Your advice guys would be appreciated

I am considering buying a Freelander 1 TD4 Auto. I am a manual Disco owner at present but need an auto vehicle now(old guy-bad back & wobbly legs, comes to us all eventually) Just wondered what you Freelander Auto owners might give me some idea about about them and what i need to be careful to look for. I am looking at 2005/6 vehicles. Appreciate your input

hopefully you might get a low mileage one and if it has done over 60,000 get the auto fluid changed do not go to the stealers they will rob you they charge about £150 I got it done for £40 also drive it in a circle backwards and if it feels like it has the brake's on then there is a problem with the vcu , make sure it has had a full service including the turbo vent filter that looks like a petrol filter down the back of the engine (only one tube is fixed to it), and most of all make sure it goes through all the gears ok and on a cold morning do not try to rush it through the gears hope you get one and good luck I am on my second so they can not be that bad , my old one had 173000 on the clock and I was going to keep it but they gave me a offer I could not refuse on this one
a 2006 TD4 auto HSE with all the gismo's except it did not have cruise control on ,but it is now.

Good advice buddy. I wish I'd asked about autos before I put the deposit down on the one I've got. I have to admit all this talk of dodgy VCUs is scaring the hell out of me

Is the auto box fluid the same as I'd call gear box oil? Or is it something as well as gearbox oil? I had planned on doing the diff oil and gear box oil as part of the service.

Plenty of info on here about the auto and it's oil…

Just do a search for Jatco…

Is the auto box fluid the same as I'd call gear box oil? Or is it something as well as gearbox oil?

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http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/auto-transmission-fluid-change-now-sounds-like-poo-220125.html

JATCO Automatic Gearbox:
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/1055940-post48.html


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I am looking at 2005/6 vehicles.

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some links to freelander info here :
http://www.waterdragon.org.uk/freelander1_links.html

Guitarjon said:

Good advice buddy. I wish I'd asked about autos before I put the deposit down on the one I've got. I have to admit all this talk of dodgy VCUs is scaring the hell out of me

Is the auto box fluid the same as I'd call gear box oil? Or is it something as well as gearbox oil? I had planned on doing the diff oil and gear box oil as part of the service.

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I have a V6 which sadly only ever came in an auto. When I first got it I was a bit unsure about it's reliability and fluid changes. I had to drain the box when I replaced the engine. After a lot of research about fluids I came to the conclusion that it's just an auto box and an equivalent fluid would work ok. I tried Dexron 11 to see how it worked and as a sort of flush as the fluid that came out was pretty dirty, i didn't use D11 because I felt this would be a good replacement for the LR stuff but because I had 10 liters of it in my workshop. I ran the box for 500 miles with D11 before I drained out what I could refilling with Carlube ATF-U, after another 500 miles I drained it again refilling again with ATF-U. The box oil is now clean but to keep it that way I'm going to drain and refill yearly using ATf-U.

Guitarjon said:

Good advice buddy. I wish I'd asked about autos before I put the deposit down on the one I've got. I have to admit all this talk of dodgy VCUs is scaring the hell out of me

Is the auto box fluid the same as I'd call gear box oil? Or is it something as well as gearbox oil? I had planned on doing the diff oil and gear box oil as part of the service.

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no need to be afraid the vcu fail less than you think, as said mine last for 172000 or there about changed with one from Freelander spares and wish I had gone to some one else like Bells they did replace it after I got stuck in the snow and being disabled and can not walk far it was a thing I never want to go through again and then after a replacement I swapped cars. Again I do think it is how well you treat a car to how it goes .

Many thanks for your advice. Got one at second go. first one had auto box problems(reversing advice showed fault)-never would have thought of that. thanks again