Weird grinding noise during high revs???

Hi everyone, as of 3:30pm today i became a proud owner of a 1999 FreeLander 1.8 petrol... 10 months MOT, 6 months Tax and lots of extra's on the car including roof rack, side bars, bull bars with fog lamps etc etc and for 120k miles it is certainly in amazing condition

it was advertised for £1250 and after a good look around the car noticing 3 tyres need replacing soon, small tear in seat, front fog/spot lights not working, clutch needs to be adjusted and a very slight lumpy tick over i eventually managed to get it for £900 cash!!! very happy to say the least

HOWEVER!!!!!!!! driving it home 18 miles, it drove absolutely perfect... i did not take the car above 3500rpm through country roads and small towns & villages... not a problem, i then got on to the M6 only for 2 junctions and 2nd and 4th gear make this horrible grinding and vibrating noise from the centre of the car when i go above 4000rpm!!!!! its almost as if the drive shaft is rubbing on something? thats the best way i could describe it!!!

Is there a common fault i should look for with this? or does anyone have any idea's before i get my hands dirty? im pretty handy with the spanners, i use to fix motorcycles for a living so im still learning aout cars but i am pretty handy with the spanners and not afraid to get stuck in

any help would be appreciated thanks

p.s. any help on how to wire up the front spot lamps would be appreciated aswell thanks again

:welcome:

could be the ird or the vcu bearings. what like is it on full lock in forward and reverse ? does it feel fine or does it feel like its dragging?

mark

welcome
check the props as they may be fooked also check the 4wd is ajusted correctly ,
if alls well check wheel bearings ?
just wire spots into high beams

Thanks, i was thinking of just doing them up to the high beams but just wanted confirmation on that

as for the noise it is absolutely fine on full lock (left & right), reverse is fine also... it is only when i am in 2nd and 4th gear! 5th i didnt drive it fast enough to see if it made the noise, 2nd and 4th i have to short shift to avoid the noise appearing... so i tried to just get all my speed up in 3rd as best as possible!!!

oh i would just like to ask what the tickover should be? also does anyone know what the lumpy tickover could be? when i put it on full lock (under pressure) the revs then drop too low for it to idle :wtf:

i was hoping just a good service of spark plugs, oil & filter etc would sort this out?

but my main issue is the grinding obviously :frown:

whip you prop off and see what happen's......... will at least iliminate the vcu.....

pardon my ignorance but do you mean take the prop off to the rear diff??? can i still drive it OK?

also how do i do that? again, never worked on cars to that depth

banditste said:

pardon my ignorance but do you mean take the prop off to the rear diff??? can i still drive it OK?

also how do i do that? again, never worked on cars to that depth

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Yes you can remove the prop between the diff and VCU easily. If that cures your the problem then your VCU is fecked.

PM for you inbound with lots of info .

Guys, sweepstakes on how many newbs with fecked VCU's we can get in a row this week? £10 says 4 more (no offence meant OP, it's just a very, very common fault .)

Be a three grand car soon


DD

Diesel Do said:

Be a three grand car soon


DD

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Haaaahahahaha !! Yeh, the Land Rover Freelander - the only three grand car you can have for under 1500 !

banditste said:

Thanks, i was thinking of just doing them up to the high beams but just wanted confirmation on that

as for the noise it is absolutely fine on full lock (left & right), reverse is fine also... it is only when i am in 2nd and 4th gear! 5th i didnt drive it fast enough to see if it made the noise, 2nd and 4th i have to short shift to avoid the noise appearing... so i tried to just get all my speed up in 3rd as best as possible!!!

oh i would just like to ask what the tickover should be? also does anyone know what the lumpy tickover could be? when i put it on full lock (under pressure) the revs then drop too low for it to idle :wtf:

i was hoping just a good service of spark plugs, oil & filter etc would sort this out?

but my main issue is the grinding obviously :frown:

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Could the grinding noise be a rattle in the exhaust / cat at certain revs? As for the tickover speed, it's ecu controlled so under loads it should throttle up a bit to compensate. You need to check the idle control valve and it's wiring as this was known to chaff against the head!! The LR fix was to tie the wires to the ICV with a Zip tie!!

It sounds as if that's the ird mount bracket mine did the same at exactly 4000rpm. Check this first the parts only about £20.00.

Dave

Thanks for the advice on the tickover i will give that a look

its definitly not a rattle... certainly a grinding!!!

can you tell me what the IRD is please to point me in the right direction

Thanks for all the help so far

p.s, Spot lamps are now sorted... i traced the wires through and managed to keep all original wires to the fog lamp switch to have them working rather than cut and solder wires to the high beam wires... so thats off my checklist anyway

Hi it's the transfer box just behind the gearbox it appears to be a fairly common problem. As soon as I hit 4000rpm in mine i got a nasty grinding/vibration noise if I went on to 5000rpm it went. The way to check its that is when stationery pop it in neutral and try it then if the sound is still there it's the bracket.

your lumpyness could be filter or in need of some new spark plugs or even fuel from a supper market rubish stuff my wife had same problem 1998 1800cc and she swaped and went to a shell and now no problems but I am going to change the in tank filter though just to be sure

Thanks for all the help everyone... the transfer box you mentioned, i can rev the car right out and there is no rattling OR vibration when i am in nuetral... as said it is only in 2nd and 4th gear!!!

also some good and bad news... good news is the VCU isnt causing the noise :bounce:

the bad news is because there is no VCU or prop shafts on the car :hysterically_laughi

so guess i have to find them, fit them and see why they where taken off in the first bloody place!!!!! i dont see the point in having a LandRover Freelander and not having it 4WD

little advice please folks... do i have to be specific? can i only get the VCU and Shafts from a 4cyl DOHC 1.8 petrol 3 door Freelander which mine is OR can i get them from any Freelander (diesel, 5 door etc)

again thank you for all the help so far... its good to know there are people in the world who help people still :mil10:

if noise is gear specific then you need gear box looking at or replacing asap

jamesmartin said:

if noise is gear specific then you need gear box looking at or replacing asap

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Seconded, if the VCU and props were removed and you are still having problems then it might be that they were removed to disguise serious problems with the IRD or gearbox. Happens all the time and we see it alot here.

If it is gear specific then that's where I'd start. The IRD shouldn't be picky about which gears it's going to complain in, so if it's 2nd and 4th then sounds like your gearbox is the prime suspect as James said.

Sod it im just going to change the lot!!!!

I will start with the Gearbox, then the IRD/Transfer box, then i will add the props and VCU then if it is masking a problem with the rear diff i will change that!!!

Costly but will all be done and dusted end of the day

back to my question before hand... can i only purchase props and VCU from a 1.8 petrol 3 door freelander 1? or can i get them from any freelander 1 for example 5 door and diesel models?

Thanks

Are you another defender owner trying to wind all the Freelander evangelists............?