Hi all

New to this forum and indeed new to RR Sport ownership. Am enjoying my 4.2 Supercharged immensely apart from the below niggle (which is becoming more than a niggle!!).

When accelerating moderately through 40mph, the car makes a strange intermittent grinding/rubbing noise that sounds like it is coming from the front end wheels. It is always at 40mph and you must have your foot down on the accelerator (whether going up hill or down hill), so I assume it is something to do with this speed. Noise doesn't exist if you go through 40mph quickly and it disappears anyway at around 45mph. Seems to get louder the longer it has been driven. You also feel it through the sterring wheel and accelerator pedal.

Car has been back to dealer I bought it from (new wheel bearing) and main dealer (Marshalls) both of whom have given up on the fault. Main dealer said "we have had a similar fault in the past and never got to the bottom of it!". So whilst garage who sold me the car are willing to pay main dealer to fix it, main delaer say they can't!

Does anyone know of other similar faults or have any ideas? Car is on a 07 plate and has done 52k.

Thanks

Chris

Front diff issues?

Has your dealer looked at that possibility

"Front Diff Failure/Lockup of Front Wheels
By the time of the introduction of the Range Rover Sport, Land Rover had switched over to Jaguar-based drive trains and redesigned the front driveline to incorporate flexible joints at both the front and the rear of the front driveshaft, rather than just at the rear as on the 2003-2005 Range Rover which experienced so many problems with the resulting failures. The new design seemed to greatly improve the situation, but in February 2007 I began hearing from Sport and LR3 owners who experienced even more serious front diff failures in which the front wheels entirely locked up.


The first report was from an owner who reported the problem on his 06 Range Rover Sport: "At 65 mph with no warning signs the front tires locked up putting the vehicle into an uncontrollable skid. We were almost rear ended twice and had a difficult time getting the vehicle off the highway. This incident almost caused us a real serious accident. The dealer replaced with identical parts. We reported this to the NHTSA."


David Epringham experienced this same set of symptoms on his 2006 Sport when it reached 16,000 miles, with the front wheels locking up at 120 kph (75 mph). The dealer replaced the diff.


Jeff Ristine had the same problem on his brand new 2006 LR3 (mechanically almost identical to the RR Sport). He elaborated on the symptoms as follows: "We were driving down the highway at 60 to 70 mph when I heard this whining noise so I slowed to about 55 when all of a sudden the front wheels locked up and we came to a screeching halt in the middle of nowhere. We also had some difficulty getting the vehicle off of the road."


In October 2009 Dan Isham reported: "This happened to me yesterday thankfully I was able to pull off the free when it actually locked up. The crapper for me is the dealer said it would cost $2900 to fix since my warranty lapsed on my 06 Sport at 50,000 miles."


On December 26, 2009, Richard Stewart had the same issue on his 2006 LR3, while exiting from the Interstate; the vehicle had to be towed 100 miles to the dealer, who found that the pinion had a half inch of end play. Richard had previously noticed the transmission seemed to jerk into gear, a symptom that disappeared after the front diff was replaced.

As of January 2010 I continue to get reports of this happening on the Sport and the LR3. Matthias Greillerhad his front wheels lock up at highway speed on his 2007 Range Rover Sport TDV6 at 60 mph -- fortunately he is still alive to tell the tale. He was driving at approx. 80km/h on a Swiss highway. "Luckily it was so late at night that no traffic was behind me - otherwise this could have ended badly." The symptoms:


- suddenly a cracking noise from somewhere in the gearbox
- immediately after a blocking of the front wheels, short phase of slipping
- afterwards grinding noises plus a sound as if something is twisting around in the gearbox
- burnt smell



If you experience this problem you should probably file a report with the NHTSA (in the US) or equivalent agency in other countries so they can keep track of the number of incidents to determine whether it is a significant issue worthy of investigation. " RRS gone
Audi SQ5...Gone Audi Q7 S-Line 240 3.0TDI Gone
Audi A6 Allroad Sport 270 3.0TDI

Awd man - really helpful, thanks.

A little further info is that the front ACE bar was replaced when I bought the car - could that be associated with this noise? The front diff pinion deal was replaced at the same time - again wonder if that is relevant in light of what you say?

Hi bumble 1976

is this grinding/vibrating noise in 5th gear at around 40mph ? roughly 1200revs?