Freelander Design faults, LETS HAVE EM..

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funkgod

New Member
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8
Thought it would be a good thred to vent your frustrations at Landrover...
al start the ball rolling..........

1) on the petrol 1.8, whos idea was it to put the rad hose right across the top of the exhaust manifold ??? to heat the water up even more.
the fix would be to have the hole on the other side of the RAD easy.

2)Again on the 1.8.. whos idea was it to bolt the coil on the end of the head to heat up ??

al add more is it goes...
 
I take it you're rather disgruntled at your K series at the moment?

1. To have the radiator intake on the left hand side of radiator would mean a loss of at least a foot in the pipe. Therefore the coolant capacity would be a bit less and the cooling system would have to work a bit harder. The loss of this capacity (albeit very small) would probably be more of a problem than having the pipe directly above the exhaust manifold.

You could wrap your exhaust headers in exhaust heat wrap but then the heat would have to escape somewhere else (probably back into the head) which would be even more risky. The fact the exhaust header is right at the front of the engine is quite a good design as it gets good airflow while the car is moving. However, if you're holding your hand near there with the bonnet up there'll be pretty much no airflow at all and it would give the effect that it gets too hot.

2. With the voltages that are running through the coil, i'd have thought the coil would give off more heat itself than what is being transferred through the head AND the bracket which in my opinion acts as quite a good heatsink.

If you're feeling these two components are getting a little more heat than they should maybe your cooling system needs looking at or bleeding?
 
Who's bright idea was it to put the TD4's clutch slave cylinder (its actually a rubber doughnut ) INSIDE the bell housing where it can smoulder away nicely when you slip the clutch for a few seconds on steep offroad ascents. I'm on my third in 3 years & each time because of the amount of labour charges the bill is about £600.
 
timfreecom said:
i think im right in saying its a bmw design ,the same as fitted to there 2 litre cars
Click to expand...
Yes it is, that's my point, I'm sure it is adequate in a 320d going up a sloping driveway but it takes a bit more of a hammering in a TD4 going up Rudland Rigg !! & it would have been so simple to fix the design.:rolleyes:
 
matacaibo said:
Who's bright idea was it to put the TD4's clutch slave cylinder (its actually a rubber doughnut ) INSIDE the bell housing where it can smoulder away nicely when you slip the clutch for a few seconds on steep offroad ascents. I'm on my third in 3 years & each time because of the amount of labour charges the bill is about £600.
Click to expand...

That happened to me when I first got the car.

I slipped the clutch a lot when reversing up a very tight lane, up an extremely steep hill, in the dark. A typical car would stall at those speeds unless the clutch pedal was depressed somewhat. However, I later tried a similar manoeuvre without the clutch pedal depressed, and it didn't stall despite being at a very low speed. Try it, you may be surprised.

So yeah, the lesson is not to slip the clutch at all unless you want big bills. The lack of a low range gearbox means you need proper clutch control, and often, that means not using the clutch at all!
 
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RichM said:
That happened to me when I first got the car.

I slipped the clutch a lot when reversing up a very tight lane, up an extremely steep hill, in the dark. A typical car would stall at those speeds unless the clutch pedal was depressed somewhat. However, I later tried a similar manoeuvre without the clutch pedal depressed, and it didn't stall despite being at a very low speed. Try it, you may be surprised.

So yeah, the lesson is not to slip the clutch at all unless you want big bills. The lack of a low range gearbox means you need proper clutch control, and often, that means not using the clutch at all!
Click to expand...

Yeah thats fine up a fairly smooth lane where you can keep the speed up & revs above 1200, preferably 1500 so the turbo is still helping but it is very difficult to be so "commited" up a lane like Rudland Rigg which is steep & has some very big rock steps. I guess it all comes down to the lack of a low range. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Freelander 1 fan, in fact I like them so much I have just bought another, a TD4 auto which is now parked on the drive next to my TD4 manual & as soon as my broken leg is mended (I fell down one of the steep rocky lanes I was trying to drive up !!) I will be transferring the wheels, lift kit & underbody protection onto it so won't be replacing any more slave cylinders :).
The interesting thing is I have never needed to replace the actual clutch plate, it stinks a bit but survives, it is always the slave cylinder doughnut thingy that throws in the towel.
 
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The thing that bugs me about the design is the side window rubbers (the bit at the bottom of the windows), they collect all of the dirt and then when the window goes up or down it scratches the hell out of the glass.
Could have easily been changed for different window seals but too late now!!
 
