My new Freelander (issues and questions!)

Picked up my Freelander yesterday. It's a Dec 03 facelift model, and drove it hundreds of miles home. We live in an isolated old farmhouse so may be a handy car.

Lots of good things about it - full MOT, lovely engine, new window mechs for drivers door and rear window. Sunroof works, AC ice cold.

A few design issues for me: cant turn off the passenger airbag, and can't see the dials as can't lower the seat!

But it has a few issues:

• Gear lever is wobbly. Wondering if this is typical and if it is an easy fix. Selects and engages no problem though.
• VCU: no noises, but when you reverse on lock there's resistance. Am guessing from what I have read it may need to be changed. Phoned the LR dealer, who said there's no problems with them and they don't need changed. Wouldn't worry if forums didn't suggest it does other damage - how do you know if the IRD is damaged? Wondering if I order a VCU how many hours labour it will take my mechanic to change it?
• Parking sensors aren't working (I love parking sensors!)
• Wobbles at 69mph. It drives nice and smooth up until then, and then the whole car and the steering wheel wobbles. I took it and got the wheels aligned but that didn't make any difference

So will be watching out for info here, but any advice much appreciated!

Hello, and welcome to the madness of freelander ownership!

Wobbly gear lever is a very common rover trait - it'll either be the bushings or the pin in the gear knuckle.
You can get rebuild kits on ebay for a few £ - look up "pg1 gear linkage" or the like for a repair kit.

VCU can be checked with a 1m breaker bar and 5kg of weight - go and have a look at "one wheel up" test on youtube to see - if 5kg turns your back wheel in about 30-50 seconds you're looking ok, if you exceed a full minute you're heading towards needing a replacement.

Relatively straightforward to replace, you can get a reconditioned one from bell for under £300 with the bearings required (don't cheap out on the bearings, you'll have to change them again.) about an hour to take off the propshaft and get the VCU out and at a stretch an hour max to put it back on properly.

Wobbles are often caused by busted balljoints on the bottom of your suspension arms, but, does it make any odd mechanical noises when it wobbles?

Hi, thanks for your reply!
No noise when it wobbles, only odd noise I have noticed is from the steering, just as you turn the wheel at low speed or it reaches lock there's an occasional thunk, had it checked when the alignment was done and they thought it was ok.
But guess that would fit with a worn balljoint. Might get the front suspension checked again!

badfelafel said:

Wobbles at 69mph.

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There are various reasons for wobbles at 68.2mph and 69.45mph, but I don't think there are reports for precisely 69mph. Maybe driver distraction.

Lol. Should have said wobbles from 69mph... didnt go much past that though!

Did you get the wheels balanced or just alignment done??

What engine is it?

He said he balanced them but I was watching and dont think he did. Also he didn't go near the back wheels... should these be aligned or ba lanced too? Its a td4.

Both wheel alignment and balancing if out can cause a wobble. All four wheels should be aligned and balanced.

How old are the tyres?

You need to get driveshafts and propshaft checked for play in the cv joints etc.

Need to find someone i can trust

Wheels balanced wobble gone.
Drives very smoothly now.
Clunk on steering direction change due to worn drop link but not bad.

Wheels balanced .. wobble gone.

Click to expand...

worth re-torquing the wheel nuts after 100 miles or so
had similar with mine once .. steering shimmy over 65mph or so
wheel nuts were tight .. but just under torque specs ..
re-torquing the nuts fixed the issue

Todays news: I have half a heated windscreen...!

Both sides of the heated screen are separate circuits, each with it's own 30 amp fuse in a little box next to main fuse box, it's the one nearest the engine. The other one contains the relay.
Some of the wiring and the earthing points for the heated screen are under the scuttle panel, might be worth checking the earthing points. One of mine has been remade at some point…
Which side doesn't work?
Mine packed up recently, but it was the relay that had cooked. Might be worth just checking the condition of the relay while your at it…