Looks like I've done it again, Doh!!!

just been back and reread the whole post,for the amount of work required, I think you have doen a stonking job! and even if it gets to 600 you still gonna have a cheap 4x4,if you keep it and run it for 2 years,that (minus the insurance and tax) still only stands you in at 40 pounds a month? cheap motoring! think its called bangernomics lol

Thanks mate, it's really surprising how nice a car you can have so such small money. My company car is a Skoda Octavia, only 6 months old (I had it from new) all mod cons and I still would rather drive my Freelander. It is just such a nice car to be in.

Haven't done anything to Gerty the last couple of days due to work and family stuff but managed to pick up new brake discs for her today. The running total on the first page has been updated to reflect all current purchases and although I have broken the £500 mark this was not my original estimate. Originally I suspected it would cost around £600 in total to get her MOT'd but hoped it might be possible to keep it under £500 as some items came in cheaper than expected. As you do I then added a load of jobs (like new discs and shoes) which were not strictly needed to get her through MOT but made me a lot happier she would be in good shape for me or my wife to drive. Also the timing belt had done 60,000 miles so in theory should have been good for another 10,000 but scrimping on that job is the height of stupidity and guaranteed to cost a load of dosh and pain in the future.
Still not sure about the condition of the headgasket as I've only driven it 20 miles since buying it and it was full of Kseal at the time but still hoping for the best.

OK, I'm getting a bit peeved now! It seems to be one step forward and one step back at the minute.
Tonight's job was to replace the brake disks which started out badly and got worse.
This is one of the discs so you can see why I wanted to change it.


I started on the offside front wheel and got the caliper bolts out very easily, far to easy as the bolts were not much more than finger tight! Then tried to take the pins out of the carrier and discovered the reason why the brakes were poor. One of the pins was almost solid and took a lot of release oil and pulling/twisting to get it out. Turns out the rubber seal on it is no more so a seal kit is now required and I'm another £30 lighter .

Looks like some eejit has had a go at this pin before and put it back in without the rubber seal!


While the carrier was soaking in release oil I tried to get the disc off. Well after a bit of thumping with a 4lb lump hammer I decided to try the old bolt in the caliper hole trick but still no joy so on to plan C which I should have done sooner.
I used a grinder to cut the disc right up to the hub then hammered a chisel into the slot. The disk promptly cracked right across the face and I was then able to tap it off without too much violence. This is a brilliant way to get stubborn discs off without damaging the suspension or bearings.


Even then it was a bu@@er to get off but as you can see it wasn't in great shape.



I was surprised at how easily the nearside disc came off but the caliper is pretty rusty and the main piston seal is damaged so I've ordered a new kit from Big Red which includes new pistons and will just have to be patient. I hadn't planned to recondition the calipers but haven't much choice now. If I get time tomorrow night I might have a go at the brake shoes while I'm waiting for the kits to arrive.

Changed my front dics and pads too today

Discs were rusty as hell but came off easily - pads were quite new meaning that some jerk had put new pads on fecked discs

digby said:

Changed my front dics and pads too today

Discs were rusty as hell but came off easily - pads were quite new meaning that some jerk had put new pads on fecked discs

Click to expand...

Funny you should say that as my son suggested I should do the same. I took one look at them and decided that would be a pretty stupid thing to do.
As my dear old dad used to say. If a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing well.
The pads were in good shape on mine too but I suspect a 3 year layup caused the problems.

Not a lot done tonight, I had suggested I might have a go at the shoes tonight but the front is already on axle stands and the back of the car is right up to the garage door so I decided to prep the calipers so that when the seal kit comes I will be able to fit them.

This is how they look now.


If I get a chance I'll call into Halfords and get some red caliper paint, I need some for my MGF anyway. I have to say I was tempted to just buy refurbed calipers but they don't include the carrier so I would have had to sort them out as well anyway.

Alibro said:

Not a lot done tonight, I had suggested I might have a go at the shoes tonight but the front is already on axle stands and the back of the car is right up to the garage door so I decided to prep the calipers so that when the seal kit comes I will be able to fit them.

This is how they look now.

If I get a chance I'll call into Halfords and get some red caliper paint, I need some for my MGF anyway. I have to say I was tempted to just buy refurbed calipers but they don't include the carrier so I would have had to sort them out as well anyway.

