Hi,

I have a 2014 RRS 3.0 diesel..

I had a noise develop in December 2021, like a cyclic growling/rumbling, could be felt shaking the car slightly, sounded a bit like a helicopter when decelerating down a hill etc. I booked it in with a “specialist” & was told it was the transfer box, they replaced it & the noise hadn’t really gone, the car has since been back & they just keep messing me around & I have lost all confidence.

My friend has taken a look at the car & the diff oil was black & looked awful, but supposedly the “specialist” had looked at the diffs & they were ok, they showed me oil from the diff & it looked clear, which is confusing. So now it’s looking like perhaps it was the front diff the whole time.. but then why they didn’t look at this I’ll never know but anyway..

When they did the transfer box there was a delay because supposedly my box wasn’t a popular part number & they were waiting on parts, yet the part number on the box that is in the car now, they are available all over the place, seems the most popular.

So my question is, could they have fitted the wrong transfer box & this is causing damage to the diffs? & is there anywhere I can enter my VIN number & see what the part number should be for my transfer box?

I’ve wasted so much time & money on this issue now & it sounds horrendous, I’d just like to get it sorted.

Any info would be hugely appreciated.

Really sorry you are going through this.

I am not sure there is more than one transfer box? One is 2 speed and the other single. They maybe could have used one from a different RR or Land Rover and not sure if that would fit?

Have you serviced / changed all of the drive fluids now? I did both diffs, transfer case and gearbox service including filter as a precaution.

That they showed your clear diff oil was clearly a lie!

You should be able to call your local dealer give them the reg / VIN and they will tell you the transfer case part number. You'll then need to get underneath and check this agains the part number on the unit.

I would also have retrieved the old one from the independent as this has value!

It’s been such a pain!

That’s good to know, that may mean the transfer box is good. But then that means I’ve paid them to recondition a box that didn’t require it. Annoyingly.

So the transfer case was done at LR before all of this palaver. My friend has now done all diff oils. Just gearbox needs doing now. Which is a priority next.

I am beginning to wonder if it even is the diff, I had a drive last night & the noise is definitely more prominent at 2000rpm & I had imagined diff noise possibly wouldn’t be rpm related, but maybe I’m wrong.

The car has been unbelievably well maintained always at LR & always had more than required just to keep up with its record. So quite frustrating that I have this seemingly undiagnosable noise.

My gut feeling is that maybe it’s the gearbox, but that would be surprising as they seem to be bullet proof.

From the way you describe the noise it sounds like it could be a wheel bearing.

That’s what I initially thought, but it rises with rpm around 2000, in each gear. & gets worse when hot. So I’m leaning more towards it being diff or potentially gearbox, I’ll see if I can upload a video.

Worse when hot still suggests wheel bearing. If you can I would jack all four corners up and spin the wheels to check or just take to Kwik Fit

Rear diffs are very common for failing...

I have also recently bought new to me RRS, has exact same issue and very well maintained and it had a new new dif when it was 6 months old and another one 2021 cant remember if they are both rear.

Car is 2014 but 63 plate.

Noise has got a lot worse recently, definitely rpm related, so noticeable in manual mode. Almost like a knocking noise noise, with huge rumbling on deceleration & cyclic rumble when cruising, especially in lower gears. Noise isn’t present in neutral.

It’s going into an auto transmission specialist as I’m wondering if it’s the gearbox now, not sure if it was the diff, the noise would be rpm related.

I had the similar issue on my L320 which turned out to be the front diff. Once changed the car was so much quieter. I’m told the RRS1 & disco 3 are quite hard on their diffs. So not sure if this fault would carry across to your 494. But I just thought I’d mention it. 2006 2.7 TDV6 HSE in Cairns Blue.

I’m just unsure on whether diff noise would relate more to road noise as opposed to rpm, but I could be totally wrong?

Update to this, noise disappears when nudged into neutral..

WW88 wrote:

Noise has got a lot worse recently, definitely rpm related, so noticeable in manual mode. Almost like a knocking noise noise, with huge rumbling on deceleration & cyclic rumble when cruising, especially in lower gears. Noise isn’t present in neutral.

It’s going into an auto transmission specialist as I’m wondering if it’s the gearbox now, not sure if it was the diff, the noise would be rpm related.

Just an update on this, it’s looking like it’s the torque converter, it’s being done first week of January, so will update if it solves the issue..

Interesting, looking forward to out come.