Freelander Project IV (Bertie)

Alibro said:

This is what happens when you under engineer your shaft.


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Alibro.
Build a bigger shed (or Fire Station) and a smaller turbine
On a more serious note. I refer to a previous post, sorry I've not gone back through the thread. When removing the rear door card, how did you release it from beneath the inner-rear window seal?

Colonial said:

Alibro.
Build a bigger shed (or Fire Station) and a smaller turbine
On a more serious note. I refer to a previous post, sorry I've not gone back through the thread. When removing the rear door card, how did you release it from beneath the inner-rear window seal?

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The shed was only for the batteries and electronics so plenty big enough, as for the wind turbine, Smaller?
Nah, the turbine blades were made the correct length for the generator, any smaller and they would stall. I just beefed up the tower and it was fine for a couple of years.
For the door card, unscrew the four star head screws at the bottom and pull it off. It takes quite a pull to get it free but you need to release the bottom first and it will pivot on the clips at the top

Alibro said:

The shed was only for the batteries and electronics so plenty big enough, as for the wind turbine, Smaller?
Nah, the turbine blades were made the correct length for the generator, any smaller and they would stall. I just beefed up the tower and it was fine for a couple of years.
For the door card, unscrew the four star head screws at the bottom and pull it off. It takes quite a pull to get it free but you need to release the bottom first and it will pivot on the clips at the top

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Thanks Alibro.
You're a man of many talents.

Colonial said:

Thanks Alibro.
You're a man of many talents.

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Not sure about talents, but defo plenty of experience sorting the stupidly common faults in Freelanders.

Lee1983 said:

Hi mate, could you do me a favour and measure your ride height from floor to wheel arch on the front and rear so I can compare to mine. I have an 04 sport model with a 40mm lift and 235/70s. I'm thinking of replacing my sport suspension with standard suspension so that I gain another inch or so in height. Just wanted to see how much higher yours is than mine at the moment. Took it off road on Saturday and it was fantastic, kept with the big boys in the defenders most of the way! Love it...

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Hi Lee, Sorry I didn't reply earlier, I got distracted by another post.
My car is on axle stands at the minute but I'll try and remember to do that later. Best to measure from the centre of the wheel to the bottom of the wheel arch otherwise differences in the tyre size and inflation will distort the figures. But I'll try to remember to do both anyway.

Lee1983 said:

Hi mate, could you do me a favour and measure your ride height from floor to wheel arch on the front and rear so I can compare to mine. I have an 04 sport model with a 40mm lift and 235/70s. I'm thinking of replacing my sport suspension with standard suspension so that I gain another inch or so in height. Just wanted to see how much higher yours is than mine at the moment. Took it off road on Saturday and it was fantastic, kept with the big boys in the defenders most of the way! Love it...

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Hi Lee, here you are.
Floor to arch is approx 850mm
Centre of wheel hub to arch is approx 500mm

Bertie is now officially MOT'd.

Woo Hoo!

Quality

I couldn't take it myself but 'er indoors said the MOT guys had a real good look underneath and asked was it being used off road. It's a pity I wasn't there as I'd love to have asked them for any advice or their thoughts on the work. Here in Northern Ireland the MOT centres are council owned and are very thorough and very strict so I'm happy it is OK if they passed it. No such thing as them touting for business or passing it with a nod and a wink so I'm really pleased.

Good feeling to have an MOT! Well done!

Great work Ali! Hopefully my Hippo with get a fresh ticket soon too!

Had a mostly successful day today working on Bertie. I got a new CV joint boot fitted last night so today I wanted to do an oil change to engine, gearbox and IRD. Engine oil was very dirty and thin so glad to get that sorted, gearbox oil looked like it had been changed recently so might have been a waste of time but happier knowing it is done.
The IRD didn't go to plan though, Feeling all smug I put the rattle gun on the filler bolt expecting it to come out easily, just like last time.
Doh! Why is it made of cheese?????
Even with a hex socket the stupid thing just rounded off. I had a go at it with a hammer and chisel but wasn't getting anywhere and worried I was going to break something I gave up for now. I'll maybe drill it out later but will buy a spare bolt first. At least I had the sense to try and release the filler before draining it.
Then I decided to replace the vac hoses and ran into more trouble. The connection broke off the container thing that sits beside the battery, I managed to unbolt it and discovered it had been broken before and badly fixed. Hopefully it will be OK this time as I sealed it up with strong silicone. One of the other pipes was completely trashed so I'm hoping for a bit more performance when it's back together.

