Bouncing in first second and third

Hi all. Bought a Freelander 1 as my first car on Sunday. '03 with 67k on the clock - £1400. Was pretty happy since it's great fun - life's too short for boring cars. I've read the first time owners sticky, VCU seems all good. Will be watching the tyre pressure weekly.

Got a few issues though.... She likes to bounce back and forth. Usually in first or second, today started happening in third. Clutch is fully up, happens sometimes without any gas, sometimes with gas. Doesn't happen if I'm really revving it though. But for an example, I can be in traffic - first gear, letting it just roll with the clutch up. Starts bouncing back and forth very rhythmically. A dancing hippo. Asked someone in Halfords, they said the clutch is slipping.

Which brings me onto the second point - funky smell coming from the vents, gives me a headache after a while. Stopped using them, just rolling around with the windows down to demist. I'm guessing this might be fumes from the clutch?

Last point, she makes a squeal when she starts from cold. Cam belt or water pump maybe?

Wanted a cheap car for a year - which is the amount of MOT it has. Thing is, I've quickly grown fond of the hippo. I didn't want to spend any money on it, and was planning to sell if issues arose. But considering that the VCU seems to be in good shape, it seems like it could be worth getting some work done on it.

Anyway, be great to hear your thoughts. Thanks.

Welcome to the forum and Freelander ownership.

What engine does it have?

I haven't a clue as to what you mean by "bounce back and forth" - do you mean the whole car? I presume its not going forwards and backwards

Is it just the gearstick?, maybe the lower tie bar.

Do you mean when accelerating (or possibly even when at a constant speed) it is losing acceleration/speed? What do the revs do when it loses acceleration - if they climb then the clutch is slipping, if they don't then the engine is losing power. If the clutch is slipping it may be a worn clutch or, if its the 1.8 K Series petrol, the release arm (the bit that goes from the slave through the bell housing may be sticking/siezing - you can drop a few drips of oil on it where it goes into the bell housing to try and free it up - if its been like that for a while though, that in itself may have worn the clutch as well by it slipping.

GrumpyGel said:

Welcome to the forum and Freelander ownership.

What engine does it have?

I haven't a clue as to what you mean by "bounce back and forth" - do you mean the whole car? I presume its not going forwards and backwards

Is it just the gearstick?, maybe the lower tie bar.

Do you mean when accelerating (or possibly even when at a constant speed) it is losing acceleration/speed? What do the revs do when it loses acceleration - if they climb then the clutch is slipping, if they don't then the engine is losing power. If the clutch is slipping it may be a worn clutch or, if its the 1.8 K Series petrol, the release arm (the bit that goes from the slave through the bell housing may be sticking/siezing - you can drop a few drips of oil on it where it goes into the bell housing to try and free it up - if its been like that for a while though, that in itself may have worn the clutch as well by it slipping.

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It's the 1.8 k series. It keeps going forwards, just like the brake is being pressed and released quickly. Haven't watched the revs, although when it's idling it doesn't hold a steady rpm, when idling it seems to rhythmically rev every few seconds, the tachometer goes from around 850 to 1200. Sometimes the lights fade momentarily, like it's losing power.

Where is the bell housing? Is it a pretty easy job? I have zero mechanical experience beyond bicycles.

The unsteady idle might be a dirty idle control valve - I've never had to clean one and don't know where it is on the K - if you do a search on here you should find help on that.

It may help you're bouncing problem. If the revs go up when the car is accelerating and down when its not, then the clutch is OK.

Given the symptoms ion your last post, someone may be able to help further.

The bell housing joins the gearbox to the engine. The clutch slave cylinder is clipped to a bracket on the top/front of the gearbox and it pushes the clutch release arm - this goes through the bell housing and disengages the clutch - a couple of drips of oil where it goes through the bell housing is a good item of general maintenance on K & L Series engined Freelanders.

GrumpyGel said:

The unsteady idle might be a dirty idle control valve - I've never had to clean one and don't know where it is on the K - if you do a search on here you should find help on that.

It may help you're bouncing problem. If the revs go up when the car is accelerating and down when its not, then the clutch is OK.

Given the symptoms ion your last post, someone may be able to help further.

The bell housing joins the gearbox to the engine. The clutch slave cylinder is clipped to a bracket on the top/front of the gearbox and it pushes the clutch release arm - this goes through the bell housing and disengages the clutch - a couple of drips of oil where it goes through the bell housing is a good item of general maintenance on K & L Series engined Freelanders.

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Is it basically doing this?

Fubar123 said:

Is it basically doing this?

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Yeh, will look different on Freelander as the hydraulics are plastic.

