Hi. Im I new member and this a first posting. I have a freelander 1 2004 v6 petrol. She is great but there is some vibration at around 25mph or going up hills. Usually I can drive through it. No vibration if foot off accelerator. I have just taken it to a local garage who, after research, suggested to remove th rear propshaft to see if this resolved the vibration but also to avoid expansive repair. However the vibration still remains with just the two wheel drive. He says he is struggling to see what the issue is. Are there any obvious things to check? Thanks for any guidance. Les
vibration continuing after removal of rear prop shaft
- Thread starter les*
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My old V6 (now the mother in law's) is doing the same vibration. It's done it for over 20K miles now. I replaced the drive shafts which didn't cure it. I suspect it is a problem with the IRD, but the mother in law doesn't want me pull it apart. Fitting a polyurethane lower tie bar bush has reduced the vibration, but it's still there.
Thanks . I'll add that to the list of possibilities but my vibration continued with rear prop removed.
Alibro
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Have you taken off all of the propshaft or just the rear bit?
I actually found the vibration slightly worse when the propshafts were removed. I think the rear prop's CV joint was dampening some of the vibration out. I do know that the harder the acceleration, the more violent the vibration. Like I said, I suspect it's an IRD related issue, which is probably unique to the V6 with its different IRD.
just the rear part
Madmustang
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Bad idea so you have not actually remove "THE PROP SHAFT" only part of it.......For the amount of time/energy and money you may as well have removed it fully. WTF??
Alibro
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Likewise, I don't understand why anyone would do that. You now have a heavy spinny thing spinning freely with less support than before. It's only half a dozen bolts or so to remove the whole thing.
Hippo
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Taking oft only the rear prop means the VCU fluid isn't being mixed around by the different speeds of the front and rear prop shafts. If you leave a VCU to settle for a bit the fluid tends to slowly drop due to gravity. Not fast but over time. It will easily mix around with one full turn but if not turning making it mix round it can create it's own additional vibration until the centrifugal forse spins the liquid around evenly. Mad I know but some of the VCU tests I've done are even madder.
My old V6 started to vibrate quite heavily from about 15 Mph, getting worse by 25 to 30 Mph, before sowly easing off as the speed climbed. By 50 Mph the vibration was gone, unless kick down was used, when the vibration returned. Mine was and still is definitely influenced by throttle position and gear selected. Basically when the drive was under high torque, like accelerating in lower gears, the vibration occurred. I installed a camera which recorded the IRD output to the OS drive shaft in an attempt to identify the cause. I was surprised to see the whole power unit violently shake as the vibration happened. This prompted me to install a polyurethane lower tie bar bush, which really help stop the power unit shake. However I never actually found the cause of the vibration, and I still don't know what is causing it. The car in now owned by the mother in law, and she's happy to ignore it, until it develops in to something more serious.
It would be helpful if the OP could put a camera under the engine somewhere, to see if his power unit is also shaking about under load.
Sorry misunderstanding. All the rear propshaft was removed and vibration continued.
Alibro
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You keep mentioning REAR propshaft. There is only one propshaft 'unit' but it is made of three parts, the front propshaft, the VCU and the rear propshaft.
Hence our confusion.
If you get a bad vibration while accelerating which is worse if you accelerate harder but less if you accelerate gently then as Nodge says it is likely a drive shaft.
With the car on the ground grab the drive shafts and give them a good push/pull. You're looking for movement front to back, sideways movement is normal to allow for the suspension going up and down. Cheap aftermarket drive shafts can give the same fault from new but may not have much movement. You can tell them because they are round where OEM cups have indentations.
GrumpyGel
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My L Series has a slight vibration accelerating at about 30mph - only noticeable when not accelerating hard - ie the more gentle I accelerate, the more noticeable it is.
I've never put a camera on it, but the dog likes to sit bolt upright in the passenger seat to see where we're going (it might be the park!) and when this vibration occurs he looks down into the footwell.
I'm thinking it may be the engine mount. I often get judder when pulling away if I don't use quite a bit of the go peddle. I didn't get the judder when I put on a replacement mount, but I couldn't tell if the vibration went because the whole damn car vibrated like hell with it all the time.
I've never put a camera on it, but the dog likes to sit bolt upright in the passenger seat to see where we're going (it might be the park!) and when this vibration occurs he looks down into the footwell.
I'm thinking it may be the engine mount. I often get judder when pulling away if I don't use quite a bit of the go peddle. I didn't get the judder when I put on a replacement mount, but I couldn't tell if the vibration went because the whole damn car vibrated like hell with it all the time.
htr
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I read somewhere on here about that VCU damper causing a vibration if it's been recently refitted. Possibly try unbolting it and rotating it 1/4 turn then re attach it...
Is it possible for a prop' shaft assembly to become unbalanced?
Could the VCU support bearings being out of alignment cause a vibration?
Is it possible for a prop' shaft assembly to become unbalanced?
Could the VCU support bearings being out of alignment cause a vibration?
Hippo
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As things start spinning faster when yer build up speed, or when the engine is revving high, I think this adds to the normal vibration/resonance to create all sorts of strange noises/vibrations.
When looking for my squeel years ago I did similar to you by putting the camera in different places and was surprised by the engine movement on auto gear change or sudden accelleration. Lot of weight being dampened by little rubber. The setup must be ok for the job in hand as it works at high speed and is smooth and vibration free.
Must be fasinating to design this sort of thing and have all the gear to measure it.
Hippo
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Could you hear the vibration in the same place and at the same time the dog looked down or could it have been a sound the dog can hear but it's outside human hearing range?
Hippo
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I've never come across alignment of VCU bearings causing direct vibration other than when they're actually failed. If new and poorly fitted they will be ok to start with. They will fail sooner if not at 90 degrees to the VCU axle. I guess this is because they're under a distorted pressure which shortens their life.
We sometimes come across problems on ere where there's a vibration at high speed only with the VCU/props fitted. Remove them and it's gone. There's always a fine amount of movement on the bolt holes so undoing until loose then doing up again sometimes works. Turn the prop 180 and secure again sometimes works. I think the same bolt loosening trick could work with the damper. Taking the damper oft in the past has also removed vibrations.
The props spin quite fast when yer at speed so it won't need to be out by much to have an effect. They're individually balanced at manufacture. Yer can bend them oft road if dropping the FL weight on them but that's a difficult trick to get right.
GrumpyGel
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He almost always looks down at the back (or front is it?) of the passenger foot well when this vibration occurs. It may be the vibration that's making him look down there or, as you say, some sound not audible to me but related to it.
He must be looking down there due to this vibration as the only other times he's interested down that way is if he spies an empty crisp packet or some other such culinary delight.
