Drivetrain noise - how to find the culprit?

Hi Everyone,

I have a drivetrain noise which I want rid of - it's starting to get on my nerves!

It's a kind of "wow,wow,wow,wow" noise while driving, as if something which is rotating is out of balance. It starts at around 30mph and gets faster as the car goes faster. It's related to road speed not engine speed - it's still there if I press the clutch and freewheel.

I've had it checked by 2 different garages who said that although the can hear the noise they can't find anything obviously wrong, and just to turn up the radio! (one garage was an independant Landrover specialist, but I don't think they do much with Freelanders). It does sound like it's coming more from the rear than the front, but it's difficult to tell.

I've had new tyres on the rear, all 4 wheels balanced and the tracking done. Does anyone have an idea what may be causing this, or where I should look/check first?
Thanks

sounds like it could be bearing or UJ.. have SEARCH on this forum - tons of threads.

cud even be ya rear diff/prop wearing thro ya fuel tank

Prop shaft bearings? Try dropping the prop and taking a test drive.

The Mad Hat Man said:

cud even be ya rear diff/prop wearing thro ya fuel tank

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Oh, that's ok then - I thought it might be something serious!!

I'll take it to my local garage today and get them to lift it off the ground and have a look. If there's nothing obvious I'll get them to take the rear prop off and see if that helps.

FFS - Its 4 bolts front and rear (I fink) 10 minute jobby - do it yoself! (after they checked it)

The Mad Hat Man said:

FFS - Its 4 bolts front and rear (I fink) 10 minute jobby - do it yoself! (after they checked it)

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I've no way of getting it off the floor, it's raining, I've no garage and a bad back! If it's only a 10 minute job I'll let them do it

Sounds Fairy Snuff to me

2 tyres on the kerb....2 off...Beer gut to take the weight of the VC

You been watching me !!!

They can't have a look at it properly until Tuesday, so as the forecast is sunny for the weekend I "may" have a go at it myself. I take it you take off the whole assembly in one piece, i.e. front shaft, VCU & rear shaft?

tinytdi said:

2 tyres on the kerb....2 off...Beer gut to take the weight of the VC

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Having no "beer gut" to speak of, just how heavy is the VCU? Am I likely to be crushed when it comes free?

Mark the flanges the the rear diff and IRD so you get it back in the same place. Undo the 6 bolts at the front, 6 at the back, belly under the VC and undo the 4 support bearing bolts. Its quite heavy but nothing too bad. Best to breathe in as you undo the bolts and breathe out to lower it down . Refitting is the reverse of removal but use a bit of threadlock on the bolts

The Mad Hat Man said:

sounds like it could be bearing or UJ ...
cud even be ya rear diff/prop wearing thro ya fuel tank

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Whoa whoa whoa!

Nah, the rear prop grinding through the fuel tank is an intermittant, ringing clank, like a piece of metal glancing another piece of metal (exactly what is happening) . It can only occur if the front rear diff mount is very worn. As a sresult, it should be accompanied by, and preeceded over a long period of time by the distinctive rear diff mount "clunk", a dull thud on taking up drive, after changing gear or sometimes going over speed bumps, etc.

This sounds more like a prpshaft UJ (good) wheelbearing (ok), or the rear diff itself (bad) or maybe even the IRD (worse). But then, how should I know, I'm no expert, I let my rear diff mounts get so shot that they were grinding through my fuel tank!

Cheers

Blippie

Just a fort on this, before you spend sheds on it, swop the tyres round diagonally (front left to back right, etc). It may not be the boots that cause it, but its an easy one to check..

I had it in a local garage yesterday. They lifted it off the ground, and while I "drove" it they went underneath to check the drivetrain. They said definate noise from the rear prop shaft bearing, but couldn't hear anything from the front (IRD) or rear (diff). They did say that this may or may not be the actual problem as it's so difficult to tell with noises, but the bearing was on its way out anyway. So I had them replace both prop shaft bearings.

I took it out for a run this morning - it wasn't the prop shaft bearings! In fact it now seems worse!

The noise is still there, although not quite as loud, and I can now feel a "pulsing" when I hold the gear lever while driving. Also, at around 60-70mph there's now a "pulsing" vibration from the dash area - 1 second vibrate, 1 second quiet.

Does this narrow it down any? I don't mind spending the money to have it fixed, but I don't want to go through replacing various parts only to find that it wasn't the problem - that could get very expensive

tinytdi said:

Mark the flanges the the rear diff and IRD so you get it back in the same place. Undo the 6 bolts at the front, 6 at the back, belly under the VC and undo the 4 support bearing bolts. Its quite heavy but nothing too bad. Best to breathe in as you undo the bolts and breathe out to lower it down . Refitting is the reverse of removal but use a bit of threadlock on the bolts

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There are only four bolts at the rear Tiny.

I would only use thread lock on the four bearing bolts, or if you are replacing the original steel/nylon nut with standard steel nut.

Just a quicky, wot tyres you fitted, I've a minor vibration type sound since I fitted 2 X Kumho KH 11 first fotted em to the front shocking noise had em re balanced and put on the back much less noticable but there at 70mph. Wish I'd spent a little more and bought Pirrelli Scorpions which were on before as local independant will only fit Pirrelli as he says landys really only like em especially on the the 17" wheels 225/55.
sheriff

Mine are Goodyear Wrangler SP's. Recently had 2 new ones fitted to the rear, but this noise was there before and after.

An update: I went out in the car today, and while driving at about 50mph heard a noise as if something had hit the bottom of the car. This was accompanied by a lot of vibration and a "lollipop stick in the spokes" type of noise. Pulled over to find that the gaitor over the front propshaft joint had splitand come off, spraying black sh*t all over the underside. Not sure if I should drive it in this condition, I called the recovery truck to take me back to the garage who did the work yesterday. Obviously they are going to put it right FOC, so as they have to remove the front prop shaft to fit the new gaitor I've asked them to remove the whole lot. Then I can take it for a spin and see if the noise disappears.

An Update:

A test by the garage (lines on both propshafts then a run out for a couple of miles) revealed that the VCU is seized. They also removed the complete propshaft assembly including VCU and let me have the car back to see if the noise had gone. It hasn't, so I'm suspecting a knackered IRD too!

The garage has suggested that if I'm replacing the VCU and IRD that I should also replace the front propshaft. Is this really required, as it'll be another £200 onto my ever expanding bill?

hi nobby. . .sorry ta hear ya bad news, worst case a seized vcu always takes out the ird, un after a while will fook up ya rear diff, if it go's tother way the vcu dunt do nuffink,un so yer jist go two wheel drive [we call it mondo mode] however there should be no reason to change the prop unless that is worn. . .best oh luck

Minge - i fink yu mist summat -
"Pulled over to find that the gaitor over the front propshaft joint had splitand come off, spraying black sh*t all over the underside" -
now as I understumble it - yu cant replace the gaiter its part of the complete prop assembly