Noise through gear lever

Only had the car a fortnight or so and have a strange noise that is connected to the gear stick. It's a sound like a dry bearing. I first noticed when changing gear, and thought at first it must be the clutch release bearing. But it's not clutch pedal related. When driving, if I move the gear lever slightly left or right I get the noise. If I hold it in the central position, no noise at all. Of course, while driving the lever naturally falls one way or the other so I get the noise. Not really loud, but irritating. There's probably about an inch or so of free play in the lever. 2004 td4 manual. Is this something I should worry about? It's done just shy of 80k miles.
Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated
Dave

Hi , mines the same

Is there any variation with different gears?

doesn't seem to be,although it doesn't seem to do it in neutral.

Do you mean coasting in neutral? or just sitting still in neutral?

Sitting in neutral, engine running. I've just been out in it and it does do it in all gears, tho less so in lower gears which I suspect means its speed related( revs not nec mph).

OK, sounding like an output shaft bearing in the gearbox or VCU support bearings, could even be IRD bearing/s, but check with revs to about 3000 while sitting in neutral to eliminate gearbox input shaft bearing/s. That's not definitive though as there could be other minor faults. You could try removing propshafts to see if it's related to VCU bearings.

thanks for that.I sat at the lights tonight and revved up to 3000rpm in neutral,and got the noise.What I dont understand is how come the noise is only audible if I move the gear lever to the side?also,how might this of occured in the first place?could it be that the previous owner was someone that drove with their hand on the lever?
Also,are any of the possible outcomes a big job to do?and are they something that'll need doing imminantly or when I get round to it,time being something I dont have lots of.
Thanks for your help
Dave

is it not just normal wear and tear being transmitted through worn gear linkage, first see if you can lubricate and tighten any of the offending bits of linkage, my old freely always made a noise if you rested your hand on the gearstick when travelling, and once it reached a 100k it was certainly prone to noise at certain engine revs.

If theres no noise from the gear lever in normal use , dont worry about it !

thanks for that,I'll try not to get too paranoid about it.As I said,its my first Freelander and I've only had it a couple of weeks.I'll have a poke about and see what looks like it can be tightened and lubed.
cheers
Dave

TriumphDave said:

Only had the car a fortnight or so and have a strange noise that is connected to the gear stick. It's a sound like a dry bearing. I first noticed when changing gear, and thought at first it must be the clutch release bearing. But it's not clutch pedal related. When driving, if I move the gear lever slightly left or right I get the noise. If I hold it in the central position, no noise at all. Of course, while driving the lever naturally falls one way or the other so I get the noise. Not really loud, but irritating. There's probably about an inch or so of free play in the lever. 2004 td4 manual. Is this something I should worry about? It's done just shy of 80k miles.
Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated
Dave

Click to expand...

Did the noise ever progress to a fault? It's been a while so there must have been plenty chance to! I have recently started hearing a similar noise and am pretty sure it's ird related but unsure how it would be affected by moving the gearstick.

no nothing,in fact so much nothing that I don't notice it anymore.I'll have a go tomorrow and see if it still does it . if it still does it,it must of become a background noise that you no longer hear(much like the mrs) ;-)

just reread the last bit of my original post,I've done nearly 20 thousand miles since posting,so if yours is the same its not a problem to worry about,it certainly hasn't got worse,though I doubt it cured itself,its just that I no longer notice it.
good luck,

freelance said:

is it not just normal wear and tear being transmitted through worn gear linkage, first see if you can lubricate and tighten any of the offending bits of linkage, my old freely always made a noise if you rested your hand on the gearstick when travelling, and once it reached a 100k it was certainly prone to noise at certain engine revs.

Click to expand...

I agree, get under the vehicle and have a good look at what's what. Could be picking up a rumbling if the linkage has become so sloppy that it's coming into contact with things beneath the vehicle or rubber components are shot.

It's the wife's Freelander. It's always been a nice quiet and 'tight' example of a Freelander. Only done 67k miles and its a noise that I have only heard recently above the whine of the tyres. First thing I did was lift It on a ramp and the noise was still audiable which rules out tyres. The noise is apparent most of the time when driving to a trained ear and gets worse with resting your hand on the gearstick (not something I often do.)
The noise doesn't change through different gear selection or engine speed it's only vehicle speed which makes me thing somwhere in the final drive. Noise is most apparent at around 60-70mph. As the noise was clearly heard from the front when up on the ramp driving at around 70mph I would narrow it down to ird. It DEFINITELY sounds like a bearing and makes me wince and turn down the music but I just can't get over why it would sound any different moving the gear stick.

When I get some more time I will drop off the prop and see if it changes. I have already changed the ird oil but didn't find anything abnormal