How to recondition a VCU yourself.

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
Given that your first VCU failed at 35k miles, I can understand your perspective Hippo. How many FL1s are on the road with less than 70k miles these days I wonder?
 
rob_bell said:
Given that your first VCU failed at 35k miles, I can understand your perspective Hippo. How many FL1s are on the road with less than 70k miles these days I wonder?
Click to expand...
No. This is wrong. The last vcu I know which damaged a FL1's transmission was on 58k miles. If using the 70k myth they would have been under the impression everything was ok for another 10k miles.

The FL1 started production in 1997 some 20 years ago. They stopped production over 10 years ago in 2006. The average owner won't have owned their FL1 since it was first made. The average owner won't know the cars history since it was made. The average owner won't know what parts have been changed, if the mileage is correct (it can legally be reset if the engine is changed) or if the VCU has been changed. You could argue some may be able to answer these questions... but not many.

If the vcu has been changed, how long ago was it changed and what it the eggspected life of the replacement? Has the vcu had a hard life or was it re-conned correctly? They certainly won't know if the vcu is second hand off e bay or from the scrappy? Is the receipt for the vcu the previous owner had replaced still the same vcu fitted to their FL1 or did the owner swop it with another older (older as is wear) vcu just before he sold it on? All of these questions... we don't know or can't confirm the answers. How many owners would spot the signs of a failing vcu? For me this is too much of a risk.

Due to the above... test your vcu regular. Say every 5k miles. Get a feeling for the time yours requires to complete the test. Record the time and take warning from the time if it increases.
 
Hippo said:
No. This is wrong. The last vcu I know which damaged a FL1's transmission was on 58k miles. If using the 70k myth they would have been under the impression everything was ok for another 10k miles.

The FL1 started production in 1997 some 20 years ago. They stopped production over 10 years ago in 2006. The average owner won't have owned their FL1 since it was first made. The average owner won't know the cars history since it was made. The average owner won't know what parts have been changed, if the mileage is correct (it can legally be reset if the engine is changed) or if the VCU has been changed. You could argue some may be able to answer these questions... but not many.

If the vcu has been changed, how long ago was it changed and what it the eggspected life of the replacement? Has the vcu had a hard life or was it re-conned correctly? They certainly won't know if the vcu is second hand off e bay or from the scrappy? Is the receipt for the vcu the previous owner had replaced still the same vcu fitted to their FL1 or did the owner swop it with another older (older as is wear) vcu just before he sold it on? All of these questions... we don't know or can't confirm the answers. How many owners would spot the signs of a failing vcu? For me this is too much of a risk.

Due to the above... test your vcu regular. Say every 5k miles. Get a feeling for the time yours requires to complete the test. Record the time and take warning from the time if it increases.
Click to expand...
I agree, but I'd take it even further and say that it doesn't matter whether you know how long or how many miles the VCU has been on for anyway - it should be checked regularly. I'd say 5k miles is the longest you'd want to leave it, if you said 2k or 3k miles I wouldn't disagree with that, and no more than 6 months either.

I'd say as well to check tyre pressures weekly and before a long journey - every fill up if you're touring.
 
Hippo said:
Due to the above... test your vcu regular. Say every 5k miles. Get a feeling for the time yours requires to complete the test. Record the time and take warning from the time if it increases.
Click to expand...
That's seems very sensible. Check it when you buy it, then check it again regularly :)

No idea where the "70k/80k" figure came from, but it is all over the forums? I can't defend it: I don't really have direct experience other than with my Hippo which has 87k miles on it...
 
rob_bell said:
That's seems very sensible. Check it when you buy it, then check it again regularly :)

No idea where the "70k/80k" figure came from, but it is all over the forums? I can't defend it: I don't really have direct experience other than with my Hippo which has 87k miles on it...
Click to expand...
The 70k miles thing was put forward as a rule of thumb. Along the lines of "... from our eggsperience... from what we see... " from re-conners. We have had a pop at many of them several times and websites have been modified as a result. But only to balance on the line of generalising in a direction, as opposed to specific fact. Sadly not modified enough. Re-conners don't like our testing and ask people not to put up results of their replacement vcu. As you say unfortunately it's all over the web. Parts dept at the local main dealer also put a tech request into LR for me to ask a number of specific questions. From the response... LR don't advise replacement on mileage. None of the re-conners know what LR and GKN know although they allude to inside info. The closest I've ever got is meeting one of the vcu's used for prototype testing of the FL1 transmission.
 
I agree with Hippo regarding reconditioners and the 70K miles replacement figures. I myself found many references to it all over the web. Some even suggested that the OWUT isn't any use to test a VCU. However information gathered here on this forum has debunked this totally. The OWUT while not loading the VCU in the same way as the GKN dynamic test. Does test for degradation of the fluid, which is all that's needed.

We now know that using 100K fluid to rebuild a VCU. The 45° time for 5Kgs on the end of a 1.2M lever, gives about 20 seconds on the test.
Additionally if a time of 60 seconds is recorded (5Kg @ 1.2M), then the VCU is going to be past its best.
What isn't known is the original GKN spec and the fill volume. However as long as there is a small air space and fluid is of the 100K type, the VCU seems to work OK.
 
