Unidentified vibration!

Hi, just joined the forum in the hope that someone somewhere can help me out. I bought a 2001 TD4 about 6 weeks ago and all has been ok after sorting out a stuck sunroof and a cracked subframe (small dealer but he paid for the "proper" repair I got done). I hit a pothole last week and altho I was only doing about 15mph, I was going round a corner and the wheel got yanked out of my hand! Carried on driving round town for usual work and home journeys for 2 days and only when I made a longer journey on Friday night and speed and revs went up did I discover the vibration! Gear lever shakes, I feel it through the floor and my watch bracelet rattles something awful! Local garage chap has told me it's not the propshaft, nor the chassis, has done the tracking, wheels are balanced and nothing looks bent or broken. He has had it jacked up and 'driven' and all wheels are straight and springs, suspension etc are fine.

So what is it? He doesn't appear to know - suggested maybe the diff or the transfer box but not sure. There is a little play in the driver side front driveshaft but he reckons its an outside chance of it being that altho he would change that before doing anything else.

Please tell me someone can suggest what this could be? I don't want to have a white elephant in my drive with my broken subaru (hence reason for buying landy in first place). Thanks guys in advance

Wondered about trying to find a local (Glasgow area) landrover expert that is not a main dealer in the hope they will go 'I know what that could be' but that might be too optomistic?

There's a few things it could be :a damaged tyre /wheel :it could be bearings :any of the ball joints on the track rod end(ok on the straight wobbles on the slightest bend) or the wishbone(low down rattle).

It sounds to me like a drive shaft cv joint failiure.

Please return and let us know what it turns out to be,
thanx.

To echo OIW, Damaged tyre or driveshaft/cv joint I reckon.

Damged Tyres: I had a vibration saga on my old Triumph GT6, I bought some new tyres and had horrendous vib problems, all balanced perfectly, checked and double checked, ended up I just had one duff one that must of been damaged but no damage visible at all.
Driveshaft: Has been documented on here before, is prone to producing vib.

Will certainly return with verdict! Heading over to Duke Street in Glasgow at lunchtime to 'Rover Works' to see if someone who knows landrovers can offer an informed opinion and then hopefully if it is D/shaft then organise for it to be done soon as! Vibration has got worse and OH drove it last night and reckons D/shft so fingers crossed its a simple fix. Thanks for the input on that - watch this space

It gets better - on way to garage it developed a knocking sound from driver front corner! If I drive carefully its not too bad but its a pain - anyway nice man in the garage said he is 99.9% sure its the d/shaft so its booked in for Tuesday - £140. That seem reasonable?

cazb said:

It gets better - on way to garage it developed a knocking sound from driver front corner! If I drive carefully its not too bad but its a pain - anyway nice man in the garage said he is 99.9% sure its the d/shaft so its booked in for Tuesday - £140. That seem reasonable?

Click to expand...

That is unbelievably reasonable, only takes about 1.5 hours to replace but the cheapest driveshafts i've seen are £165 each, if you buy the genuine article from a dealer they are about £240 each. got my front drivers side one done in Taunton Land Rover a couple of months back, total bill was over £300. I would ask him where he is getting his parts from.
By the way my symptons were much the same as yours, it's a fairly common problem.

D-day tomorrow - am presuming an aftermarket driveshaft but don't know where he gets them from. He gives a year guarantee though. It's getting done at STS in East End of Glasgow - recommended by someone. Will update tomorrow night! Wish me luck!!

Probably a re-con or second hand shaft. I paid £40+vat last year for one and fitted it myself so you are doing well at that price if that includes fitting and warranty.

FIXED!!!! £145 - he said the one he took out was knackered totally so am a happy person once again. Now just need to sort the driver side back window - bits fell down with a rattling sound into the door (thats what it sounded like) so assume its the cable thingy since the motor still works, fit an ariel, change front wiper blades and replace rear wiper arm and thats us done everything! Not going to bother getting the sunroof sorted as its now closed and fuse removed! Thanks one and all for all the advice etc!

cazb said:

It gets better - on way to garage it developed a knocking sound from driver front corner! If I drive carefully its not too bad but its a pain - anyway nice man in the garage said he is 99.9% sure its the d/shaft so its booked in for Tuesday - £140. That seem reasonable?

