Help me fix up my freelander!

At present mine is FWD as my VCU needs replacing. I find the handling to be stable and safe - but then I'm no racing / rally driver. Re CV boots, I've had those glue together ones fitted by a workshop in the past to cars I've had. Both times they split at the join and leaked grease everywhere =messy. Can't believe the mechanics would do a sloppy job. Best to fit the one piece ones. I did my front LH on a month ago. Getting the drive shaft was an issue but when it was out fitting the new boots was no real drama.

Kris - I've never experienced any handling difficulty in 2wd mode, and I have both a 1.8 and a KV6, the KV6 have had for 2 years, the 1.8 for 4. Both are in 2WD mode, no handling difficulties here. I did order a new VCU and bearings for the 1.8 but along with the prop shaft, it's been sitting in the shed awaiting when me elects to put it back on for some 4 wheel driving like maybe Stockton Beach Newcastle for any audiences from Australia. The rest of the car you could probably fix without too much to spend, but the liners are a worry. What's your plan for the engine and liner issue? I think you said before once it overheats if left idling and it loses coolant as well doesn't it?

htr said:

At present mine is FWD as my VCU needs replacing. I find the handling to be stable and safe - but then I'm no racing / rally driver. Re CV boots, I've had those glue together ones fitted by a workshop in the past to cars I've had. Both times they split at the join and leaked grease everywhere =messy. Can't believe the mechanics would do a sloppy job. Best to fit the one piece ones. I did my front LH on a month ago. Getting the drive shaft was an issue but when it was out fitting the new boots was no real drama.

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Yeah, with the bigger wheels i fitted the thing will never be a rally machine. Noticeably slower acceleration but much more comfortable RPM at motorway speed. 70mph was about 3900rpm before, now it's just over 3000. Regarding the gaiter, sounds like a job to be done properly then! Thanks for the heads up

niccage said:

Kris - I've never experienced any handling difficulty in 2wd mode, and I have both a 1.8 and a KV6, the KV6 have had for 2 years, the 1.8 for 4. Both are in 2WD mode, no handling difficulties here. I did order a new VCU and bearings for the 1.8 but along with the prop shaft, it's been sitting in the shed awaiting when me elects to put it back on for some 4 wheel driving like maybe Stockton Beach Newcastle for any audiences from Australia. The rest of the car you could probably fix without too much to spend, but the liners are a worry. What's your plan for the engine and liner issue? I think you said before once it overheats if left idling and it loses coolant as well doesn't it?

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Thats very re-assuring thank you. To be honest, since the car's had the head gasket done and the vacuum line sealed up again it's been fantastic. It's ridiculously quiet now to the point where i've had to check a couple of times to make sure the car hasn't stalled! It takes ages to warm up now, compared to the 3 minutes in the car that it used to need to get the engine temp needle to half way. Did a 11 mile journey yesterday and the car had only just got near the halfway temp as i pulled up at the destination. On the flipside though, the heaters seem rubbish now compared to how warm they were before when it was overheating

I know it's only been a week but there's been no coolant loss at all since the gasket work was done despite a slow drip from the upper bleed screw as the o-ring had perished. New bleed screw stopped the drip completely so i shouldn't be expecting any more to be lost. Fuel mpg seems back to normal as well now. Without wanting to tempt my luck, it seems to be running very well indeed. Better than it ever has since i've owned it.

This is a prime example of why I don't bother with this much now a days.
It's a load of bollox. Google would've answered all of it in minutes.
I'll probably get told I'm a clueless numpty now!

Diesel Do said:

This is a prime example of why I don't bother with this much now a days.
It's a load of bollox. Google would've answered all of it in minutes.
I'll probably get told I'm a clueless numpty now!

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Yeah it would've answered some of them, and some were done in that very way (the window reg for example) but as resourceful as google can be, all it does is provide one way information. It doesn't give the same kind of two way dialogue and wisdom from helpful members that has been beneficial to me here.

It's all been said on here before. I got sick of repeating everything. Eg. Dropped liners. Common reason for head gasket failure. If you googled you'd have discovered that the liners can be shimmed up to allow correct protrusion and proper sealing. So if you had googled why bodge it back together?

Mines a 1.8 with a 2" lift it now has 255/55/18 tyres on it. It's been 2wd and 4wd. Personally found 2wd to be horrible in the wet. May be down to the lift as you get more bump steer etc.

Diesel Do said:

It's all been said on here before. I got sick of repeating everything. Eg. Dropped liners. Common reason for head gasket failure. If you googled you'd have discovered that the liners can be shimmed up to allow correct protrusion and proper sealing. So if you had googled why bodge it back together?

