Continuing problems Freelander 2!

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jodiefree2

New Member
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2
Hi guys
I own a freelander 2 that I bought as an ex demo in 2007. The problems started about 2 months after buying it when the power steering pump failed. It was replaced under warrany. A month or so later the power steering pump started to make a bad noise so took it to the dealer and basically have another pump fitted. A few months later on my honeymoon in Cornwall driving through a town I suddenly had no power steering, pump number 3 had failed! Replaced under warranty in Cornwall with a suggestion that this continuing problem was because the idle kit pulley was misalligned(?). Now a few months later I have the same problem and the car is booked in for 4 days to have a new pump fitted (number 5!). My dealer has suggested that there might be debris in the system somewhere causing the fourth pump to have failed (?)

Has anyone got any suggestions on where I now stand with this car as I am a bit dubious about it ever being fixed properly?
The car really has not been right from 2 months after I bought it, it doesnt get a hard life and I cannot believe this keeps happening.
I have had to take so much time off work to try and get this sorted and it is really starting to annoy me!
I have written to Landrover when pump 3 went wrong and they offered me a free service (big deal!)
So has anyone got any suggestions as to why they might think 4 pumps would fail?
Does anyone know leagally if I qualify for more compensation than a free service?
 
Hope my experience helps you.

I bought a 2006 Freelander ex demo last june. From week one the engine was not right. It just felt like it had no power at all. I had 2 previous Freelanders, A L Series then a TD4.

Well the car went in a total of 5 times over a year to get this problem rectified. It had a Software update, turbo, 4 new injectors amongst other things.

Well in May this year i finally snapped. I work in the motor trade so i was probably a bit miore patient than a normal customer but i wrote to the dealership and told them the full story and i told them it was my intention to reject the vehicle under the sale of good act.

Within two days, the dealer principal rang me at work and asked for a meeting. I went down and he held his hands up straight away and agreed with our plight.

It took a month to sort out but anyway i now have a 56 plate Freelander, a free service, a tank of juice and 6 months RFL and it did not cost me a penny.

I cannot praise the dealership enough and will be going back to buy a car again.

The problem you have is that you have got to prove the that the fault was there when you bought the car and from you story it seems like you have a case. If your car is on finance make sure you send a copy of any correspondence to the the finance company as they have a liability as well.

Stand your ground and be firm but not too firm. If you go in all guns blazing you will get no where.

Good luck
 
Dave Herron said:
Hope my experience helps you.

I bought a 2006 Freelander ex demo last june. From week one the engine was not right. It just felt like it had no power at all. I had 2 previous Freelanders, A L Series then a TD4.

Well the car went in a total of 5 times over a year to get this problem rectified. It had a Software update, turbo, 4 new injectors amongst other things.

Well in May this year i finally snapped. I work in the motor trade so i was probably a bit miore patient than a normal customer but i wrote to the dealership and told them the full story and i told them it was my intention to reject the vehicle under the sale of good act.

Within two days, the dealer principal rang me at work and asked for a meeting. I went down and he held his hands up straight away and agreed with our plight.

It took a month to sort out but anyway i now have a 56 plate Freelander, a free service, a tank of juice and 6 months RFL and it did not cost me a penny.

I cannot praise the dealership enough and will be going back to buy a car again.

The problem you have is that you have got to prove the that the fault was there when you bought the car and from you story it seems like you have a case. If your car is on finance make sure you send a copy of any correspondence to the the finance company as they have a liability as well.

Stand your ground and be firm but not too firm. If you go in all guns blazing you will get no where.

Good luck
Click to expand...

Thanks for that very interesting! Think I will be sending a letter to the dealer in the week!
 
There are issues with the Freelander II steering system. Mine is a 2008 model which I have had from new. At 8000 miles I started to get a strange whining from the engine bay. Fair enough my dealer put his hands up and said its a known fault.... the steering fluid reservoir filter gets blocked, causes excess pressure hence the whine. They replaced it with a new reservoir (10 minute job) and it cured the whine. When I asked what exactly might block the filter they said er um dunno.