The entire transmission is s**t.

Dont misunderstand me, I love my FL to bits, it does exactly what i need it to, its practical, fun, its a soft top so the kids love it in the summer, and it is (touch wood) very, very reliable.
However, the entire transmission is s**t. Did i say that already?

If it had selectable 4wd, like my Vitara had, it would be great.
The vitara had no transmission problems, no crappy VCU to quietly fail and blow the whole thing to bits. But then it did rust away to nothing, which the FL does'nt.

On the plus side, the FL is still one of the best looking 4wd vehicles around, but the entire transmission is s**t...oops said it again.
Russ
 
Tailgate window! Not just the fact that the seals leak with age and you end up with a wet boot. If the eletric winder fails it won't lower to get the door open but you need the door open to fix the winder.

I also dislike the VCU, not because mine has had a problem but at 56,000 I know it might soon and I am **** scared if I don't spot it 1st then it will be expensive.

I still think it's great and wish I had bought one years ago. Despite the fact I am now going out to strip out the rear drivers side regulator as that window won't work.
 
Russell Jupp said:
The entire transmission is s**t.

Dont misunderstand me, I love my FL to bits, it does exactly what i need it to, its practical, fun, its a soft top so the kids love it in the summer, and it is (touch wood) very, very reliable.
However, the entire transmission is s**t. Did i say that already?

If it had selectable 4wd, like my Vitara had, it would be great.
The vitara had no transmission problems, no crappy VCU to quietly fail and blow the whole thing to bits. But then it did rust away to nothing, which the FL does'nt.

On the plus side, the FL is still one of the best looking 4wd vehicles around, but the entire transmission is s**t...oops said it again.
Russ
Click to expand...

I take it from that you think the transmission is s**t then Russ !. Since I got mine & heard all about the VCU problems I have been trying to get hold of a duff one to section & find out exactly what the failure mode is, general concensus is that the fluid goes like araldite & siezes front half to back half, I aren't convinced & think it is more likely to be the internal bearings or the plates that are causing the failures, probably wouldn't be fixable anyway but at least it might be detectable before the IRD makes an expensive noise. The thing is I can't get hold of a duff one because most replacements are on an exchange basis. I know this thread is suposed to be about the Freelanders faults but to balance it up a bit I'm going to mention what I think is the best part of the FL1, the traction control, it is fantastic, put a decent set of 29" AT tyres on & it becomes a great little offroader.
I agree with you about the looks, especially that Tonka Toy front end. Much prefer it to the FL2.
 
Missing Link said:
I still think it's great and wish I had bought one years ago. Despite the fact I am now going out to strip out the rear drivers side regulator as that window won't work.
Click to expand...

Stripped out the regulator, no broken cables:D. Dismantled the motor to release the worm drive, loosened of the mechansim, reassembled motor, works a treat:D:D.

Not all good news though, tried to get a new shredder sheet from the local dealers. None in stock and the factory have no plans to make any more:mad::mad:. I did find one on line, £6 was just about acceptable but another £6 to post it:eek::eek:. Old one was taped up and refitted:doh:
 
Missing Link said:
Stripped out the regulator, no broken cables:D. Dismantled the motor to release the worm drive, loosened of the mechansim, reassembled motor, works a treat:D:D.

Not all good news though, tried to get a new shredder sheet from the local dealers. None in stock and the factory have no plans to make any more:mad::mad:. I did find one on line, £6 was just about acceptable but another £6 to post it:eek::eek:. Old one was taped up and refitted:doh:
Click to expand...

I know I am going to regret this but what's a shredder sheet ? :confused:
 
It's the heavy plastic sheet most car door have fitted stuck to the door under the trim panel:)




And no, I have no bloody idea why its called that.:confused: I only know cos the part number is printed on it so I googled it and that what it's described as:p
 
Missing Link said:
It's the heavy plastic sheet most car door have fitted stuck to the door under the trim panel:)




And no, I have no bloody idea why its called that.:confused: I only know cos the part number is printed on it so I googled it and that what it's described as:p
Click to expand...

Well I'll be damned, I am going to bore the arses off my mates with that little nugget of info;)
 
sunroof rails. who designed these,
Where the cord from the motor goes into the rail it terminates in the rail on a flimsey bit of plastic with no support just waiting to snap, i cant belive that few mil sholder of plastic was the best design they could come up with !!
 
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