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I didn't bodge it back together, i wasn't even aware of a possible liner droppage until i collected it after the head gasket was replaced by the garage. On the phone they said there was some damage to the 4th cylinder but it'd be ready to pick up the next day. When i asked, the guy on the phone didn't know enough to tell me and the guy that worked on the car was out of the shop.

When we collected the car i asked about the liner damage and he said it had some scoring and might have dropped a bit. That was it, so i came on here to ask you guys what to expect from it and whether it was detrimental enough to negate the other issues being fixed.

Diesel Do said:

Mines a 1.8 with a 2" lift it now has 255/55/18 tyres on it. It's been 2wd and 4wd. Personally found 2wd to be horrible in the wet. May be down to the lift as you get more bump steer etc.

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255?!! I bought 225's because i read that any more needed spacers and spacers break the wheel bearings. They were £70 for 4 half worn all terrains and rims fitted to them so can't grumble too much! :lol:

Whats the deal with the sunroof area on yours though? Custom sunroof plates?

Standard glass sunroof

If the garage put it together with a fault I wouldn't be happy

With any forum newcomers will always ask the same questions that have been asked before. That's the way it is and that's the way it always will be. There is no point getting annoyed about it, that's life. There there will always be another newcomer with the same issue or has recently found the answer and is willing to share.
Let the newbies (like me) talk about stuff that is new to us. Before long we will be tired and jaded hearing the same old questions that are annoying some of you and we will start responding in the same way but in the meantime probably best do what my granny always said.
If you can't say anything nice then say nothing.

I've got jeep wheels with a larger offset. The wheel bearings do suffer more. It wasn't straight forward fitting the tyres. But I love the look. I've had 225/75/16 and 235/70/16 on it as well both on steel modulars

Diesel Do said:

If the garage put it together with a fault I wouldn't be happy

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They did only do it for parts cost though, no labour charges. I'm not entirely happy now you guys have said it could have been shimmed. I'd feel a bit bad complaining though considering they scrubbed £250+ off the bill. If the liners can be moved and shimmed does that mean the one with scoring could have been replaced with an undamaged one?

Alibro said:

With any forum newcomers will always ask the same questions that have been asked before. That's the way it is and that's the way it always will be. There is no point getting annoyed about it, that's life. There there will always be another newcomer with the same issue or has recently found the answer and is willing to share.
Let the newbies (like me) talk about stuff that is new to us. Before long we will be tired and jaded hearing the same old questions that are annoying some of you and we will start responding in the same way but in the meantime probably best do what my granny always said.
If you can't say anything nice then say nothing.

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Can't argue with that. Guess I didn't need to ask questions when I joined just spent ages answering them

krisboats said:

They did only do it for parts cost though, no labour charges. I'm not entirely happy now you guys have said it could have been shimmed. I'd feel a bit bad complaining though considering they scrubbed £250+ off the bill. If the liners can be moved and shimmed does that mean the one with scoring could have been replaced with an undamaged one?

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Yes you can change Pistons and liners. You have to shim them because the liner "sinks" in the alloy block

Diesel Do said:

Can't argue with that. Guess I didn't need to ask questions when I joined just spent ages answering them

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You mean aside from making this gem of a thread asking what to do because someone on ebay used your picture? Yeah, that couldn't have been googled at all

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f57/ebay-219977.html

Diesel Do said:

Yes you can change Pistons and liners. You have to shim them because the liner "sinks" in the alloy block

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So rather than the garage saying it needs a new engine because the liners scored they could have shimmed it and fitted a new liner. Great, now i'm annoyed! Is it a lot of work to do that, i mean specialist machining companies etc needed? I know they had the head skimmed so could have sent off other parts too.

So how many threads have I started in how many posts. ?

Diesel Do said:

Can't argue with that. Guess I didn't need to ask questions when I joined just spent ages answering them

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That is what I like about this forum. Knowledgeable people willing to share their knowledge. Without it I wouldn't have known about VCU issues and would probably be looking at a large bill very soon.
When you are expert at something it is easy to forget what it was like when you were a beginner.
I do agree though that many people want to be spoon fed answers without any effort on their part, and often don't even bother to respond to answers, so a wee pointer at the search button is no bad thing.

If you want help don't have a dig!
It's a wet liner engine so no machining work needed. You can just pull them out the top complete with the piston. Obviously you need to remove the sump to. The garage sounds like a run of the mill one that isn't that specialised in the k series so aren't that up on their foibles and can't use google either