Hi all, This is my first post to the Landy forum, so any advice you can give me would be well received. Anyway i have bought myself a 99 Freelander 3dr XEI only 2 weeks ago, and yes i know, before you all start saying i've ruined my life etc etc by buying a rubbish 4x4 i have to say im fully aware of how bad the freelander is compared to its other counterparts. lol. I've just been travelling around Australia in an old 1982 toyota hiace camper, so in hindsight, the freelander is a dream to drive in comparison to the old column shifting hi-ace with 4 gears. The hi-ace needed some work on it as per usual, but it had just undergone a complete restoration, having been resprayed, retrimmed, and having LPG fitted. I still took the time to service it as the mechanicals had been addressed due to the previous guy not quite finishing off the project and needing to leave OZ early. Anyway to cut a long story short i had to change the clutch as it was on its way out and i didnt want it packing up on me somewher in the outback. 2 days later and i had managed to change the clutch with it parked in a car park, and only using a jack to drop the gearbox out from under the vehicle with little room to spare. It all went together about as easy as it came apart and i didnt have any problems for the rest of the trip (beside the slightly mashed synchro from the warn clutch making it hard to shift sometimes) Anyway enough of that vehicle as its not a landy and now im back in the UK.
So why on earth a freelander? Well i used to own a suzuki vitara, and i need to tow things from time to time, so i was looking for a replacement 4x4 ideally, also to have a bit of fun in the green lanes too. Having read the reviews of the freelander and seeing that they have terrible problems with head gaskets and the like it seemed the perfect car for me. WHAT? well my logic is that as i dont have much cash to spend on a decent 4x4 the early freelanders are in my price range and any faults should be pretty 'easy' to fix. I say easy, but i mean if i can change a clutch them most repairs should be do-able. Plus the faults of the car scare aware lots of potential buyers.
Right so i found a gem of a Freelander up in Andover (i live in devon so anything towards london is up for me). £1600 3dr in black, 2" suspension lift, semi offroad tyres, full winch kit, hella and fog spots on the front, roof rack, a pile of spares and a CB radio fitted inside, clean inside and out and barely a scratch on it. Its had a good service history too, and the last chap owned it for 7 years. His wife drove it mostly and he used it offroad. The head gasket had been replaced for the newer metal/reinforced type before it had a chance to blow. Its had a new clutch from the TD4 version and a heap of other receipts.
So onto the problems, which arnt too many to be honest but i need a bit of advice if possible.
I've replaced the 2 ball joints on the front lower arms; which went ok although a bit of hard work to get the old joints out and drilling out the metal rivets to put in the new ones. Having had the wheel off and the body plating removed from under the engine i can see that the inner CV joint needs sorting out. It seems its been noted as an advisory item on the last MOT, but the CV boot is absolutley shredded and the joint gives a slight oscillation when driving. So the Haynes manual says it needs replacing. Now im guessing that having a 2" lift on the car changes the angle on all the joints/drive shafts which leads to increased wear and hence why its failed now. So thats next on my list to get sorted. It seems i can buy a new driveshaft for about £48 ex vat over at landrover parts .com which is made by 'all makes 4x4'. Does anyone have any experience with these aftermarket parts? Its definately alot cheaper than the genuine parts at £330 each!! And compared to the time/cost of rebuilding the inner CV a whole drive shaft seems like a good option.
Next on the job list after this is a problem with my rear tailgate, and from what i've read theres a lot of problems people are having but i dont think i've read one to do with my specific problem. When i open the rear door the glass doesnt drop low enough for the door to open. I assumed firstly that it maybe a sticky seal around the glass, but having lubed it up with a bit of fairy liquid it doesnt seem to be so. The glass goes up and down fine using the switch at the front. I took the innner trim panel off and it seems like there maybe some slack on the wire that pulls the glass down. Is this a common problem? does the wire stretch over time? It would seem that on ebay i can get a new wire kit on ebay for around £30. Anyone else had this problem, or is it fixable with recalibrating the window position as i've read on here. The door locks work fine and the glass moves back up into position when closed, but i need to physically push the glass down to open the door.
