Freelander 2 (LR2) Freelander 2 diesel starting on 3 cylinders, now running properly, after cylinder head change.

Ok, so I've gone and bought a Freelander 2 diesel 2.2 160BHP diesel with a misfire.

I'm after any thoughts on the cause of the misfire.

I've not gone to collect the car yet, but apparently it drives but is misfiring.

So my thoughts are these.

It's suffered swirl flap failure, bits of which have been ingested by the engine, causing damage to valves, pistons and the like.

Or its a faulty injector, given the misfire.

Your thoughts below please.

 

Must admit swirl came to my mind.
Think they were fitted on an 2008.
Hopefully it will be a simple fix.

 

Swirl flaps were fitted until 2011, at which point they were simply not fitted to the inlet manifold.

If it turns out that it's a swirl flap issue, then obviously what's left will be removed and the holes blanked, or I'll just fit the later manifold. Obviously any engine damage will need rectification before I can start to use the car.

On a slightly different subject.

I've sorted the insurance, which amazingly is £100 less PA than my current TD4 SE for better cover, and the tax is less too at just £305, which makes no sense to me at all.

 

HI John.
So you have found one in the end, albeit needing some work, what year is it, also could it be something as simple as the crankshaft position sensor, these can give the symptoms you describe and can be intermittent, and often don't show a fault code, let not forget the fuel filter, It is possible that your fuel filter could be contaminated and for the cost of replacing that it's worth a try (don't worry so much about non original filters as they are all of a decent standard nowadays, check any of the intercooler hoses turbo hose, you may know more once you have it in your hands so to speak.

 

Another vote for a fuel filter, could be a good cheap fix, cross fingers.

 

I did Arctic. I wasn't really in the position to spend a more than a few £k on a FL2, especially as I'll likely get almost nothing for my aging and broken TD4 SE. I did however want a higher spec SE or HSE FL2, so it meant a smaller pool of cars to see. All of those I've looked at were badly treated, dented, tatty inside or had loads of dodgy history. So I decided to wait, when by chance this one came up, and surprisingly was mine for a £2000 bid on Ebay. Lets hope it's not a complete dud. Although at that money, it's still a good buy, even if it costs me some money to fix.

It a 58 plate, so late 2008 or early 2009.

That's worth knowing. A failed CPS would be an easy fix. I can't believe I'm that lucky.

I will. I've got lots on my plate at the moment, so I don't know quite when I'll get round to sorting it. Getting it home for a full assessment is the first job.

 

Hi John.
Wishing you good luck, do let us know once you have it, and had chance to check it over.

 

Thanks Arctic.

I'll be adding to this thread as and when I make progress on it, probably with loads of pictures too.

I'm still shocked that the insurance and tax are both less than the older and less valuable TD4 SE.

 

I know nothing of freelander 2's, so I can't really contribute to the thread, I would however I'd like to congratulate John on his new acquisition.

 

Thank you.

By the time I've written about the repair, you'll know more about them, as will I.

 

2008 will be a 160bhp

 

With pesky swirl flaps, and a rear diff make of soft cheese.

 

It's not that bad. Every car has a weak point. We don't get many FL2's with swirl flap problems when you consider how many were made. Naturally it's a problem if it fails for the owner as there's potential for damage. But on the whole, over the years I haven't seen significant numbers fail on FL2's. The potential to fail is there as vehicles get older and mileages rise. We have the option to take them out. The fear of the failing on LZ will rise as we start to talk about it more.

There's lot's of talk online about bmw's with problems. They seems to have had a lot more fail. Some of that seems to have transferred to other brands to such an extent they're tainted with the same high failure rates. The FL2 diesel is a DW12 engine from Peugeot/Citron with Ford involved, but claiming to have created it all themselves in the background. It's heritage comes from Peugeot although peeps online tend to give it the Ford name. Even LR use DW12 on the sales receipt and spec list when buying a FL2. DW12 is all over the parts list. We don't see a lot of talk about swirl flap problems on Pugs. When the engine was used in Ford's they made some slight changes. When used in LR's they made some changes anorl, relating to keeping it going at angle oft road. I should confess I like Pug diesels having driven a lot as hire cars. They seem relaxed and have power and be happy to cruise steady all day. It's a nice diesel in the FL2. FL2 owners were lucky when compared to D3/D4 pug engine owners.