GrumpyGel said:
I agree, but I'd take it even further and say that it doesn't matter whether you know how long or how many miles the VCU has been on for anyway - it should be checked regularly. I'd say 5k miles is the longest you'd want to leave it, if you said 2k or 3k miles I wouldn't disagree with that, and no more than 6 months either.

I'd say as well to check tyre pressures weekly and before a long journey - every fill up if you're touring.
Click to expand...
I understand what you say. The problem we face with vcu's and testing is similar to trying to get motorists to keep a safe gap between them and the car they're following ont motorway.

Int UK they put arrow heads ont tarmac int motorway lanes and ask yer to make sure yer can see 2 of them between you and the vehicle yer following. This points out to peeps what a safe distance gap is. They refer to it as the 2 second gap. If yer can't see 2 arrow heads then yer too close. Problem is it dun't work int reality.

Peeps did an investigation into this some years ago as to why peeps didn't follow the 2 second gap rule. Result being they somehow took in the 2 second request, judged it to be wrong, so didn't follow it. Eggspurts looked at this and said 1.6 seconds was the correct minimal safe distance to use, but such a value is difficult too difficult to judge due to the .6 bit. One hippopotamus, half hippo... Peeps then did a trial and moved the arrows to a spacing of 1.5 seconds, and changed the signs at the side of the road. Drivers then followed this and results showed peeps would make the decision to keep to the 2 arrow head rule with a spacing of 1.5 seconds. Not the safest solution but betterer than the average of 1 second or below which was happening previously.

We have a similar problem with vcu testing. Peeps can't be bothered to do it. Not even once. So asking them to do it too often won't happen anorl. Hence asking for every 5k miles to start with. I would like it to be more often than this, but feel it's asking too much. It's a bit like under bonnet checks every week. Very few do this. Most peeps don't do it at all. So I put forward the idea of doing it monthly at the start of each month. Not the best solution but a compromise. Peeps seem to be able to follow/remember this.
 
The Mad Hat Man said:
part of the service procedure?
Click to expand...
Some would say yes, but with servicing referring more to a yearly check or every 12k miles, then I would say no. I try not to refer to a measure of time. I prefer to measure/reference the mileage. General wear of a vcu is down to use, not time. That being the thinking. But thinking about vcu's hurts me head.
 
Alibro said:
If anyone out there has been following this thread I have posted a load of photos you might be interested in on the first page.
If you are interested in the internals of a VCU then take a look. :)
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/how-to-recondition-a-vcu-yourself.307445/#post-3854532
Click to expand...
Hi @Alibro ,
Not a Freelander owner myself but very impressed with the ingenuity shown.
I didn't read each & every page after the detailed description of the bolt-holes and flushing method but did spot the subsequent description of cutting the end of the VCU off and removing the plates for a total clean.
It then occurred to me that a combination of these two methods might give you a truly well reconditioned VCU.
  1. Cut off the end plate and disassemble.
  2. Wash all the plates and re-assemble dry.
  3. Re-weld the VCU without the interference from the fluid.
  4. Drill, tap and refill the VCU with fluid.
Not anything that it appears has not been done before, but it didn't seem to have been a "combination" approach.
Anyway....as a non-Hippo bystander I shall shut up and but-out.
 
DanClarke said:
Hi @Alibro ,
Not a Freelander owner myself but very impressed with the ingenuity shown.
I didn't read each & every page after the detailed description of the bolt-holes and flushing method but did spot the subsequent description of cutting the end of the VCU off and removing the plates for a total clean.
It then occurred to me that a combination of these two methods might give you a truly well reconditioned VCU.
  1. Cut off the end plate and disassemble.
  2. Wash all the plates and re-assemble dry.
  3. Re-weld the VCU without the interference from the fluid.
  4. Drill, tap and refill the VCU with fluid.
Not anything that it appears has not been done before, but it didn't seem to have been a "combination" approach.
Anyway....as a non-Hippo bystander I shall shut up and but-out.
Click to expand...
Hi Dan
I didn't mention it but what you're saying is the only sensible way to fill the VCU after cutting the top off. I discovered this after causing all sorts of mess with the first one I did trying to weld it back together after filling it.:eek::oops:
If you check out the last two photos in the photo only post you'll see I used your method on this one. ;)
 
Last edited:
Wow guys! That sounds like a lot of dedication and hard graft, luckily the lander works on fwd without the vcu & shaft. Personally I think £199 for the re-con unit I bought was a steal. The shaft balance was £90... £29.59 for two new bearings and the local garage guy charged me £50 to remove & re-fit the shaft. £369 all in while I drove round in fwd for a couple of weeks in June saving fuel and carried on earning LOADSAMONEY!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

MollyNomad
Freelander 1 VCU Test
Replies
4
Views
911
MollyNomad
MollyNomad
MollyNomad
Freelander 1 Hahaha… Not very funny
Replies
3
Views
597
GrumpyGel
GrumpyGel
W
Steering
Replies
6
Views
603
Nodge68
Nodge68
johnnyt
Bcu
Replies
3
Views
235
Nodge68
Nodge68
pwood999
Freelander 1 Drivetrain knock when turning
Replies
3
Views
179
andyfreelandy
andyfreelandy
Back
Top