engine rebuild

Hi

Unfortunately my main problem is funds and the lack of them due to only being on DLA

I think after to be honest reviewing everybodies views etc I really need to do the following

By working out first and foremost what stage my engine, autobox and ird are at.

The vcu, props, brakes, tyres etc are all ok

Now if the likes of a hawkeye could then prove to me these 3 components, eng, box and ird are at this stage of wear and have the following faults I could then know what I'm dealing with and have then have a plan of action

Wonder about buying a right off that has all 3 components with around 50' on them and swap the lot out in one full swoop

But like everything a breakers warrenty isn't worth the paper its written on and could not guarantee that the components are all in full working order

Now with a write off everything was still able to be tested that would be ideal but know I would be that lucky

I actually saw a right off with the engine, box and ird unit for a grand and had 70.000 miles on the clock, my main problem would be I've got know where to store the car and no means or physically being able to get the old one out and into mine

Unless I got someone with a big trailer, strip all the parts out whilst the car is in the breakers and then see if they would give me some scrap value back when I've finished with it

Then how would I know that the 3 x components are all in sound and servicable condition

Can the entire units be taken out in one lump, has the gearbox, ird have to be stripped off first before the engine comes out

Similar freelanders that have. About 60 K on them are selling around the 3-4 K and therefore if I paid just over a grand for a write off with the initial cost of purchasing the car would still be within the relms of not loosing any money and would then have around a grand before the car starts owing me money

I appreciate that as you suggested to save my money in the mean time due to the fact the box and ird are likely to fail before the engine does, but as all 3 are of the same age just thinking if it would makes more sense to replace all 3 in one go

If I tried to buy all 3 as recon units it would stand me in at least 4 grand and that would indded even if I had the money as sheer madness , as it would just be easier to sell the car and trade it in for a newer model

In the high mileage situation my current car is in I would I imagine only get about a grand for it

I know I'm going to leave myself really open but ideas guys, am I still nuts

Gary

Not being funny here but you could always buy a cheap runabout for £400-500 in worst case scenario if your engine did indeed fail but if I were you I would just keep using your freelander as you are and just keep it well serviced.
I have a td4 on 106k miles and I have no worries about its long term reliability as whats the point?
The vcu and ird seem the bigger concerns to most people but again I am not going to worry about them unless there is a sign there is something wrong.

Modern engines are far more reliable than before plus diesel engines are designed to be run for massive mileages.
I think mileage is an overrated worry, imagine cars didn't have mileage counters, we wouldnt worry then we would just service our motors on a regular schedule and drive happy until we felt something wrong.
In big countries such as Australia and the usa 176k miles is nothing to a normal car.
I have seen landrovers over there on 350k and thats considered average!

I think you should just relax and keep enjoying your hippo and only do something if it needs it.

Personally, I do not think you are mad, but I do think that you may be backing yourself into a corner worrying about the engine when there are other items that can cause more problems. If you read through the faults survey, the engine scored very low for failures, it is more likely to be attached sensors or looms that cause problems. For cost of replacement I worry more about IRD, clutch or diff before engine. You say that you feel that your auto box may be playing up, is it a problem or you just being ultra sensitive looking for faults. Get it checked if you are not happy with it, it may be something simple.
If it gives you more confidence then change the drive chain on your current engine, get the injectors checked out, get the compression checked and if they check out ok then leave well alone for 20-30,000 miles. At a minimum keep it serviced annually, or when mileage requires it.
Buying from a breaker you have no history of how the parts have been treated or serviced, at least you have a idea of the history of yours.
I know how it is to be on a restricted budget, and with the costs of just running a car for a year, any mechanical failures hit hard, but do not try and pre-empt breakages, you cant, just enjoy the driving of it.

A Hawkeye will tell you nothing about the state of your transmission. Neither will it till you anything about wear on internal engine components.


So, if you go ahead with this and have a spare engine and maybe other parts and yours fail....how will you fit the replacement? Will you be paying a garage to do it for you?