Click to expand...

hi mate

wished to praise u on such a sterling write up

hope u don't mind me saying but I rebuilt my front brakes, with new discs and also rebuilt my front calipers

got the complete kit from Land Rover, which came with new Pistons, seals and pins

bought all genuine parts, including the discs, pads, caliper rebuild kit as I thought as it was the brakes just preferred to buy all oem parts

bought some red grease for the calipers , got that off eBay , use a foot pump to get the seals in , takes some patience to get them sitting in the lip

get some old tyre shreider valves, remove the bleed nipple , screw the vales in there and attach the foot pump and u can slowly get the rubber seals around the Pistons

be very careful as u can easily split them

I also replaced the front brake hoses due to them separating and holding the caliper on, causing them to overheat

hope u get on OK and plse feel free to give me a shout with regards to rebuilding ur calipers, hope that doesn't come as rude or telling u how to suck eggs , just know from experiance of what great fun they can be to rebuild

good luck mate with the rebuild and proposed work

digby said:

Changed my front dics and pads too today

Discs were rusty as hell but came off easily - pads were quite new meaning that some jerk had put new pads on fecked discs

Click to expand...

it does amaze u in how some people take risks like that with the brakes, when I done a total rebuild of installing new discs, pads and rebuilt both calipers it made the world of difference in stopping

I was also suprised in how easy it was to replace the discs, rebuilding the calipers were a different story , a lot of patience required, lol

gstuart said:

it does amaze u in how some people take risks like that with the brakes, when I done a total rebuild of installing new discs, pads and rebuilt both calipers it made the world of difference in stopping

I was also suprised in how easy it was to replace the discs, rebuilding the calipers were a different story , a lot of patience required, lol

Click to expand...

I don't even bother rebuilding calipers any more. I know of a LR specialist supplier that charges just over £50 for a brand spanking new caliper. By the time you factor in the new seals and piston, then the time, it's just not worth the effort.
I agree that brakes are one item that is simply downright dangerous to scrimp on.

I've replaced seals on calipers before but not Freelander ones so wasn't aware they were more difficult. Will see how I get on but am happy enough with Big Red seal kit's. Maybe not oem but they have a good reputation.
I refurbished the rear calipers on my MGF a while back and that was a real pain as they have a handbrake mechanism. When I had another issue with them a year later I just bought professionally refurbished ones as couldn't be bothered with the hassle.
The AP four pots were easy.

Well the calipers are rebuilt with new seals and refitted. I couldn't really follow @gstuarts description for fitting the seals so just went with what felt right.
Made sure they were well soaked in brake fluid, and started by fitting the main seal, it went in easy enough then fitted the dust seal over the bottom of the piston. It took a bit of faffing to get the lip of the dust seal into its slot in the caliper but once done the piston slid into position easily enough and the dust seal slid up the piston to its slot. At least the first one did, the second piston jammed half way in so I decided to pull it out and start again just in case something was wrong, now to get the old pistons out I just pulled them with vice grips while tapping with a hammer but I didn't want to do that to my new pistons. It was at this point my son came in and when he saw the issue suggested I use the compressor, so I put a piece of wood in the caliper to stop the piston damaging itself, shoved the air gun attachment into the bolt hole, pulled the trigger and bang. I couldn't believe how fast the piston shot out and hammered against the wood, it was as well I had it there, I wish I had thought of that when dismantling them as getting the old pistons out was a right pig. A quick check found nothing wrong so it had just got jammed, a bit more brake fluid as lubricant and it slid in easily.
This is them refitted with the new discs and pads, As I often find with new pads I had to use the bench grinder to take a little off the edges of the pads so it would slide nicely into the slots.


So with the fronts fitted and bled I took a look at the rears, I expected them to be knackered but it looks like someone has already replaced them. First the screws holding on the hubs were new and came out easily, then when I got the hubs off there was plenty of meat left on the shoes and not much corrosion, so I gave the hubs a quick clean and shoved em back on.
So I now have a spare set of brake shoes and spring kit and another £27 off the price of the car.

