hi there, new and stupid,

hello there, i'm new to all this so you will have to give me chance.

do have a few probs tho if anyone can help.

recently purchased a 53 plate 3dr 1.8 freelander Kalahari from a car supermarket cause it was cheap enough and looked nice. plus i thought it would be safer for my 6 month old baby but there have been a few probs.

1) when i looked at it the cubby hole in the boot it was damp but i was told this was where they had jet washed and would dry out, needless to say it never did, also water leaks in through the roof where the hardback meets the rest of the car.

2) over the last week it seems to be vibrating and making a strange noise when taking left hand bends, especially when accelerating. could be coming from the front offside wheel but can't say for sure cause the whole car shakes .

3) is it inevertable the the head gasket will go or are there some that don't explode,

apart from the above everything else works for now

if anyone could help with these it would be much appreciated.

reet jimy ,welcome to the daftest forum on planet earth. . .the cubby hole is caused by condensation [go into search ,its bin documented] the water from above could be yer roof rail bolts letting water in [this also is documented] the cure is to undo bolts and put back with sealant [silicone would do] third could be a= jammed brake piston b= wheel bearing c= cv joint . . .to check a jack up int air[wiff safety jacks] un feel for excess play on wheel [with rocking motion] b undo wheels un try and force piston back wiff a pry [undo fluid cap un put rags around it] top up if any loss c is too complicated fer most earthlings. . . .best oh luck

Water in cubby box is more than likely caused by the tail door seal leaking and it can be a right pain in the ass to fix as just changing the seal wont always work, especially on a hard back model.

Vibration under acceleration is caused by one or both of the front driveshafts.

As for the head gasket, theres a 90% chance it'll go, I have known some to get to 100,000 miles without being replaced but its very rare, keep an eye on your oil and coolant levels to avoid damage. Catch it early enough and you'll be ok.

clutchdust said:

Catch it early enough and you'll be ok.

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Absolutely. The longer you leave it after the initial signs the more damage will be done.

Mine blew this morning and I don't intend to move the car more than a few metres (into the shed) before starting to strip it down. Hopefully this will limit the amount of damage the head has suffered as a consequence.

thanks all for your help and advise, i'll have a look at the wheels and roof bars at weekend,

i have looked through the forums for advise but thought it would be easy to join myself and ask, plus it'd be more fun.

once again thanks alot, i'll let you know what happens.

Welcome,

you'll gt plenty of advice on here, maybe some abuse as well

hgf comes in various guises, I caught it in the early stages, knew it was gone, drove for approx another 1000miles over the course of a couple of months. It was only a slight ingress of coolant into cylinder one, sometimes they go with a bang! weekly checks on oil and coolant, not to mention weather eye on the temp gauge, when warming up and after long journeys

I checked the coolant after a work friends blew the gasket and the expansion tank ws nearly empty,
that was within 7 months of having the car, i keep checking on a weekly basis now but it doesn't seem to be emptying again, not sure what that was about,

all i have now are leaks in the book and that weird knocking sound when cornering.

already had some good advise thanks, as for the abuse that will be my own fault for buying the one i did with out looking into it. silly me

dont just take temp gauge reading as gospel - they do go without any change in registered temp.

Actually temp gauge on freelanders reads only three zones
1- cold
2- normal
3- game over

hmm i do keep looking at that to make sure it ok but like you say they go regardless

also noticed in here somewhere that a few people keep having the cooling fans coming on, that's not summat that has happened yet apart from when i had air con running. it that a good thing or just normal.

normal

You both used "normal" in a fred about freelanders..heheheehee

what i meant was as normal as it could posibly be.

just checked coolant and oil and all looks fine,

The Mad Hat Man said:

dont just take temp gauge reading as gospel - they do go without any change in registered temp.

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Quite so.........my temp gauge sat at normal for the full duration of hgf over several months

not really much point in having a temp gauge then is there.

they could have something else there in it's place, like a list of breakdown recovery numbers.

mine had water comming into the boot where the hard back meets the body and it was the door seal that had failed,

should be done under warranty,
there is an updated part number refering to the seal which is better.

insist on that fitted!

the water is actualy coming in where it meets on the roof then running down the rear pillar and trickling out just behind the rear seat area.
i have looked at the seal all round the hardtop and it all seems to meet with the car properly unless i've missed summat.

the cubby hole pond i have would prob be the rear seal which i'll get looked at.

exactly what mine did!

all three freelanders i've had have all had the same problem, even a 53reg serengetti!!

even the rear pillar thing?
so what did you do? sell it, burn it, get it fixed?

i'd have thought that between 98 and 2003 they would have somehow started building them properly.