New to landrovers

Hi all thought id finally sign up recently purchased a freelander td4 2003 and well ive been ripped off!
Was a private deal so nothing i can do now ive been reading about vcu irds rear diffs etc as my landy has a droning noise/whine from front when driving and slowing down doesnt change on cornering. I have removed my vcu and prop shaft leaving the rear drive shafts in place and bought a second hand IRD and fitted that and the drone is still there im going to change the gearbox oil tonight im pretty much devastated and broke anyone point me in other places i should look would be appreciated!! i have spun the wheels and heard a noise from the front near the IRD thats why i replaced i will update after gb oil change thanks in advance

I am sorry to here that mate fingers crossed it will be a wheel bearing or something that is not to expensive , i am sure someone will be able to help my i ask how many miles has it done

Its on 120k manual gearbox. My friend is the mechanic he spun the wheels and couldn't hear anything apart from the whine from what we thought was the IRD (expensive mistake)..
I removed the vcu and propshaft as when i was reversing on full lock it was wanting to stop my car and felt tight ive yet to get into the filler plug on the rear diff been spraying it for days haha.
ive also had to replace the crankshaft pulley as it was rubbing and making a noise, after i replaced it realised the idler pulley also has play in it so will replace that too. Will it ever end

I was in the same boat as you when i first got mine, don't want to think about the bodges i had to sort out, it got me livid (ask next door ) but fingers crossed after you have sorted the teething problems out (expensive ones i know) you will have a sorted motor . My next job is ird,gearbox and back axle oil change and prop shaft bearings best of luck mate

Gary616 said:

Will it ever end

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Now that's a question. It's a Land Rover, so it will always have a surprise up it's sleeve for you.

Your droning noise could be the drive shafts, as those do fail at the inner joint. Check for excessive slack in the tripod joint and look for oil leakage at the box to driveshaft seals.

Can you record the noise and stick it on YouTube for us to hear?

Gary616 said:

Hi all thought id finally sign up recently purchased a freelander td4 2003 and well ive been ripped off!
Was a private deal so nothing i can do now ive been reading about vcu irds rear diffs etc as my landy has a droning noise/whine from front when driving and slowing down doesnt change on cornering. I have removed my vcu and prop shaft leaving the rear drive shafts in place and bought a second hand IRD and fitted that and the drone is still there im going to change the gearbox oil tonight im pretty much devastated and broke anyone point me in other places i should look would be appreciated!! i have spun the wheels and heard a noise from the front near the IRD thats why i replaced i will update after gb oil change thanks in advance

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If its any consolation, I've had my '99 Freelander for 8 years and its been almost perfectly reliable.

I had problems with the transmission after 3 years which was a major problem, but other than that its mainly been servicing and general maintenance (brakes & bulbs).

Once you've sorted the issue, they are pretty reliable cars.

You should be able to sell your IRD to get some decent money back. If you change the oil in it and photo the oil coming out to show its condition - so long as its not grey/metallicy colour it should be in decent condition. Sounds like you might need to invest that money in some drive shafts. If you need them, go OEM and hold back from going aftermarket - they will be a lot cheaper, but you'll be renewing then again soon. If you can squirrel some of that money away it may help as well because you're going to need a VCU (go Bell Engineering recon) and on 120k miles, a TD4 is probably coming up for a clutch replacement fairly soon.

Good luck.

Topped the gear box up and no change anyway so another thing to tick of the list.
I will try get a decent video hard to pick it up on my phone.
I never even thought of the drive shafts making that noise i will have to ask my friend again nicely if he can check it out cheers for the replys ill keep use posted on what i find next and hopefully a video

Did you check for play in the wheel bearings? Jack wheel up, grap it and bear hug it in every direction. Dont be shy and kick its teeth in. If its soild and does not move its not the bearings. Move on to something else...

Another good test for wheel bearings is to spin the wheel with one hand while holding the spring with the other. You’ll feel any roughness in the bearing transmitted there.

Spot on got a wee homer to do the day extra 50 quid towards the landrover haha. I will check the bearings and drive shafts later tonight or tommorow went to make a video but all i could here was lawnmower bouncing about

Gary616 said:

bought a second hand IRD and fitted that and the drone is still there

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How do you know the second hand one is any good? Just asking.

Second hand one came with a 6 month warranty so i assumed it was ok. Had another friend listen under my car while spinning wheel and he recons it could be a driveshaft. The noise is more a wooh wooh wooh wooh when driving and deeper woah woah woah when letting off the pedal the videos are no much use so not bothered uploading.

Took my landy into a specialist who had a drive rekons wheel bearing or tyre noise but not 100% busy for a couple weeks so have to wait and try get a shot of someones wheels to try them out.