I just purchased a 91 XJ Sovereign and noticed an annoying howl from the rear. So I jacked the car up, put it in drive, let it idle to determine if the sound was comming solely from the drive wheel, but it ran quiet. Next, I accelerated enough to engage the passenger side wheel and a nasty metal to metal sound was made. I felt each of the wheels and they were cool to touch. When I drive the car the nasty sound is present at take off and does not let up, it just gets louder as I go faster. Is it the bearings?, or could it be the rear? I can purchase a salvage rear for $500. What do you think??? I NEED YOUR EXPERIENCE. Thanks
91 XJ Sovereign
2004 350Z Roadster

Submitted by SE12-31380CJ on Tue, 04/12/2005 - 00:13

Just before the AGM, I started up my '89 XJS V-12 from its winter hybernation and heard this constant whining from the rear. This whine was NOT there when I parked the car last December. I wondered if its 'the diff' or the carrier wheel bearings.
A most knowledgable Dealership Jag tech said XJS's are 'notorious' for the wheel bearings and carrier bearings going bad 'just from sitting'.This winter the car was 'in storage' less than any previous year since 1995.

I began to hear a front wheel bearing whine last November, so now I also may be the process of replacing them all again (about 26,000 miles since 1997). Just sharing a similar ironic situation. Analysis Comments most welcome!

Sherman D. Taffel,
NCJOC
Columbia, MD
'72 E Type Ser III Coupe
'76 XJ12C
'89 XJS Convert
'96 XJR-6

Submitted by johnkenny@avaya.com on Tue, 02/08/2005 - 10:32

I take it that if one hears an intermittant "meow" like sound from the rear area, it is not the bearing then? It happens without much rhyme or reason. Two days ago I took off the rear wheels on my XJ6, pulled the plug and added grease to the rear wheel hubs, there was no grease in sight before I got to it. It may or may not have made a diffence, only time will tell since this noise is intermittant.
Thanks,

John

Submitted by pascal@jcna.com on Sat, 02/05/2005 - 10:50

since jaguar engineers wrongly assume that they could get away with using the same differential fromthe XK8 with an extra 100lb/ft of torque 90 hp... I just blew my 3rd diff on the XKR...

each time, the howl then growl woudl change or stop on or off throttle. if your problem is a wheel bearing, it usually will remain constant... it took few miles from the moment i noticed the noise till it self destructed...

if you need to replace teh differiential, Coventry West is agood source of quality rebuilds, probably not worth the time and effort to installed an unknwonwn used unit.

Pascal Gademer
South Florida Jaguar Club
72 E-type 2+2
00 XKR Coupe
99 XJR

Submitted by SC35-29995 on Fri, 02/04/2005 - 21:23

Hi Nick, Gary & list If your XJ40 (1988 to 1994) experiences rear end growling I would first suspect the rear wheel bearings. These are relatively easy? to replace. I would do these first as they are the easy ones and they probably need it anyway. The other bearings are on the output shaft of the diferential,these are easy you will need to drop the half shaft axles. There are four bolts that connect the cover or shroud for this assembley. The bearing race is very difficult to remove and replace on the wheel bearings. You have to take a drift pin to remove the bearing race and then use the old one to reset the new bearing/ race. Do not let your customer watch this. It is not pretty. I don't think that many of the post 1990 cars have this problem, late build 1991 and after don't get sick very often. Iv'e seen only one.

Submitted by gary@jagbits.com on Fri, 02/04/2005 - 19:01

Nick it is my experience (15 long years of it) that I would say the wheel bearing is the problem. Here's how to find out. If the differential were bad, you would only get the howl when you drive 60-80 MPH and then let off the gas and coast, that's when a bad diff howls, not from take off. A wheel bearing, metal on metal will make noise all the time getting louder as the car moves faster. Wait, it gets worse, when the wheel bearings in the rear fail they actually weld themselves to the hub and the the hub carrier causing them to be trash at the same time. You need to remove the wheel, and the hub on the bad side and inspect the bearings. I think you will find after taking it apart that you need the hub, the hub carrier, and new bearings. The only part that you will not need is the half shaft that goes through the hub. That will survive. Usually people remove the entire assembly by disconnecting the half shaft at the u-joint and then drive the entire assembly over to an auto parts store with a machine shop. They will disassemble the hub from the carrier with a press so you can inspect the damage. Naturally www.jagbits.com sells the assembly used. One last word of experience, NEVER buy a used differential for a 1988-1994 XJ6 from someone you don't know, it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to know for sure that the diff is bad unless they drove the car 60-80 MPH themselves before they removed it from the car. Lots of shuysters sell used parts and claim they work fine, but a diff... I wouldn't trust it and waste 8 hours labor. Hope this helps and feel free to ask anything anytime.

Gary Ilcyn
888-524-2487
Jagbits.com
(Owner)