Help urgently needed

griff2 said:

the fun of cars in my opion is playing with them, if it has a problem fix it ,thats all the fun if you follow my link here
1.8 vvc build just starting - 16v Mini Club Forums

you will see i love to play ,if it ends up costing more ,well at least then i know everything is spot on ,as for the rust ,well what can i say ,just needs some tlc

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:clap2: agree too . You need to enjoy spending lot of time and funds on FL . It will be better with time . Life with it for about 5 yrs now. Lot of time (every free weekend and day), funds (~ 16K) and care, and now it's great... but still many things to do

thanks for your surport ,i am a true believer of if you enjoy it you put your 100% into it ,and i do ,i love tinkering ,so with the forums help i should have many hrs of fun with this new project ,and the wife will love me as its her car and even with the probs now she LOVES IT

Cant understand why Freelanders get such a kicking all the time, everyone whos got one on my recommendation absolutely love them, they have no more problems than most cars with a few years behind them , admittedly I only venture with the TD4 , and as for the viscous , they give problems in all makes , I even have to admit to a negative view before getting one for my sister , and was pleasantly surprised , even bought one to use myself , when I didn't need the capabilities of the defenders or P38
. G2 a bit of TLC and recovery from the neglect with the last owner (which is usually the cause of a lot of problems ) and you will have a economical little 4x4

ps
Wo sehen Sie in Deutschland leben

At least you'll get to know the truck inside out and that always helps

Freelanders get a kicking because they are poorly designed. Poorly built and poorly executed.
Good maintenance is irrelevant. Admittedly the TD4 is the best of a bad bunch.

You will certainly know it well when you have finished ( or got bored with it).

Don't get me wrong, good luck. At least yu are going into it with your eyes open.

The Mad Hat Man said:

Freelanders get a kicking because they are poorly designed. Poorly built and poorly executed.

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Just like other Land Rovers :rofl:

Ads character "above all its a landrover":tea:

only got 30 mins today in garage :-(
and as it happens my vice/space in the garage is not enough :-(


i managed to sort of get the vcu to hold so i could do the test on it as per the vid from bell

and it did slowly move

but i think i need to build some kind of jig to hold it so i can apply proper presure on it to ensure it moves correctly ,but the good news is now its off the car i can get it to move so NOT TOTALY SIEZED at first thought by doing test while still on the car

could the fu..ed bearing on propshaft have stopped it turning in the last test ie wheel in air

Just been through all that, The VCU was shot this took out the IRD and the gearbox it cost me a fortune but at last i have a Freelander that's sorted. Good luck and do one thing at a time.

Griff, you will have hours of fun with the Freelander. Hours and hours and hours

If the grinding noise was just the bearings that hold the VCU up, unfortunately your hours of fun will be lessened because other parts will probably not have been broken.

Given the multitude of clunking and grinding noises your car was making though, I doubt it is just them. I'm not sure I'd trust putting that VCU back on the car and the IRD is probably stuffed. If you drain the oil in the IRD, it'll come out a very 'greyish' colour which is the pulverised bearings immersed in the oil.

'Fun' being 'good' and '$' being 'bad' - I'd suggest you have a look at the bearing rebuild kits for sale on Ebay. I got an 8 bearing kit with oil cooler and '2 seals' from the 'One Stop Gearbox Shop' for about 130 quid. It sounds like you have access to a workshop there and you/someone may be able to fit them. I don't have access to those sorts of facilities or experience, and paid a shop here to fit them which set me back a further 300 quid. The kit probably uses the same parts as the "IRD Rebuilding" outfits use - it contained Tolken bearings etc. I would say though that the shop who did the work said there were 2 more seals required than the 2 supplied. This assumes the gears in the IRD don't have broken teeth - once again you can buy these but then the cost against buying a reconditioned unit off the shelf isn't so attractive.

It is startling to see all that rust under the car. My L Series is 15 years old and has lived its life here in NZ where salt is never put on the roads - its almost as clean underneath as the day it left the factory.

Winu said:

Freelanders get a kicking because they are poorly designed. Poorly built and poorly executed.

Just like other Land Rovers :rofl:

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Good character building stuff

We could all go out and buy a reliable boring Kia or a Hyundai and die of dementure

As oposed to dieing happy but pennyless with LRs !

when my new dif bushes and prop bearings arrive ,if i fit all them ,check/top up ird and dif fluids ,and refit the old vcu .will i no straight away if the vcu is fu,,ed ? what should i look/lisen for ? as the noise will of gone (hopefully) will it be like stiff in reverse etc if it is fu..ed

im only asking as seeing it has movement in it i may be lucky (but prob not) and the dif bushes and bearing might of been the prob

i was thinking earlier if the dif bushes gone that would put strain on the prop bearing because the dif would be flexing thus fu,,cing the bearing am i right in thinking this ?

or if the vcu is fu..ed would that corse the bearing to go ( its the bearing nearest the dif ) which in turn would put pressure on the dif bushes and fu..k them ?

Your thinking sounds sensible to me - but there's plenty with more experience than me.

There is a UJ between the diff and VCU bearings, so that would presumably remove strain from the VCU bearings if the diff mounts are moving too much - but there must be some adverse forces getting through.

If the sounds do stop with your changes, then I supose you're in 'normal' Freelander mode - as you say being aware of braking effects in reverse on lock, 1 wheel up checks etc.

If they continue though, I'd take the prop shafts back off PDQ so that you don't damage the new bits you've put on. Although before you do, it would be an idea to check whether the sounds are from the front or back.

If the only noises you get when its put back together are clonking, particularly when moving away, be aware it might be the suspension bushes rather than the actual transmission. There's been a few threads of late about clunking noises that are bushes/roll bar related.

I'd imagine the front's OK because that's the same regardless of propshaft, but I supose the rear bushes might have to do more work if there's torque through the driveshafts.

Dont put that VCU anywhere near you motor. It is fecked.

GrumpyGel said:

Good character building stuff

We could all go out and buy a reliable boring Kia or a Hyundai and die of dementia

As opposed to dieing happy but pennyless with LRs !

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the Kia sorento top model has a viscous in place of manual selection , and guess what , yes it has similar problems hyundai , injector problems ! , so it goes on

had one hell of a shock today

i went to the landrover dealer here in germany :whoosh:

jesus i think the parts will be after market i no you get what you pay for but €107 per dif bush (i need all three ,i assume its best practice to change all 3)

and the prop shaft bearings where €131 each (again i assume change both)

so thats around €600 just for a few bearings and bushes

def think they are going to be aftermarket ones i get even if it means i will need to change them again sooner

Have a look here:

Famous Four - Part Information for FF003659 - Propshaft Bearing - Freelander 1998-2006 Models

Famous Four - New Parts for Freelander 1998-2006 Models - Propshafts & Axles

Have a look on LRSeries.co.uk They will ship overseas. You may only need to change the centre (front) rear diff mount. It's the cheaper one.

oops someone's quicker at typing

i assume then its perfectly ok only to change the centre one then ,no need to change them all if thats the only one fu..ed ??? (i had assumed it would be like on say a wishbone where if you change one its best to change both

ps im so sorry for being rude

thanks for the links