited space in there....I doubt I'll be able to do it myself.

 

I took it in, but they told me the sound was normal, which is baloney. So nothing has been done and the problem is still there.

The car is essentially laid up for winter. I will revisit once the weather warms up!

 

I scoped out a local import repair shop and it received high praises from many people. I called the place, mentioned the TSB, he looked it up and quoted me $295 for the repair - dirt cheap! I'm taking Cat in tomorrow.

 

If you haven't replaced the deteriorated foam yet, here's my DIY fix for only $20.84: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-cover-128989/ See my post #7


Before you replace that foam liner, you might want to update your engine appearance cover to a carbon-fiber look. Here's what I had done for only $185: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-cover-129949/


Just food for thought...

Stuart

 

Had the idler pulley and belt replaced by the local Import Autohaus. $290. Worth it, since I don't have a lift in my garage.

Yet.

 

What the heck. My indie shop wants $1700 to do this work!

 

I think I'm just going to give up on trying to fix the problem. Everywhere I go, they want to charge me 1400+ to do this work. How are you guys finding shops that will only charge <500?

 

Part of the issue is that you have a supercharger, and I don't. The labor hours to replace the idler pulley is 0.9 for my vehicle and 1.4 or 1.5 hours for yours, so that's some of the difference, but it doesn't account for the ridiculous prices you are being quoted.

When you call these places, ask them if they have access to Jaguar TSBs, and if they do, give them the exact TSB for the procedure: JTB00045NAS3. That way, you BOTH see the hours to repair and therefore you will both know how much profit they're adding into the quote, which should make their number more reasonable. That's what I did.

Or you can come down here to Richmond and get the work done by the shop that did mine. Seems it would certainly be worth the effort, for the prices you are being quoted.

 

Actually coming down to Richmond would definitely be worth the time! How did you know which parts were bad?

The shop that quoted me was aware of the TSB. But they wanted to replace all of the parts in the TSB instead of finding the actual cause. Even so, the retail price of all the parts only adds up to about 600 bucks, and they wanted 1100 for labor. Perhaps they didn't know that I was also aware of the TSB and that it only calls for 1.5 hours of labor!

 

I knew what was bad because I got on my back under the car and fired lubricant at the thing that appeared to be making the sound and it stopped for a minute. In addition, the pulley appeared to be the original type that came with the car, not the special replacement type that is recommended in the TSB.

When I called the shop, I simply told them what I wanted done, and we discussed the TSB info. The mechanic doing the job confirmed my suspicion and the work proceeded as indicated, costing me only $290, in total.

The TSB says, for your vehicle: "Supercharged (SC) vehicles: replace the FEAD belt and idler pulley with new flanged idler pulley and belt; and / or replace supercharger idler pulley with new grooved idler pulley, tensioner, pulley bracket, and drive belt." Please note the "and / or" which implies the other parts not being required, if the idler pulley is the culprit.

The shop:

Import Autohaus
13941 Hull Street Rd, Midlothian, VA 23112
(804) 739-0169

 

Good news. I sprayed water on each of the belts, and determined that the accessory belt (not the supercharger belt) is the one that's causing the noise. It seems a little strange though because the pulley I was spraying and the belt itself are definitely grooved.

I'm taking it to another shop in the morning. Hopefully I can get an idea of how much it will cost to fix. I will come armed with the TSB!

 

Cool, keep us updated!

 

Dropped it off. Spoke with the owner of the shop for quite a bit. He has owned two Range Rover (still owns one) and seems to think JLR products require constant repair. Based on my experiences, I can't disagree with him.

I showed him the TSB, he seemed a little skeptical that it could just be an idler and a belt. But hopefully he will reach the correct conclusion about what needs to be done!

 

OK, just got a call from the shop. He says that there is some bearing noise from the idler pulley on the supercharger belt and was only able to hear it with the stethoscope, but noted that this wasn't the sound I was complaining about. He says that perhaps based on the TSB I gave him, the tensioner, bracket, idler pulley and belt would need to be replaced, because the design has changed. My XKR is outside of that VIN range (newer). Does that mean I don't have the same issue?

He also read to me all the parts that would have to be replaced on the accessory belt side in order to solve the chirping I was talking about. But it sounds like he wants to replace the tensioner, idler and belt.

So all in all the total cost would be about $1200. The mechanic suggested that I just live with the noise as it isn't bad enough to justify $1200 expense. I think some of the problem is that by the time I drove it there, the engine was nice and quiet because the belts had warmed up. I told him to keep it overnight and to listen to it in the morning and then he can see how bad the sound is!

I can take a risk by just having him replace the accessory idler pulley and belt, but how do I know this will solve the problem? Especially if I already have the updated idler and belt?

I am almost inclined to just do the whole shebang for $1200. At least hopefully then I will be guaranteed to get rid of these insidious noises!

 

Did you take it down here by me or another place?

I agree about the noise, it's horrible and sounds like it should be coming out of an old Ford Ranger pickup, not a $90k luxury GT. I would have paid whatever it took to get that noise out of there, and luckily for me, it was just the idler pulley.

Thanks for keeping the thread updated.

 

Haven't taken it down to Richmond yet. I bet I could just have him replace the idler pulley on the accessory belt (and the belt itself) without all the other stuff for <$500 or so. I will try to discuss this with him once he actually gets a chance to hear the noise in all its glory.

However, there is sort of a rattling/knocking sound under heavy load coming from under the hood when I'm accelerating hard. Seems to only be something I can hear reflecting off of barrier walls and such. I have a sneaking suspicion that it has something to do with the supercharger idler pulley he mentioned.

And then there's this...


Nobody seems to know what this sound is.

 

You're referring to the little squeaky mouse sound?

 

No, the sound that's more like a ghost. Wooooooooo!