Went out this evening planning to sort out one of the issues on my 'to do' list but instead added to it. I'd noticed on the day I bought her that the rear seats would not fold down as the release handles didn't seem to do anything. I had a quick look but couldn't find the problem and lots of banging and thumping didn't help so a quick check on here and the issue was obvious. Once again Landrover using a pathetic cheap sh1te solution to a non issue. The rubbish plastic handle has a slot in it for a ball on the end of a wire to slip into. Evidently it can slip out just as easily as both had done. I refitted both balls in their slots and they are now working, how long they work for is another question.

I'm still struggling to find the cause of the HDC fault light on permanently, When I turn on the ignition all the lights come on and all go out then half a second or so later the HDC light comes on and stays on. As far as I can see the switch on the gear stick is fine, there is 12V across the connector when disconnected from the switch so I don't think the issue is there. I have checked the free play on the throttle cable and I replaced the TPS today, The connector for first gear on the gearbox looks fine, disconnecting it does nothing nor does shorting it out so I'm stumped for now but will do a bit more research to find out what the ECU is expecting to see. To be honest I don't care about hill descent and just want to find the easiest way to get rid of the warning light so any suggestions welcome.
Except black tape on the dash, I might be cheap but even I have standards.

So tonight I took her one step closer to MOT, I set out to replace the indicator bulb but when I checked the other lights I realised there were more than one out. both rear lights, both lower brake lights and the indicator were faulty. Most of them were repaired by pulling out the connections but had to fit two bulbs, one because it was missing and the other because even though it was OK if I moved it around it wouldn't work when fitted properly.
Anyway that's another tick in the list on page one of this thread so I will book an MOT and see how it goes.

Oh, and apparently I don't have standards after all. Tonight the bit of black tape went over the HDC light as I got bored of trying to trace the fault.
I will take it off for MOT as I don't think it would cause a fail but black tape on the dash might.

Nothing wrong with a bit of light fixing tape

For the HDC fault. Make sure you have 12mm of free play at the throttle pedal. Also check the pedal switch is working correctly, ideally when the pedal is pressed. It's amazing just how much free play some throttle pedals need to prevent seeing the light.

Kayos said:

Nothing wrong with a bit of light fixing tape

Click to expand...

Works like magic

Nodge68 said:

For the HDC fault. Make sure you have 12mm of free play at the throttle pedal. Also check the pedal switch is working correctly, ideally when the pedal is pressed. It's amazing just how much free play some throttle pedals need to prevent seeing the light.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply Nodge but this isn't the throttle cable. I had that issue before and the light will only come on when you start driving. In my case it is on permanently. When you turn on the ignition all warning lights come on, then go off and a split second later the hdc warning light comes on again.
I saw a someone talking about brake lights causing it so now I've fixed them I'm hoping it will just go away after a while.

I tested the VCU yesterday to see how it would behave now that I've driven a bit with it, not that I've done any distance though, just up and down the road to test the new brakes.
Here is the video

It's approx 5kg at 1.2m from the wheel centre and I make it between 7 and 8 seconds to go from 45deg to 90deg. It may not be perfect and is probably a lot looser than a factory unit but it's an old car so the drive train will be worn and this will give it an easier time. I'm well happy with it.
Note, I still haven't washed the car yet just in case your wondering why it's all green. Have applied for MOT so will be washing it at the weekend.

When I bought this car the little plastic trim under the handbrake was missing.


So last night I decided to have a go at making something to fit. First a cardboard template, I didn't have thin card to do this properly but this is pretty close


Then found an old computer CD drive blank


And after cutting and shaping I glued the two halves together


It's not a perfect fit but it was just a bit of fun to see how it would look. I'll probably do it again with a bigger piece of plastic so I don't need to join it and take a bit more care to make it fit.


While I was at it I took a photo of the alternator belt I took off.
I don't think I've ever seen a belt this bad, was probably lucky to get her home.

Fantastic, very well informative posts and photos too boot! And here was me thinking I had issues with mine, however, looking at all the work you have done on this, mine seem trivial in comparison.

Great tip regarding the door check straps, I'll investigate mine now the door cards are removed. The only thing which has annoyed me about removing the door cards is that I didn't know they were like a fibre glassy type material on the inside. Needless to say, the ends of all my fingers are full of little barbs off the damn things. After nearly scrubbing the ends of my fingers off with some sand paper, I've got most of them out! lol. Note to self: Next time, wear disposable gloves!!!!!

Keep up the good work mate, its a credit to ya! And Thanks for your advice!