freelander 99 making clunking noise why????

help needed!!!!!! was driving the other day in my 1999 t reg freelander, doing about 60mph and a loud clunking noise started sounded like it was on my side under driver seat. so pulled over into layby, and it stopped, got out had look under vehicle could see nothing hanging so got back in drove slowly up layby and every time wheel is turning full 360 sound happening again doing the same when i reverse it. i got towed away and now scared to drive it again in case i do more damage. been told there is no play on prop shaft or drive shaft so its not this but what is it? any ideas

check ya VCU bearings, Damper if yu got it, propshaft UJ's and rear diff front support.

been told they are all fine, any thing else it could be?

Best thing to do is to jack the front wheels off the grond and then spin them by hand. Feel for any noticiness and obviously 'listen'.

Another thing to try is to remove the prop shafts, VC and support bearings temporarily. The car will drive on front wheels only but will allow you to assess if the problem has gone away or not.

The transmission on the Freelander is difficult to fault find as everything is linked to everything else. Splitting the system in half helps diagnosis.

As you have linked the noise to the exact rotation of the wheel then it would suggest it is driveshafts or hubs or brake related. My money is on a CV joint.

Good luck.

right ok thanks for all that. just abit out me dept and i know the garage will fleece me with technical terms. is a drive shaft and transfer box the same for the diesel as a petrol or is it completely different?

They are technically the same as far as disgnosis is concerned. Might be some small differences here and there between models and plates. Need to find yourself a good independent garage, unless you're handy with the spanners. Need some heavy kit for the suspension and drive chain work. If you don't have such kit then it may be just as expensive to buy it. Anyhow, let us know what you find and we can go from there.

right been told it is the transfer box £1000 for new part, then theyll only know once this is fitted if any thing else has gone aswell. does they sound right? surely they can see if things look broken not put on a part and wait to see what happens?

jasper the dog said:

right been told it is the transfer box £1000 for new part, then theyll only know once this is fitted if any thing else has gone aswell. does they sound right? surely they can see if things look broken not put on a part and wait to see what happens?

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speak to Ashcrofts - they will do the job in a day with a courtesy car for just over a grand - and they REALLY know transmissions and wont rip you off.

mmmm thanks but im up in northumberland. just been goggling transfer box loads of advice saying if changing transfer box then advise to change viscous coupling aswell but it a messy job to detach from prop shaft. do you think it is worth trying to get a second hand prop shaft and vc unit together and just change with transfer box or wait to see if these have gone aswell? also what is a cv joint?

removing the VCU and prop is easy to do - loads of peeps on here do it - do a search on "Mondo mode".

jasper the dog said:

mmmm thanks but im up in northumberland. just been goggling transfer box loads of advice saying if changing transfer box then advise to change viscous coupling aswell but it a messy job to detach from prop shaft. do you think it is worth trying to get a second hand prop shaft and vc unit together and just change with transfer box or wait to see if these have gone aswell? also what is a cv joint?

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The transfer box, or IRD (Intermediate reduction drive) is a known weak component in the Freelander 1 design. It takes a hell of a hammering and its not really up to the job. It has to be force cooled to keep the oil working. Forget the rubbish about expension rates and oil life that is mentioned on this site. Without the cooling it would overheat and fail. A grand doesn't sound too far off the mark but a lot of money regardless. The unit is normally in the region of £400. Fitting is a strip down of the front suspension and various other items, so the labour is going to run to several hours, hence the high cost.

As far as the VC is concerned. If the VC fails then it will cause the IRD, and possible the rear differentual gearbox to overload to the point of rapid failure. By the sound of what happened to you it may well be the VC has siezed up. However, if your car is high mileage then the IRD may well have just reached the end of its life. The two propshafts, the VC and the bears that hold them are not cheap. I recommend that, assuming you go ahead and get the IRD replaced, that you then assess the health of the VC, rather than blindly replacing it. I suspect it would be cheaper to replace the VC and its bearings rather than sourcing a second hand propshaft assembly, quite simply because you have no idea of the history of the 'new' VC. This may let you down just as quick. If our VC is dead then get a new one.

A CV joint, or constant velocity joint, is the flexible joint in each driveshaft at the point where the shaft leaves the gearbox. It allows the driveshaft to bend and reach, to the wheel hub so to let the wheel move with the suspension.

Let us know how you get on.

For what its worth, we sympathise (well I do) with your news. Its something that could happen to any one of us, and has to some already.

Good luck,

Dave

thank you for all that information i really appreciate it. when you say transfer unit about £400 do you mean 2nd hand? do you think a second hand one would be ok if i got the vc new? my t reg has done 65k which i believe is not alot for the year

nikki

£400 will buy you a reconditioned unit, where all the wearing parts are replaced, such as bearings and gears.

This might sound weird but your low mileage may be the cause. If the VC is not getting much use it may eventually sieze and bang goes the IRD. As I said previous, get the VC checked, if its siezed then it has to be replaced with the IRD.

Good luck,

Dave

thanks do you know of a way that i could check if the vc is goossed? ive taken the prop shaft vc off the car but to be honest im not sure what im looking for to see what works and what doesnt. you seem to know your stuff do you recommend everywhere that does reconditioned units that wont fleece a girl? nikki

to test, with the VCU on the car - mark the front and rear prop shafts with snopake - so that the marks are in line - go rag the motor on a grassy field and then check again - the marks should have moved in relation to each other - if they havent then its goosed.