Loud whine/grinding above 30mph td5

Hi guys, so the other day my defender developed a problem where it makes this awfully loud whine that starts being audible from 25.
It has a somewhat irregular pattern between 25-50mph
Happens in all gears, i checked for stones somewhere. Nothing

Checked the driveshafts but they feel fine, im not certain about this as im not experinced with that, same for my wheel bearings.

Even just ran up the engine through the gears with the transferbox in neutral and it dosent happen then so i dont think its gear related.

What year/engine/geabox type defender is it ?

miktdish said:

What year/engine/geabox type defender is it ?

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Sorry yes forgot to mention,
Defender 90
2002, Td5, r380

Take it to a garage and get it up on the ramps for a detailed inspection, I only say this as sometimes it’ll be easy to pinpoint where the noise is coming from if it’s in the air

Double check the propshafts. The description does sounds like a UJ on one of them may be on it's way out.

Then it's normal diagnosis - does it still do it if you put the gearbox into neutral?
Does it do it in gear, but coasting?
And so forth.

MattYorke said:

Double check the propshafts. The description does sounds like a UJ on one of them may be on it's way out.

Then it's normal diagnosis - does it still do it if you put the gearbox into neutral?
Does it do it in gear, but coasting?
And so forth.

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it happens when in neutral, coasting. Whatever just above 30. Nothing is affecting it just speed

I'd be tempted to disconnect the props at the gearbox end and then start it up and try it in the gears. Obviously you won't go anywhere, but if the noise is still apparent, then that suggest somewhere in the gearbox or transfer case.

I've had this kind of phenomenon before, but not on Land Rover vehicles, which turned out to be a wheel bearing in one case and a worn gearbox input shaft bearing in another. One was in a Ford and the other in a Triumph.

If it's apparent in neutral with the vehicle stationary that does suggest something fairly early in the drivetrain, in the clutch or gearbox input shaft area.

It's just a matter of trying each part of the drivetrain in turn to narrow it down a bit.

charlie revis said:

Even just ran up the engine through the gears with the transferbox in neutral and it dosent happen then so i dont think its gear related.

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Its not under load.

charlie revis said:

it happens when in neutral, coasting. Whatever just above 30. Nothing is affecting it just speed

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something is under load.

Brown said:

I'd be tempted to disconnect the props at the gearbox end and then start it up and try it in the gears

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I would do 1 at a time. with diff locked.

Have you tried driving in low? even with the diff locked (choose a straight road or grass)

Sounds like you need to try lots of different scenario's.

Turn the radio up .

J

So surprisingly after a very quick diagnosis from my local mechanic and £30 quid later, it was the light bar on the roof, so they removed it.
Bit peeved that I just spent £30 for them to do something I can do. Anyway, googled it and it appears to be somewhat common issue with large light bars, not heard of it being an issue on defenders before but very apparent in jeeps.

Thankfully I hadn't got around to wiring the light bar into the car so at least I can drive it again and not have my ears screeching!

quick side note: anyone wired up a cheap light bar before and got some advice?

Well that’s a new one to log in the grey cells.

Thanks for coming back to share your embarrassment, everydays a school day.

J

So was it wind noise on the light bar? I have something similar with Mantec roof bars which are quite noisy if I drive around with them on, but quieten down if I have a load on them.

Brown said:

So was it wind noise on the light bar? I have something similar with Mantec roof bars which are quite noisy if I drive around with them on, but quieten down if I have a load on them.

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sort of yeh,

So from what I gather from research online its the wind coming up through the gap between light bar and windscreen that is pushing on the cooling fins of the light bar. these fins then start to vibrate alot and make a really awful high pitched noise. Never knew it could be an issue until now.