Hello, new member who needs help!

I have had my Freelander since 2007 it is a 1.8 petrol Kalahari. I love the interior and look of the car, but it is a nightmare to keep on the road. We have spent a fortune on it. In November last year I had the viscous coupling replaced that had ceased. Not knowing that they advise changing at 70,000 miles. We also had a wheel bearing and rear drive shaft replaced at the same time. The car had been front wheel drive for about 6 weeks when we finally got the prop shaft and recon viscous coupling back on. All was well for a few weeks and then in the very cold weather my daughter started the car in gear and burnt out the starter motor. We tow started it and got it to garage who replaced starter. We also noticed at that time that the water level had dropped. Driving the car home from the garage it started to make a continual rubbing/grinding noise, like something was against a moving part. It got louder but the car ran fine. We stopped using it as we were worried about the noise and the water level kept dropping. We had to leave the car over Christmas and in the new year our mechanic came to house and bled the water system and took car for test run. We took to garage and after a few checks on brakes etc, he diagnosed gearbox/transfer box needed replacing. We took it to another garage for a second opinion (our usual garage could not do the work) and he diagnosed the IRD needed replacing. The water level also continued to drop and he said we have a leaking Inlet manifold gasket. The garage took of the propshaft and we have been running the car since, it does not make any noise and gears, clutch etc seem to be fine. Also the water level although dropping slightly when used appears to be fine at the moment. I dont want to replace gearbox/transferbox/ird without a definite diagnosise. The viscous coupling is still under warranty. All the information I read about the above items going wrong say the car makes banging, crunching, knocking noises and we dont have that. I was wondering if the new Viscous coupling could be the problem, as we have it of the car is there any way we can test it to see if that is making the noise? I dont want to spend about £1200 to do repairs that are not necessary especially as we have spent about £2000 on it last year. Thanks.

the joys of the 1.8 gaylander.

prob in the top ten of most unreliable cars ever..

sell it while you still have some money left