Morning.
In many ways I'm the last person to ask for advice on the L Series - cos my one, like lots of them, just keeps going and going and never develops any faults to give buying advice from
Its 15 years old now and is only just displaying Landie traits and will occasionally drop a spot of oil on the drive. So I suppose as with all engines check for any non-minor oil leaks. The L Series has a quite small range between 'Low' and 'Full' on the dip stick and I never top up between services. The undertray on the Freelander makes it a bit difficult to check for oil leaks - you may need to take it off to get a good look. Its a learning curve getting it off the first time - bolts at front and back - but the one on that car should go back on OK cos its got no overrider on the front (mine has and the undertray is leaning up against the fence at the mo!
Check for history of the belts being changed - they should have been by 100K miles. In many ways it may be best to not have any history and you can get the price down to cover getting them replaced. There are 3 that need doing - the Aux (Fan) belt, Timing belt and Fuel Pump belt - if its been 'done' make sure all 3 were done. If there's any question about them being done, or the quality of belts - get them done yourself - its expensive if they go.
If you're used to petrol engines and its cold when you start it and it sounds like a tractor with a bag of bolts bouncing around the cylinders - its a good one
Actually, I should say don't be put off rather than its a good one - suffice to say they do sound agricultural when cold. Similarly, if you test drive and its acceleration from rest is alarmingly slow, don't be put off - they are not speed freaks - but they will pull comparatively huge weights. Once moving though the car should perform 'well' you should feel the additional power as the turbo joins the effort to move the car as it approaches 2K revs. You should not hear a peep out of the turbo - no whining or whistling. The car's idle should be dead level, and not iratic/hunting, regardless of cold or warm.
You should check for smoke from the exhaust. If there's a small puff on start up, I wouldn't be too concerned - anything more should be questioned. Under normal driving you should not see any smoke. With mine, if I drive it like I stole it (I do sometimes like to see if I can keep up with playful Caterham 7s and Holden V8s I happen across (I always fail of course)), if I have my foot to the floor and delay changing gears so the revs go right up, the car will kick out a huge plume of black smoke. I'm not sure if this is 'normal' - but I know under normal driving conditions the engine performs great and I get a slitherin under 40MPG on the run and a slitherin under 35MPG around town (NZ traffic congestion not UK!). Some get a few clicks over 40MPG on a run. My car has traveled almost the same 100K miles.
So I have no great 'technical buying advice' - just check for oil leaks, smoke, idle and decent performance on the move. If all 'seams good', it probably is, but if the belts aren't maintained it will turn to custard in the blink of an eye.
As the regulars on here know, I love my L Series, I think its a great engine, I have complete confidence in it. its very economical and apart from initial acceleration from rest it performs great - regardless of whether its just me in the car or the family with the boat & camping gear being towed. If you look after them with decent servicing, and don't try and race too many Caterham 7s, they should give a long life and lots of miles.
The 'PG1' gearbox they come with is slightly uprated for the heavier/torcheyer Freelander/L Series I believe and is 'decent'. Its not a racecar slick change but should be reasonable. Reverse can be a little hesitant to engage sometimes, but there are very few reports of experienced problems on the forum. The clutch is probably the same, OK for the job and should give a reasonable life - previso it hasn't been used for a lot of heavy towing by someone who overly works the clutch.
The only other thing I'd say to be 'anal' about checking on the Freelander is the transmission as BB has said. If you can do the 1 wheel up test when evaluating the car - its worth doing. If you can't, or as well as, check that all 4 tyres are the same make model, on your test drive pop into a petrol station and check the tyre pressures are all the same and after the test drive feel the VCU - if its cold or hot, that's signs of probems, if its warm thats an indication all is OK. Similarly reverse it in full lock and check there's no feeling of wind up.
As far as rust goes, the Freelanders are pretty good and don't appear to suffer much. If there is a 'hotspot' emerging it appears to be behind the plastic trim at the bottom leading edge of the rear wheel arches.
Sunroofs failing is standard and usually not repaired. Other things such as windows not winding are to be expected - whether they've already gone, go tomorrow or last another 10 years is a flip of a coin. TBH if the engine/transmission is OK, so long as the list of 'other faults' isn't too big, they're almost irrelevant as they're generally not too expensive to fix and can go wrong anyway. Some Freelanders give continual problems, others are boringly reliable - luck of the draw I suppose.
Good luck. The Freelander's a great package as a family car or 'truck'. The 4WD system is great off road - so long as big ground clearance and a low range box aren't needed - the Freelander is all about traction. Combined with the L Series - its awesome