I think you will do what you want to do regardless, but I really, really don't see your logic, especially now you are talking about laying out a thousand pounds or so to buy a write-off. Put that money aside....put it in a biscuit tin in a drawer somewhere or buy Premium Bonds or something and relax. That way...if, and I do mean IF your engine fails, you have money to repair the fault. I don't have a crystal ball either, but I would be willing to seriously bet that any failure will be an auxiliary component rather than engine internals. Ok, one guy had a snapped crank, but how often does that happen? its bloody rare, I would say - read through the TD4 threads on here and its a litany of injectors, sensors, alternators etc rather than snapped cranks, failed oil pumps or worn cylinders. Pointless to have a spare engine when a set of reconditioned injectors is most likely all you will need.

Same goes for the transmission. To be honest, rebuilding an auto box is well outside the scope of most people, and most people would shy away from rebuilding an IRD too, so if one of these fails on your car, you can just open your biscuit tin or cash out your Premium Bonds and buy a reconditioned part and have it fitted. These things can be delivered within 48 hours and if you have a good garage to fit it, you will be back on the road in a few days.

And IF you car never breaks down....all the better, leave the cash in the tin, maybe receive a few payouts on the Premium Bonds and put it towards a replacement car a few years down the line.

Hiya

The more I have been thinking about all of this I think your possibly right

That I am indeed very paranoid about the engine going etc, plus as I said I wouldn't even dream of rebuilding an auto box or ird due to not having the equipment or specialist knowledge of doing one

I feel I've got a resonable amount of brainds due to the fact of having common sense and also working as a quailified gas and oil boiler engineer in diagnosing, repair etc of very complicated syatem including the electrics

My old series land rover blew an engine up and now I'm disabled a bit paranoid I'm going to be left house bound with a failed engine and no means of getting it repaired etc

I. Know I'm not being bullied in not doing what I wish to but sound advice in trying to save me from spending out money I haven't really got into something that may not fail

I did however think that the hawkeye would tell me if faults were occuring in the autogearbox, ie solonoids etc, if my maf sensor is showing a fault and so on

After reading the info on the hawkeye and it being called a diagnostic reader that it will run a self auto test of the electronic side of abs, sensors etc and tell you via a code that possibly a particular part is not working as it should do

Like I said once or twice when I've pulled away the gear box has sort of jumped jerked into a higher gear from 1st to 2nd and only happens at lower speed and if I'm pulling away up a slight incline whilst accelerating from a standstill which seems to be one particular roundabout

If I was fit and heathy I would even have asked and done what ever, but becuase I'm disabled and abit older . Hopefully I'm a bit wiser in coming here and asking other people with more knowledge than me of what range of miles in an ideal world should components last for

If I got the ird and auto box replaced it would be at least 1500 for these 2, where as I've seen write offs with box, ird and engine for a grand

But like you guys say I'm getting paranoid and boxing myself into a corner

Its the IF word but also feel I need to somehow at least get the components all tested but there goes 100 quid plus to start, that's why I thought investing in a hawkeye would be a benifical guide

Also I even looked at the elm 327 but as mine is a pre obd2 compliant read that it won't work

Ideally if I was able to at least get a software program that would tell me what the engine is doing that would indeed give me peace of mind and fed up of shelling out dead money for a garage to plug in an analiser for 10 mins work which is defentely a rip off

When I was working I've got complicated analisers, meters etc that cost many thousands of pounds and only charged 75 pound for an hours work

I know I'm not the only one who feels like there throwing money out of the window but don't like dead money , would never ever put money into stocks shares etc, but I know you said premium bonds and they are safe unless the bank ****s the bed

I've spent days on end trying to find an affordable diagnostic machine around 300 that would at least tell me for example. Mpg, live data readings , sensor readings so I could then compare them to what the oem readings should be

I've emailed at least 25 companies asking them would there software work and just get ignored, it always seems things are set in stone, for example when a huge number of people said that the oen cruise control could not be fitted to a 2002 auto freelander including the local dealer, with me once I get my teeth into something don't give up I carried on with researching the cc, bought the parts and it all worked fine

I do appreciate all your advice and do tend to agree that maybe I am indeed getting paranoid, but just trying to prevent my freelander from breaking down by doing preventive servicing on it and that's where it all started with my engine

Even asked companies in kent etc could I plug there software into my car if I came to them but hear nothing and feel what's the point when you can't find out true 100 percent facts .

Thanks again guys

Gary
Gary

feel for your dilema Gary, and I'm not going to give an opinion either way (unless you want another one)

However, do not mess about changing the speedo for one with a lower mileage just because you have swapped the engine. This is still clocking, the rest of the vehicle has done 179000 miles. The mileage is about so much more than the engine. DVLA will frown on this a lot. So you've saved a bit of money already not buyig a speedo.