Surprise, surprise only a few weeks later and the steering rack has started to fail.

I am currently awaiting a new rack from Land Rover.
 
jodiefree2 said:
Hi guys
I own a freelander 2 that I bought as an ex demo in 2007. The problems started about 2 months after buying it when the power steering pump failed. It was replaced under warrany. A month or so later the power steering pump started to make a bad noise so took it to the dealer and basically have another pump fitted. A few months later on my honeymoon in Cornwall driving through a town I suddenly had no power steering, pump number 3 had failed! Replaced under warranty in Cornwall with a suggestion that this continuing problem was because the idle kit pulley was misalligned(?). Now a few months later I have the same problem and the car is booked in for 4 days to have a new pump fitted (number 5!). My dealer has suggested that there might be debris in the system somewhere causing the fourth pump to have failed (?)

Has anyone got any suggestions on where I now stand with this car as I am a bit dubious about it ever being fixed properly?
The car really has not been right from 2 months after I bought it, it doesnt get a hard life and I cannot believe this keeps happening.
I have had to take so much time off work to try and get this sorted and it is really starting to annoy me!
I have written to Landrover when pump 3 went wrong and they offered me a free service (big deal!)
So has anyone got any suggestions as to why they might think 4 pumps would fail?
Does anyone know leagally if I qualify for more compensation than a free service?
Click to expand...

Hey!!!!!! come on fella, stop the bitching, you've got a good hippo there if your only problem is a constantly failing steering pump, think your self lucky mate. :D :D
 
I'm no legal expert, but I believe a warranty runs from the date of a contract, i.e when you paid for something.
 
I'd be interested to hear how you're getting on with this. I have an 08 FL 2 2.2 HSE TD4 and having just crossed the 1000 miles mark my power steering pump gave up the ghost last night. Sounds like this may be something to get used to...
 
Jodiefree2

The manufacturers warranty is 3 years. Any work carried out in this time has a 1 year warranty, or until the end of the manufacturers warranty expires. Which ever is longer.

As for complete rejection, that’s a difficult scenario. The length of time you’ve had the vehicle goes against you, as you’ve had more than enough time to reject the car, whilst pump 1 and 2 were failing. The better option for you is to go for a partial rejection. This is monetary compensation for the difference in what you bargained for when buying the car, “a working hippo” v what you’ve actually got, “an unhappy hippo”. Less than 5k value and this can go through the small claims court. Be aware you can loose, and have to pay costs. They have the option to counter claim against you, or fight the action.

Write to your dealer first, briefly outlining the problems and set them a reasonable time limit on what you want them to do. Warn them that if they don’t carry out your wish, then you are prepared to tale this further. Be polite. Keep it factual. Don’t though in “not fair because…” and “I think…” Be precise and straight to the point. Don’t explain the law to them. Tell them as above. What you want and a time limit.

Any legal action you take as a buyer is against the seller, not the manufacturer. You can’t sue the manufacturer over a warranty, as there is no contract in place. This has never been done with a car manufacturer in the UK.

This is not definitive legal advice. You should pay for proper legal advise on your won circumstances. I would suggest to save wasting time you get legal advice prior to going further. If the dealer rolls over and sorts the problem out without hassle, then your lucky. Failing that the litigation route is VERY stressful.

Consumer rights : Directgov - Government, citizens and rights
 
As a moral support I want to share to the owners of FL2's the news I heard today via-via. According to people knowing very well the different qualities of the whole LR range (people working close to the source for all LR's in Belgium....;) ) the new FL2 is an even better drive than the RR Sport, so ..... if this steering problem can be fixed you will have the equivalent of the real big RR but in a slightly smaller version.:)
 
sorry for your trouble peeps, but I've never liked the FL2.
LR had lots to answer for regarding the FL1.
It was an 8 year business plan, very successful in terms of mass sales, sadly not so successful in design and reliability.

I hate to say it folks but its looking like the FL2 is just another rolling business plan.

