Do you know what sound this is? Loose engine??

I did a testdrive today with the gearbox tunnel removed and I heard sounds that just cant be normal.
There's a nasty rattling sound on acceleration wich goes away as speed increases. The engine and gearbox looks to me like they have loose mounts.


Help on this would be much appreciated.
Link to video:

Sounds like a regular Defender TD5 to me! There's a lot of heavy duty hardware thrashing about under that transmission tunnel and if you come on/off the gas you can get various clunks and bangs as play is taken up.
How many miles has it done? Is it smooth at speed or is there any vibration?
If you are worried you could crawl underneath and check the propshafts are not loose, and it's never a bad thing to check oil levels in the gearbox/transfer box.
Unless anybody else on here thinks that your Defender is about to fall to pieces, or anything else you should check.

Hi ola, the movement of the gearbox under tourque looks fairly normal as the rubber vibration mounts allow some movement and when you accelerate the engine twists. However, i can hear a knocking when it does this which suggests it is moving too far.
Have a look at the engine and gearbox mounts (they have a square block of rubber between them and the chasis) and check to see if the rubber vibration blocks have cracked or perished as this happens if the bolts are done up too tight.

Thanks for fast replies. Will check rubber mounts right away. Ragarding the propshafts (REAR). Lot of play don't you think??

If it was a series landy, i would say no as mine moves a lot more than that.
However, i don't know what is normal for a late model like yours as they have more splines on the shaft connections than series landys do.
I wouldn't be too worried though as if a prop shaft is wobbling lots it makes one hell of a racket and i didn't hear that in your previous clip.

lightning said:

Sounds like a regular Defender TD5 to me! There's a lot of heavy duty hardware thrashing about under that transmission tunnel and if you come on/off the gas you can get various clunks and bangs as play is taken up.
How many miles has it done? Is it smooth at speed or is there any vibration?
If you are worried you could crawl underneath and check the propshafts are not loose, and it's never a bad thing to check oil levels in the gearbox/transfer box.
Unless anybody else on here thinks that your Defender is about to fall to pieces, or anything else you should check.

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The car has done 240 000 kilometers. Nothing for a Defender right All Oils have been checked, Greasing of the UJ:s remain

Ola Carlsson-Fredén said:

Thanks for fast replies. Will check rubber mounts right away. Ragarding the propshafts (REAR). Lot of play don't you think??

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about normal for a 10 year old truck ,you have a center diff as well as the gear train play,like wise you have crown wheel and pinion plus cvs ,shafts, diff gears and drive members,dipping the clutch will make a clunking sound noticeable with tunnel off

I remember driving my 200tdi without the tunnel and I thought the crank bolts had fell off!
Horrible nasty terminal sounding noises. Quite as a noisey mouse when the panals were replaced.

jamesmartin said:

about normal for a 10 year old truck ,you have a center diff as well as the gear train play,like wise you have crown wheel and pinion plus cvs ,shafts, diff gears and drive members,dipping the clutch will make a clunking sound noticeable with tunnel off

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What a relief! I'd rather spend my money on a new intercooler

Flossie said:

I remember driving my 200tdi without the tunnel and I thought the crank bolts had fell off!
Horrible nasty terminal sounding noises. Quite as a noisey mouse when the panals were replaced.

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Well, it seems like I got to get use to that the defender make sounds, some of them sounding really broken. I've just had the car for 6 months and I'm getting really into doing things myself so thanks for your patience guys! I keep the Haynes repair manual by my bed by the way

Flossie said:

I remember driving my 200tdi without the tunnel and I thought the crank bolts had fell off!
Horrible nasty terminal sounding noises. Quite as a noisey mouse when the panals were replaced.

Click to expand...

By the way Flossie, do you have any tips of soundproofing the gear/transfer box area any further?

Ola Carlsson-Fredén said:

What a relief! I'd rather spend my money on a new intercooler

Click to expand...

Ola Carlsson-Fredén said:

Well, it seems like I got to get use to that the defender make sounds, some of them sounding really broken. I've just had the car for 6 months and I'm getting really into doing things myself so thanks for your patience guys! I keep the Haynes repair manual by my bed by the way

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it allways wise to keep an eye out for changing noises or feel,bearings and ujs will fail but from your vid its hard to point to anything

jamesmartin said:

it allways wise to keep an eye out for changing noises or feel,bearings and ujs will fail but from your vid its hard to point to anything

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Ok, since I've noticed the rattling sound getting worse lately I will post another video where the sound is more noticable. Thanks for your kind help!

Compared to driving with the transmission tunnel in place, the noise with it off is quite alarming, I find. The insulation on it soaks up quite a bit of the racket. The rubber can separate from the metal on the mounts which can make the engine and gearbox a bit loose. The clunking noises sound a lot like rotational slack in the drivetrain. This can be a loose UJ on the propshafts, which is fairly easy to fix. On the other hand a lot of it is caused by the cumulative effect of tiny movement on the various gears and splines. There are an awful lot of these between the engine and the wheels so a fraction of a degree of movement on all of them adds up to a lot over the whole transmission. My own transmission clunks were most improved by changing the drive flanges at the wheels but it could be anywhere. The Land Rover transmission can run for years with rotational slack and it's up to the owner to make the decision as to whether it's worth the effort and expense of changing major transmission components. On many Discoverys they fitted rubber things rather than roller bearing universal joints to try to make them sound a bit more like ordinary saloon cars. But it's a clunky transmission design.