Freelander transmission vibration

There is a significant vibration which appears to come from the transmission
on my 1998, 70,000 mile Freelander TD. The vibration is most noticable
between 1600 rpm and 1900 rpm in 4th and 5th gears when there is a slight
load on the engine such as acceleration or climbing . The vibration begins
above the speed where labouring of the engine ceases if the car is gently
accelerating. In other words during gentle acceleration in a high gear just
above the point where the engine is no longer labouring, there is a smooth
rev band for about 200-300 rpm before the vibration starts at 1600 rpm. I
can of course avoid accelerating in high gears in the troublesome band and
there is no vibration problem, but in normal gentle low speed driving the
vibration band is exactly at the point where the engine is comfortably ready
for the next gear change, which drops the revs right back into the vibration
band again, so it is very irritating.

The vibration is greatly increased with more load on the engine (and has the
appearance of a labouring engine) such as when accelerating harder, or
climbing a gentle hill. Strangely however, if the handgrake is applied
against power and the revs maintained in the vibration band, the vibration
ceases immediatelly - until the brake is released when the vibration returns
again. The brake seems to have a damping effect on the vibration despite
the fact that it is creating an increased load on the engine which tends to
suggest that the cause is not labouring of the engine, but a harmonic
vibration from some other source within the transmission. The local Land
Rover garage did not come up with an adequate explaination for the problem.
Anyone have a clue?

Eric Hi,

this reminds me of the problem a fellow member of the LR club of Greece had
some time ago.

It turned out that it was a damaged vibration dumper (the black round thing
sitting in front of the viscous coupling unit)

Hope this helps.

Take care
Pantelis

P.S. those dumpers are available as a spare part.

"esb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> There is a significant vibration which appears to come from the
transmission
> on my 1998, 70,000 mile Freelander TD. The vibration is most noticable
> between 1600 rpm and 1900 rpm in 4th and 5th gears when there is a slight
> load on the engine such as acceleration or climbing . The vibration
begins
> above the speed where labouring of the engine ceases if the car is gently
> accelerating. In other words during gentle acceleration in a high gear
just
> above the point where the engine is no longer labouring, there is a smooth
> rev band for about 200-300 rpm before the vibration starts at 1600 rpm. I
> can of course avoid accelerating in high gears in the troublesome band and
> there is no vibration problem, but in normal gentle low speed driving the
> vibration band is exactly at the point where the engine is comfortably
ready
> for the next gear change, which drops the revs right back into the
vibration
> band again, so it is very irritating.
>
> The vibration is greatly increased with more load on the engine (and has
the
> appearance of a labouring engine) such as when accelerating harder, or
> climbing a gentle hill. Strangely however, if the handgrake is applied
> against power and the revs maintained in the vibration band, the vibration
> ceases immediatelly - until the brake is released when the vibration
returns
> again. The brake seems to have a damping effect on the vibration despite
> the fact that it is creating an increased load on the engine which tends
to
> suggest that the cause is not labouring of the engine, but a harmonic
> vibration from some other source within the transmission. The local Land
> Rover garage did not come up with an adequate explaination for the
problem.
> Anyone have a clue?
>
>

I had the same sort of problem with the missus's TD4 auto after it had been in for some waranty work. It had new handbrake cables fitted and they were routed wrong in the rear drum so when you applied the handbrake the tension on the cable removed the vibration. Re-routed the cable correctly and it was fine. If the vibration does stop with the handbrake actuated then i would be having a good look in the rear braking area, also remove the centre cubby box and you will be able to get to the handbrake linkage. Check if the vibration is coming up through the handbrake cable.