Alibro said:

Feeling all smug I put the rattle gun on the filler bolt expecting it to come out easily, just like last time.

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Er "last time"?? So who over tightened it last time then??

helijohn said:

Er "last time"?? So who over tightened it last time then??

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LOL, different car so not me. I'm kinda hoping if someone went to the trouble of changing the gearbox oil they also did the IRD oil. I say this because the gearbox bolts were done up gorilla tight and I thought I was going to break my allen key releasing them. Hopefully the same gorilla did up the IRD fill bolt. I'll probably just leave it, if the IRD fails in the future it would be easier and cheaper to get a 2nd hand one than to fix it.

Alibro said:

LOL, different car so not me.

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Phew.

Did you get to get Bertie off road over the weekend Ali?

rob_bell said:

Did you get to get Bertie off road over the weekend Ali?

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No, was too busy fixing the broke bits.
Hoping to get some action next Sunday tho.

Spent the evening putting Bertie back together and hopeful he might have a wee bit more oomph.
Not sure what this is called but I'm calling it a vacuum reservoir. Anyway the connection on one end had been broken before and badly repaired so hopefully this will last a little better. The cable tie is just a bit of belt and braces.


This was one of the vac hoses. Probably didn't help the running of the car and may have been causing two amigos as it will have effected the brake servo vacuum, here's hoping. Will know tomorrow when I drive him again.


In this photo you can see an electrical connector in the centre of the photo with the wires completely disconnected. I don't know why they ended up broken off but hopefully now they are reconnected with an old connector I had lying about Bertie will be easier to start as I think it has something to do with the glow plugs.


This is it repaired.



I managed to replace all the vac hoses and like I said before at least one of them was totally trashed. I won't know until I drive it if it makes any difference but here's hoping. I had thought the performance was a bit lack lustre but I suspect at 140k miles there is more than one reason for that.

Alibro said:

Spent the evening putting Bertie back together and hopeful he might have a wee bit more oomph.
Not sure what this is called but I'm calling it a vacuum reservoir. Anyway the connection on one end had been broken before and badly repaired so hopefully this will last a little better. The cable tie is just a bit of belt and braces.

This was one of the vac hoses. Probably didn't help the running of the car and may have been causing two amigos as it will have effected the brake servo vacuum, here's hoping. Will know tomorrow when I drive him again.

In this photo you can see an electrical connector in the centre of the photo with the wires completely disconnected. I don't know why they ended up broken off but hopefully now they are reconnected with an old connector I had lying about Bertie will be easier to start as I think it has something to do with the glow plugs.

This is it repaired.

I managed to replace all the vac hoses and like I said before at least one of them was totally trashed. I won't know until I drive it if it makes any difference but here's hoping. I had thought the performance was a bit lack lustre but I suspect at 140k miles there is more than one reason for that.

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The broken wires to the Junior connection are for the EGR control valve. So won't affect the way it starts
You would be better off changing the vac reservoir. They aren't that expensive and failure it that joint is common.
The hole in the vac hose will affect the turbo vane actuator operation. This will reduce boost available.

Nodge68 said:

The broken wires to the Junior connection are for the EGR control valve. So won't affect the way it starts
You would be better off changing the vac reservoir. They aren't that expensive and failure it that joint is common.
The hole in the vac hose will affect the turbo vane actuator operation. This will reduce boost available.

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Thanks mate, I took it for a spin today and the turbo boost is noticeably better so hopefully that wee issue is resolved but I'll keep an eye on it.
But as you said the starting isn't any better as it took several cranks to get it going. I don't know if low pressure or bad heater plugs is the cause but it seems to be worse in the cold weather. In any case I'm waiting for the i930 to check the fuel pump pressure and any fault codes before doing any more.
BTW the damaged hose was the one on the right in the third photo. They are new green(ish) now but the flash in my camera makes them look faded.