Anyway those are my main things to sort out at the moment, i've got to pop down to plymouth to get a trolley jack and an impact wrench to be able to work on those front drive shafts. Are theyre any other tools i need do you think? The main dealers use a special tool for yanking out the driveshafts, but im guessing that as theyre being replaced i can just pull them out even it it damages the joints as theyre destined for the bin anyway.
Any advice would be well received. Thanks.
(sorry for the esay by the way, but i was trying to give a bit of history and my level of expertise.)
So why on earth a freelander? Well i used to own a suzuki vitara, and i need to tow things from time to time, so i was looking for a replacement 4x4 ideally, also to have a bit of fun in the green lanes too. Having read the reviews of the freelander and seeing that they have terrible problems with head gaskets and the like it seemed the perfect car for me. WHAT? well my logic is that as i dont have much cash to spend on a decent 4x4 the early freelanders are in my price range and any faults should be pretty 'easy' to fix. I say easy, but i mean if i can change a clutch them most repairs should be do-able. Plus the faults of the car scare aware lots of potential buyers.
Right so i found a gem of a Freelander up in Andover (i live in devon so anything towards london is up for me). £1600 3dr in black, 2" suspension lift, semi offroad tyres, full winch kit, hella and fog spots on the front, roof rack, a pile of spares and a CB radio fitted inside, clean inside and out and barely a scratch on it. Its had a good service history too, and the last chap owned it for 7 years. His wife drove it mostly and he used it offroad. The head gasket had been replaced for the newer metal/reinforced type before it had a chance to blow. Its had a new clutch from the TD4 version and a heap of other receipts.
So onto the problems, which arnt too many to be honest but i need a bit of advice if possible.
I've replaced the 2 ball joints on the front lower arms; which went ok although a bit of hard work to get the old joints out and drilling out the metal rivets to put in the new ones. Having had the wheel off and the body plating removed from under the engine i can see that the inner CV joint needs sorting out. It seems its been noted as an advisory item on the last MOT, but the CV boot is absolutley shredded and the joint gives a slight oscillation when driving. So the Haynes manual says it needs replacing. Now im guessing that having a 2" lift on the car changes the angle on all the joints/drive shafts which leads to increased wear and hence why its failed now. So thats next on my list to get sorted. It seems i can buy a new driveshaft for about £48 ex vat over at landrover parts .com which is made by 'all makes 4x4'. Does anyone have any experience with these aftermarket parts? Its definately alot cheaper than the genuine parts at £330 each!! And compared to the time/cost of rebuilding the inner CV a whole drive shaft seems like a good option.
Next on the job list after this is a problem with my rear tailgate, and from what i've read theres a lot of problems people are having but i dont think i've read one to do with my specific problem. When i open the rear door the glass doesnt drop low enough for the door to open. I assumed firstly that it maybe a sticky seal around the glass, but having lubed it up with a bit of fairy liquid it doesnt seem to be so. The glass goes up and down fine using the switch at the front. I took the innner trim panel off and it seems like there maybe some slack on the wire that pulls the glass down. Is this a common problem? does the wire stretch over time? It would seem that on ebay i can get a new wire kit on ebay for around £30. Anyone else had this problem, or is it fixable with recalibrating the window position as i've read on here. The door locks work fine and the glass moves back up into position when closed, but i need to physically push the glass down to open the door.
Anyway those are my main things to sort out at the moment, i've got to pop down to plymouth to get a trolley jack and an impact wrench to be able to work on those front drive shafts. Are theyre any other tools i need do you think? The main dealers use a special tool for yanking out the driveshafts, but im guessing that as theyre being replaced i can just pull them out even it it damages the joints as theyre destined for the bin anyway.
Any advice would be well received. Thanks.
(sorry for the esay by the way, but i was trying to give a bit of history and my level of expertise.)