If LR are going to do the decent thing, a re-design of the pump and full recall.
 
Its not the pump thats at fault, its the reservior. Theres a filter inside that blocks and cause poor fluid flow through the system. Your dealer should know this as there is a bulliten for it. The pump failed due to lack of lubrication and replacing this alone will only be a temporary fix and will not solve the route cause, get them to replace the reservoir and give them a bollocking for not keeping up to date with the technical bullitens. Bloody halfwits!

With constantly failing pumps due to a reservoir fault there is probably swarf and crap in the system now and this will need to be flushed through. If they had done the reservoir to start with, you wouldn't be having all this ****.
 
Hi All

Just 9500 miles on the clock of my HST freelander and the power steering pump has gone, the dealer T H White has been superb today, great advice and assistance, but unfortunately the Landrover Assistance has been a little less than perfect, the delaer they sent our were just a recovery agent with no idea of even how to start my landy let alone know it was a problem. He turned up with a trailer with no lights an hour late to tow my landy to the dealer and didnt know where the dealer was. I wasnt prepared to let him take it so i will drive it tomorrow, i wonder how this will pan out reading others experiences?:crutch:
 
Blippie said:
Actually Willo, it's not that smaller ... In fact, it's wider than the RR Sport!

Cheers

Blippie
Click to expand...

Reminds me the first time I went to a non-official LR mechanic who started with it's own Defender a couple of years back. As he's a real petrolhead about LR's he started to buy some old Def's and Disco's and began to restore these and sold them afterwards. So little by little he started also to accept to do maintenance on LR's. Thus when I went there some years back it was his first Freelander he got in, first thing he said was to hold it for a while as he had to adjust the width of his lifting bridge, anyway after having said that he gave me the go ahead and try it first, to his surprise the width was the same as the Defender and the Discovery. (1 or 2 cms possible difference but not more).:p
 
Hi. I have an 08 HST 2.2d which had the same problem. I am a vehicle engineer and have looked into the cause of the pump failure and it would appear that the faults stems from the filter which is part and parcel of the the fluid resevoir. After a time this restricts the supply of fluid to the pump and causes the pump first to whine and ultimately to fail. The resevior must therefore be replaced with the pump. Mine had started to whine and after a fight with my dealer was eventually replaced. I suggested that the rack should be replaced at the same time as debris could have been the cause of the filter blockage, which in turn would result in further damage to the pump and rack, however this was poo pood. After approx 2 months I have a slight knocking from the rack when cold, so surprise surprise the dealer is now fitting a new rack!

Hope this helps.
 
it is a shame dealers employ fitters, not mechanics, a good mechanic would know that on a vehicle so new with blocked filters, the complete system needs flushing.
 
freelance said:
it is a shame dealers employ fitters, not mechanics, a good mechanic would know that on a vehicle so new with blocked filters, the complete system needs flushing.
Click to expand...


Why is the filter get block so quickly.Is there any excessive wear accuring in the steering rack?Then the cause should be rectify not by just changing the reservoir so frequent.
 
Hi,
I was looking under the bonnet of my friends March,2007, diesel, Freelander 2 and i noticed that a rubber section of the power steering hose that passes close to the os inner wing (some sections of the same pipe are in alloy) and runs continuously from the pump to the steering rack appeared to be collapsed flat and looked to me to have been 'sucked in', the opposing walls were in contact with each other..........Please can someone confirm, or otherwise, that its not meant to be like this?

The power steering seems to work fine.

Many thanks.
John

Edit............just had a thought............ my friends car is a left hand drive so i would imagine that the ps hoses are of a different design/length than a UK Freelander and the problem i describe wouldnt be a common one on right hand drive freelanders.........?
 
Last edited:
Have a 58 FL2 on its 3rd resevoir which alledgedy is the issue as the filter blocks and starves the pump, hence the noise. I have the original pump but 3 resevoirs. My business partner has a FL2 identical to mine (both 2.2 HST) and has had no issues. There are plenty of these issues if you google the problem. But don;t let it drop.
 
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