Help - Gearbox / Transmission Noise

Bought a 2002 Freelander 1.8 Petrol 2 months ago and about a month in noticed a strange sound which seems to be transmission related. Difficult to describe but sounds something like sand / very fine gravel being poured onto a metal sheet!! It seems to become louder after the car has done approx 15 miles plus. Started in 5th gear but can now sometimes be heard in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th but is more prominent the higher the gear. It can only be heard when you apply power i.e. If you are in gear and moving and accelerator is not touched no noise, but as soon as you touch the accelerator the noise arrives!! No noise in neutral either when still or moving. Took back to dealer who have aknowledged a noise but say it is not really worrying enough to strat striping gearboxes. As they are not a Land Rover dealer I question if they know any more about the thing than I do!! Sods law was that the noise wasn't as bad on this particular morning and the car had only done 4 - 5 miles!! Vehicle has done 22,000 miles!
Wondered if anyone else has experienced this or if any suggestions as to likely cause. I can live with the noise as long as it is not likely to get any worse and the transmiision is not about to drop out!!

Hi dtownsend, sounds like a bearing under load to me maybe. Reckon if youve only had it 2 months then you should have some kind of warranty (prob 3 months) if it came from a dealer. If so they should be duty bound to sort it for you mate. If they've acknowledged theres a noise then get em to sort it and dont take any flannel off em. If you do have some form of warranty and they wont act, threaten them with trading standards.

Joe Public (such as us) pay good money out, therefore we are entitled to a reasonable standard of service in return.

Good hunting WP

Thanks for that, To be fair they have said that I should take it back to them just before the warranty runs out so they can listen again to make sure it is not getting any worse. I assume if it is a major problem it should get worse in the next month or so. I have been told before sometimes 4 X 4's do have a slightly more noisy transmission as there are so many more moving parts involved!! If no joy I will take it to LR for 2nd opinion...Problem is sometimes after a run it sounds worse and sods law states that when someone is listening it is hardly there. I have an extended 3 year RAC Warranty which I am hoping would cover something like this!!

Ok chap, sounds like your on top of it.

Regards WP.

Had test drive with LR in Bristol and I have to say the technician and his attitude was brilliant. We test drove for about 30 mins and he concluded that there was nothing abnormal about the noise I can hear (although he did aknowledge it!) As the car was still under warranty from an independent dealer he gave it a general checkover and all seems OK. All at no cost at all. I was thinking about using an independent for servicing but after this experience I will deffo use LR in Bristol. As a separate issue I asked him what I had let myself in for with my 2002 Frrelander 1.8 ES!! He kindly explained that all you hear are the horror stories and nothing about the 1000's that are on the road experiencing no problems at all!!
This chap was second to none and couldn't be any more helpful than he was!!