This time next year Rodney...

Hiya buddy

I do value your opinion and always open to honest answers and know you talk from experiance

Just starting to get confused about the hawkeye now

Thought that by plugging it in would show up faults etc, auto box, maf etc but by the sounds of it from previous comments it can tell you the condition or faults of your engine, gearbox etc, so just a bit confused with it being called a diagnostic machine

Also thought it may be able to tell you if all the injectors are working correctly so it gives out the readings etc then compare them with the oen readings

I know I've got a lot to learn but always had the theory you can't fix something unless you know how it works and what it should and shouldn't do

Even with buying one of these elm 327 and being told it won't work as mines a 2002 td4 so that's pointless buying one of them

I thought there would be something on the market apart from the garage analisers that cost thousands out there and thought the hawkeye would tell you how the engine is running

Defentely now getting more and more confused by the minute

Just trying to establish what state my engine, box and ird are in

But by the sounds of it unless I get it put ontoa full dyno etc I won't know

Common sense tells me that an engine, box and ird that has covered the high mileage mine has its that it is worn , to which degree I can't seem to know

As if I can establish of what stage its at it like having a crystal ball

That's why because I thought what's the point of buying a dianostic machine if it cannot tell me if parts are not working as they should, I know it won't tell me how carboned my cyl head is etc.

That's why I thought about getting a write off with all 3 components only having around 50k on them, carry on using my car and in the mean time checking the engine etc and ready to get someone to drop it in my car and therefore minimising the risk of failure

Thks again

Gary

The Mad Hat Man said:

KV6 is almost as bad.

Click to expand...

Complete rubbish!! The KV6 was Rover's "most!!" reliable engine It's the bits bolted to it and ignorant owners that cause it's problems!!

Any diagnostic device can only tell you what is already broken/incorrectly operating.. Not whether it might be about to break.

As for getting and rebuilding a good one just in case might not be a bad idea in theory but in practice it's not the best plan imho. You would be better putting the money a new engine is going to cost into a bank account and add too it just in case you suddenly need it!! Better to do that than have hundreds of pounds tied up in a decreasing asset in the shed

Redhand, thank you for a straight answer as that is what I always thought, so therfore if the solonoids on my autobox arnt working correctly the hawkeye should therfore tell me

The same way if the mar sensor isn't working correclty of faulty it should again tell me

I think at the end of the day with this post getting more and more confusing by the minute for me to go away and try and decifer what is and isn't sound advice and either to go ahead or not with my plans

I'm the sort of person who respects peoples opinions but like evry opinion doesn't always make it right

Thks so much again guys but think I will sit down and see what's the best way forward and looking into all options I have, be it buying a write off and swapping all 3 components or starting with a hawkeye

But know I won't be changing the speedo , as that does indeed sound a bit to dodgy for my liking

Gary

Perhaps simplifying things too much, but Hawkeye talks to the engine or auto box ECU and interprets the data coming from the sensors. Some sensors may just be on/off others are variable giving a range of voltage or resistance depending on circumstances. This is all nice and gadgety, but if you dont know what you are looking at, its not a lot of use. Granted it will read stored fault codes, which you can look up online to find what its really about and perhaps find how other people have fixed it, but knowing what the readings from each sensor mean takes experience.
I have no diagnostic stuff, so am at the mercy of the nearest garage with the correct equipment, which is a 40 minute drive away and he asks 50Euros just to plug the thing in. Watching him at work, he flicks through the live data readings for air flow, fuel pressure, injector flow rates etc etc, and the knowledge and experience he has built up over the years means he can add all this together to get a picture of how the engine is performing. I simply dont have that experience, so have to use his services.
Yes, he can spot that perhaps a fuel pump is not performing well and should maybe be changed before it fails, but the machine can not spot wear in bearings, poor oil flow to the lifters, slack in the cam chain, play in IRD output shaft, cylinder compression and so on. Neither can it tell if the cam sensor is going to fail 3 days later....

If a Hawkeye was under £100 I would buy one straight off, but £300 is a bit rich for my liking, given my lack of experience using one and especially as its only useful on one type of car. I wont be keeping this Freelander forever, and certainly will not be buying another as a replacement.