Regarding rear diff's... there's a lot of talk about them anorl. The FL2 did suffer with them and LR fixed lots under warranty. Owners have had to pay for repairs anorl. It's a known problem which I have wrote about before. With regular oil changes every 20k miles and the filter changed every 40k miles, eggsperienced FL2 owners have reduced the chance of theirs failing considerably. That doesn't mean it won't fail. There's some luck involved. It's one of those things. LR never solved the problem fully. Looking after rear diff's betterer with servicing as above has helped a lot.

Cheer up. It can't be as eggspensive as buying a d3, d4, rr or rrs. If the rear diff was made of cheese we would suffer with rabies and rat infestations like tratterers. You have a rare car. Not many red ones about. Same for me with a blue one. LR struggled to get the red pigment from Japan when they had the power station fail some years ago so LR couldn't sell red ones for a while. The trend was to buy black, silver, gray and white when new, in order to keep resale values as high as possible as they were the likely colours peeps would want when buying second hand. At least ours have been sprayed with a colour coat as opposed to the black/silver/grey/white who look like they only have primer.

Yer can't go wrong when buying a Freelander. Some Freelander's need more love than others.

 

When my diff failed I had it rebuilt and made a modification of my own, something LR should have done.



I can now drain the diff, I also use a magnetic plug, and filled it with synthetic castrol syntrac 75 90.
By the way mine is rimmini red too

 

Sensible words as always Hippo.
I'm looking forward to seeing it in the flesh as it were, as I've only seen pictures so far.

Once I get it home and solve the misfire issues, then I'll be more than happy to keep it in tip top condition.

The swirl flaps will definitely go though, as there's an issue just waiting happen.

It's a lot of car for the money, actually it's costing me the same as I paid for the FL1 SE 4 years ago, and the FL2 is a much better vehicle.

I did the same mod to my V6 FL1 rear diff, so looking like the FL2 will get a similar modification. Cheers for the insight.

 

Good luck for today John!

What does one say, break a leg?? Break a???? We'll see, hope the trip is a safe one.

 

I think that's actor's Andy.

I'm hoping not to break the engine though. I'll be there for a 1pm collection, via Trago.

I hope it's as good as the pictures show though.

I'll keep everyone posted.

 

Good luck

 

The big question is... how often does it misfire?

If the garage are happy to let it go cheap then I guess they know there's problems with it. Problems I assume they will have tried to fix. I'm guessing they will have factored in potential repair costs into the price or they're happy to just let it go and move on. You may see some new parts fitted where they have attempted repairs to solve the misfire. It looks clean and looked after which is normally a sign of being well maintained. Yer never know yer luck. Could be a sod to fix. Could be an easy fix. Best of luck with it.

 

It's home Any.

It misfires when it's asked to do work Hippo. Basically put your foot down anything more than to maintain 50 and it misfires, it's also idling slightly rough, like it's down a cylinder. I was able to coax it home by keeping at a steady 50. Hills were interesting, as more power was needed, but I found dropping to 4th and holding my foot hard down helped climb them without the whole car shaking.

I must say that apart from a few minor chips in the paint, the body is amazing for its age, and it drives much like my D3, although doesn't have the bulk that the D3 had.

I have a good chat with the garage owner, he's a fellow Surrey boy!!
He doesn't have workshops, as he's a sales only garage. He has to use another garage for work, who are currently close due to CV19. He was pretty sure it's an injection issue but doesn't have diagnostic kit to prove that.

He also told me that he was surprised and a bit upset with the Ebay final sale price, because he knows its worth £4700 working, and actually gave more than the £2000 I paid in part exchange.

So basically I've got a £4.7k FL2 for £2k, + what it costs to sort.