I don't think WD40 is a good substance to use though - its not a lubricant, just drip some oil on it.

Think you may need to remove the air box (where the air filter is) to get good access - maybe not, I can't recall.

Just had a look under the bonnet, looks like the air box needs to be removed as you said. Will wait until the weekend as it's getting late.

Noticed a couple of other things while I was there. Appeared to be a small amount of coolant leaking from the cap, could hear a quiet hissing/bubbling from it (engine has been off for 3 hours) Tightened the cap as much as possible - it wasn't particularly tight. Coolant level is at minimum line so need to top that up.

Also, this: <blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="AED7oq6"><a href="">View post on imgur.com</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Don't know what this is - it's right at the front by the battery. The two sections weren't properly aligned, so I popped them back into place. They didn't form a proper seal mind you.

Fubar123 said:

Just had a look under the bonnet, looks like the air box needs to be removed as you said. Will wait until the weekend as it's getting late.

Noticed a couple of other things while I was there. Appeared to be a small amount of coolant leaking from the cap, could hear a quiet hissing/bubbling from it (engine has been off for 3 hours) Tightened the cap as much as possible - it wasn't particularly tight. Coolant level is at minimum line so need to top that up.

Also, this:

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="AED7oq6"><a href="">View post on imgur.com</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Don't know what this is - it's right at the front by the battery. The two sections weren't properly aligned, so I popped them back into place. They didn't form a proper seal mind you.

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Have another look at the coolant bottle, if there is cracking/crazing at the top around the 'neck' that's a common fault allowing coolant to escape and not hold pressure - the bottle should be replaced. It is very important for the K Series engine to have its coolant system pressurised properly and no leaks. It is an engine that will suffer head gasket failure if coolant goes low and will boil over if not pressurised (that's like most modern cars I think).

I would not think that it was leaking coolant or air 3 hours after the engine was turned off - I would think the only possibility is the engine/coolant cooling down and contracting. That would suck air back into the system and would be expected I should think - others may confirm.

I would think those 2 pieces not being connected is not a serious problem. They are before the MAF and air filter so won't affect anything unless you want to go wading in water - water would be sucked into the engine at a shallower depth.

Ok will take a look at the coolant bottle after work. Thanks for all your help with this mate, much appreciated

GrumpyGel said:

Have another look at the coolant bottle, if there is cracking/crazing at the top around the 'neck' that's a common fault allowing coolant to escape and not hold pressure - the bottle should be replaced. It is very important for the K Series engine to have its coolant system pressurised properly and no leaks. It is an engine that will suffer head gasket failure if coolant goes low and will boil over if not pressurised (that's like most modern cars I think).

I would not think that it was leaking coolant or air 3 hours after the engine was turned off - I would think the only possibility is the engine/coolant cooling down and contracting. That would suck air back into the system and would be expected I should think - others may confirm.

I would think those 2 pieces not being connected is not a serious problem. They are before the MAF and air filter so won't affect anything unless you want to go wading in water - water would be sucked into the engine at a shallower depth.

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Took a look today - just as you suspected, there are hairline cracks around the top. Only found them after removing the sticker. Don't suppose I can seal it with some gorilla tape or something?

Also, the front tyres do not match. One is a 195R15C BPR 106/104R the other is a 195/80R15 96S. I took it for a 15 minute drive, got underneath and felt the VCU. It wasn't hot at least... Since the tyres have a bit of wear on them, I'm guessing I'd have to change all four so they're all even. Either that or turn it into a 2 wheel drive.

While I was under there, I noticed this, that rusted bit of metal going through the bottom isn't attached to anything else.... Doesn't seem to be doing anything

It isupposed to be attatched to your exaust. It will help stop it banging around and damaging it.

anydrive said:

It isupposed to be attatched to your exaust. It will help stop it banging around and damaging it.

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That makes sense - last MOT report mentioned exhaust mounting defective Central & exhaust mounting defective rear (both rear mounts).

There's zip tyres on the rear one...

Tried that myself in the past, for emergency use only. It wont last long; you do need to do somthing about both of those exaust hangers.

Fubar123 said:

Don't suppose I can seal it with some gorilla tape or something?

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Replace it. The tank with a new cap is like £13 on Ebay. It's not worth messing with for that little amount of money.

Like Nodge says, replace the coolant tank and lid, they're cheap
The exhaust mount can be welded back on if you have a mate with a welder.
The idle control valve has a pipe going to it from the throttle body. Pull it off the throttle body and squirt a little WD40 or such down the pipe with the engine not running, and again with it running.
This might fix the bouncing issue but I had a similar fault on a K series Freelander and it was caused by a poor quality clutch being fitted before I bought the car.