Camshaft plug blew off. after timing belt work.

Hi forum!

I love my red 2003 3dr Freelander.

I just had my timingbelts & drive belts replaced by the dealer. After picking her up, she went back 3 more times to silence some new belt-squealing noises and a pulley. Was not making noises before this expensive work. The car only has 70k miles. I drove the car for a month seemed fine - but a few extra noises arose. A tick noise almost a ping that has got louder in the past weeks in a 1/2 second interval.

My camshaft plug just blew off and spilled oil EVERYWHERE. Luckily I found it before driving far distance without oil. I have an appointment on monday and I am really helping you guys can tell me what the dealership needs to evaluate because they dont seem to know much about this car. Well, cars in general =(

Here is what I have found:

"Yes they will need to hook up a pressure gauge to see whats happening definately sounds like back pressure blowing out the block
the cam belt must be changed every 72k miles"

Any extra info will be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out the visionx LED lights I installed to lightup the ocean for night kitesurfing:







These lights are used by nasa on spacevehicles. I'm about to drive 3500 miles. I see this car as a classic I want to keep for 20 years. Please help me get the dealer on the right track!!!

which injun do you have ?

i'm not sure if there are multiple engines for the 3dr se3.
v6. automatic. touchshift. when i'm goin downhill its kinda fast....
haha...

EDIT: optimus, this joke actually reminded me of another symptom which could totally be unrelated to the post, but i wanted to ask: When i'm driving downhill the car feels to be slowing itself down as if I needed some wd-40 in my skateboard's bearings. when i switch into neutral the car coasts downhill. maybe all cars do this but it feels excessive. I get very bad gas mileage lately.

this is the exact car i have: http://www.forbes.com/2003/02/24/cx_0224feat.html

Oh dear, the V6 Head Gasket gremlins strike again. I think you've got more than one problem, though. Was the car holding back as much before? Could be something a tooth or two out of line when setting up the timing as well as the back pressure. If you know about timing you'll realise that if it's out of synch it'll be pressurising at the wrong time and that has to go somewhere. Oh, and the noises were probably due to the tensioner being over adjusted straining the belt and putting undue strain on everything. Needs looked at sooner rather than later. Start with a compression check and maybe even have them re-check the tdc settings. Which part of the world are you in? - The car next to you in pic 1 is lhd.

hippolover said:

Oh dear, Which part of the world are you in? -

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hippolover said:

The wipers appear to be for LHD. V6's were aimed at USA.

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Bad idea to coast in neutral in an auto. My cam shaft oil covers fell off too after I changed the belts. Easy to damage them even when tapping them in with a soft hammer. Main belt tensioner has an auto tension pin sticking out, which should set the tension ok if fitted ok. If the belt were fitted one tooth out, you would know when first starting her up. I have experience of this when a stone went round the rear bank on mine. One tooth out sounded like marbles in the engine.

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully after the appointment tomorrow she will be running perfectly again. Car was fine before I had this work done =(

Which part of the world are you in? - Seattle, WA - USA. Will be driving 3500 miles from Seattle to Miami this Thursday, to conclude an 18month business trip for the cruiselines. I bought the car in Miami with 49k miles on it - 2 years ago with cash I received from an interview on GoodMorning America.

Oh dear, the V6 Head Gasket gremlins strike again - What action do I need to take? What makes you say this, the camshaft plug?

Bad idea to coast in neutral in an auto. Got bad mileage and felt engine resistance so I wanted to try it once to confirm it wasn't some kind of weird axle issue. I have an addictive personality but it wasn't really that great. I mean yea it turned me on, but I think they sell patches and gum that can help me fight the urge to neutralcoast! :5bcheers2:

Was the car holding back as much before? It kinda has felt like this since I bought 'er.

One tooth out sounded like marbles in the engine. I want to record how mine sounds and post......I think this could be the case. If I take off the timingbelt plastic case can I check this? or should I leave it to the dealer? I dont fully trust them, they've already spent a lot of time to break my car and I think they're trying to just not have to talk to me anymore
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Right now I will say this to the dealer please let me know if I need to add somethings for them to check. I've already asked them to have a different mechanic work on the car this time. The first mechanic was a young newb it seemed:

My camshaft plug blew off from back pressure we need a compression check (of what?) and we need to re-check the tdc settings (is this to confirm the belt teeth are correct?) A friend tells me these new nasty engine noises are probably due to the tensioner (is there more than 1 tensioner?) being over adjusted straining the belt and putting strain on everything.

The petrol engine Freelanders were prone to head gasket failure and the V6 was no exception. Cylinder compression needs checked to see if there is a drop anywhere between all six. If it is pressurising into the oilways the 'blow off' caps will go. They are there to relieve excess pressure when the breathers can't cope. It is annoyingly common for people to over adjust even an automatic tensioner in some cases although admittedly a spring loaded one on a fixed bracket not so (I remember this happened on a Cosworth engine I had before which was a manual tensioner and it hummed). Something's not right in any case and by the sounds of things needs put right within a few days. Only thing about looking at it yourself is they might accuse you of fiddling with it and negate any claim, better to insist on seeing them take it off then have a look.

they said the clicking noise was a loose sparkplug coil. I did break a coil when i replaced them. Not surprising that I wouldn't have tightened the bolts in same process. they're claiming the car checks out but I dont think they checked pressure in cylinders....nor adjusted any belts.

I'm supposed to go get the car in 2 hours because it's ready. but the sparkplug is the only thing they did....

Get them to sign a declaration saying it's all in order then you have a claim if it isn't. Not much else you can do before the trip you're taking. Doesn't account for the cap coming off though.

hey im new to the thred, my landrover freelander has this problem, runs like a champ. but the damn caps on both camshafts keep poping off and ois is spraying everywhere!!! can anyone please help me!!

morris1 said:

hey im new to the thred, my landrover freelander has this problem, runs like a champ. but the damn caps on both camshafts keep poping off and ois is spraying everywhere!!! can anyone please help me!!

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You need to fit some new caps. Make sure the camshaft end is clean of all oil, and knock the new caps in square.

:welcome2:

part no LUC100150L

LUC100150L CAM SHAFT OIL SEAL | Freelander 1996>: Engine: Gaskets | shop | www.lrseries.com | L. R. Series