Click to expand...

I know this is an old post but after the experience i have had with said 'nice man' at Rover Work Shop in Duke Street, I just had to awaken the dead. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DESPERATE OR NOT USE THIS PLACE. The guy has just made such a mess of my engine that it now has to go to the main stealer to be fixed. I went to him after a vibration in engine after a No5 injector change. I won't go into everything but 2 weeks after promised return date I finally got veh back. End route home had to stop and discovered diesel seepage into injector rail, but much more importantly my baby was bleeding oil at a great rate out of bottom of engine and knocking as if a blacksmith was in engine. AA attended, veh returned to 'nice man (peter)'. After a week veh returned supposedly fixed but still knocking so loud I could hear it 200m away!!
Three days of when are you picking this up to fix it ended with and I quote ' nice man' oh that's it I'm fed up with you I'm not fixing it'.
So it is now in hands of trading standards and lawyer!
Oh and BTW I had paid him nearly £ 3000 to fix sleeves and followers and filters. So I say again. DO NOT USE Rover Work Shops Duke Street Glasgow.

I know this is a little off topic ..... but .... how did you sort your sunroof out?

gold rover said:

I know this is an old post but after the experience i have had with said 'nice man' at Rover Work Shop in Duke Street, I just had to awaken the dead. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DESPERATE OR NOT USE THIS PLACE. The guy has just made such a mess of my engine that it now has to go to the main stealer to be fixed. I went to him after a vibration in engine after a No5 injector change. I won't go into everything but 2 weeks after promised return date I finally got veh back. End route home had to stop and discovered diesel seepage into injector rail, but much more importantly my baby was bleeding oil at a great rate out of bottom of engine and knocking as if a blacksmith was in engine. AA attended, veh returned to 'nice man (peter)'. After a week veh returned supposedly fixed but still knocking so loud I could hear it 200m away!!
Three days of when are you picking this up to fix it ended with and I quote ' nice man' oh that's it I'm fed up with you I'm not fixing it'.
So it is now in hands of trading standards and lawyer!
Oh and BTW I had paid him nearly £ 3000 to fix sleeves and followers and filters. So I say again. DO NOT USE Rover Work Shops Duke Street Glasgow.

Click to expand...

there are a few like that up and down the country
many years ago I had a Granada 2.9 auto and it developed a fault in the gear box as we were down near Milton keens I was told there was a "gearbox specialist " close by so we went round they said he could do it for us but it would take a few hours so we sat and waited ,and it was a big workshop with about 20 "mechanics" working there .
while we were waiting a young couple came in a to have their cylinder head gasket done ,then out comes a mechanic with a cylinder head he said to them look you have a crack in the head it will need a new one so they agreed ,I recognised the head off a ford pinto engine ,and I asked them what car the had a Vauxhall they said I told them that was no Vauxhall cylinder head it was a ford , they did not say anything and behold about half an hour later the same happened again with another couple and I was sure it was the same head ,I told them and the chap marched into the workshop and took a look and I followed it was clear they were using the same trick on anybody who had a problem with either cylinder head gasket or the like my was ready at that point so I paid a high bill and went after a week at home the gearbox went again , so I took it to a local garage
up the road and they fixed it they said the other garage had just welded it up now I do not know what they welded but it did not last I got onto the trading standards and they discovered that the police were involved and had put a car in there and they had done a trick on them within a week they were closed and taken to court but I never got anything back so good luck.

Hi Teddy, hindsight is a wonderful thing I will make myself a, just within the law, absolute nuisance to the guy, that he'll be happy to pay me back. I'll sit outside his workshop with a placard if I have to