Oil leak issue with freelander

Hi,

My s reg xedi freelander seems to be leaking some kind of oil when the engine is turned off. The engine oil in my car was recently changed by a mechanic and I showed him this leak and after removing the cover underneath the freelander it seemed like there was no leak from the oil sump and the oil filter was clean as well but the rest of the engine was covered with this oil. the oil seems to be a light/clear colour. the leak seemed to be coming from the centre somewhere and he said that it is from the driveshaft seal which needs replacing for the gearbox on the driverside. he mentioned there are 2 gearboxes in the freelander and the leak is from the 4 wheel drive gearbox not the normal gearbox that is located directly under the passenger side. he said he will charge £80 to replace the driveshaft seal and also change the gearbox oil.
what is the actual name of this gearbox and what is the name of the actual part needed? is £80 reasonable plus the part and oil? is there a chance that the oil change could have caused this? he did put in about 5.5 litres of engine oil which i thought was quite alot. how difficult will it be to replace if i decided to do it myself? i also have the rave manual. any help/advise will be appreciated.

clean all the oil off and then go for a drive and see if you can see for sure where its coming from! i think you are talking about the ird? whick it on the gearbox. but clean all the oil off then look for the leak.

I'm sure that it is the ird which is leaking and the driveshaft seal needs replacing. The leak seems to be from underneath the driverside near the front. When the car is turned off you can smell some sort of oil from the car. Another thing is that when I reverse the car it sometimes makes a clunking noise. The clutch and gearbox oil were changed recently.

have yu checked the VCU recently?

no havent checked it. what should i look out for with the vcu?

look in the FAQ section for tests and ideas.

Oil used in the IRD has a distinctive smell so could be this which is leaking. If it is, get the seal done quickly since the IRD does not have a large volume of oil in it and has some highly loaded (and expensive) gears in it. If it is one of the front drive shaft seals £80 is not an unreasonable price, the pinion shaft seal to the prop shaft is easier.

I got the ird drive shaft seal replaced today and this was the cause of the leak. however i have a problem where when i reverse the car i hear a clunking noise. another thing to note is that the mechanic told me that when he changed the gearbox oil in the ird he found metal pieces in the old oil. the car drives fine but i just get the clunking noise when reversing and turning in reverse. ive read that this could be the ird or vcu coming to the end of its life or could be the rear diff mount needs replacing. what are your thoughts on this? if i ignore the problem is there a chance that one day the car will just grind to a halt?

an update on the problem i have. was driving the car this morning and can now hear a rattling noise when slowing down and when foot is off accelerator. im fed up with this car. since i've had it there have been nothing but problems.

Sorry but that sounds like the IRD (have a search on here) is saying goodbye.

Either throw some money at it or throw some matches in it.

the rattling noise seems to have stopped now and I can hear a clunk when in 3rd, 4th or 5th gear when foot is off gas. the clunk is similar to when reversing and turning full lock. is this definitely the ird then?

What you describe sounds very much like the IRD is knackered.
Does it feel like the brakes are applied when on full lock?
If so, that's a sure sign the VCU is knackered too, and is the cause of the IRD failure.

Yes....the car will grind to a halt, and sooner rather than later.

I had the same recently.....started with a knocking/tapping noise when slowing down. Developed to a definate clunk on full lock. 3 weeks later was undriveable and on the back of a tow truck!

A reconditioned VCU and reconditioned IRD plus fitting...cost £1,000.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it does sound awfully familiar.

I too was getting ****ed off since owning the car, having needed a new power steering pump and other smaller problems.

For me it was decision time when the IRD went.
Spend the money or scrap it?
A non runner was worth peanuts, so I spent the money.

I still have another problem to sort out, but on the whole I'm happy with it now. If ow't else major goes wrong I'm gunna get rid and get a discovery.

I'm surprised that your mechanic didn't tell you the IRD was knackered once he found metal particles when changing the oil?

thepeopleschamp said:

I'm sure that it is the ird which is leaking and the driveshaft seal needs replacing. The leak seems to be from underneath the driverside near the front. When the car is turned off you can smell some sort of oil from the car. Another thing is that when I reverse the car it sometimes makes a clunking noise. The clutch and gearbox oil were changed recently.

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Diff oil from the ird has a distinctive smell.I'm not sure if your convinced its oil from the ird d/s seal.

I'm not sure if theres any difference between the xedi and my l series lump,but it took me more than a few days to be sure I had an oil pipe under the alternator.It showed up as drips on the driveway and a light mist of oil on the engine block (front).

It turned out to be a high pressure hose that from the engine block to the alternator,which exploded just as I got off the motorway and was aproaching a roundabout .Lost 5litres of oil in the long blink of an eye,all over the brake discs and underside of the car.

Allnick said:

What you describe sounds very much like the IRD is knackered.
Does it feel like the brakes are applied when on full lock?
If so, that's a sure sign the VCU is knackered too, and is the cause of the IRD failure.

Yes....the car will grind to a halt, and sooner rather than later.

I had the same recently.....started with a knocking/tapping noise when slowing down. Developed to a definate clunk on full lock. 3 weeks later was undriveable and on the back of a tow truck!

A reconditioned VCU and reconditioned IRD plus fitting...cost £1,000.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it does sound awfully familiar.

I too was getting ****ed off since owning the car, having needed a new power steering pump and other smaller problems.

For me it was decision time when the IRD went.
Spend the money or scrap it?
A non runner was worth peanuts, so I spent the money.

I still have another problem to sort out, but on the whole I'm happy with it now. If ow't else major goes wrong I'm gunna get rid and get a discovery.

I'm surprised that your mechanic didn't tell you the IRD was knackered once he found _metal particles_ when changing the oil?

Click to expand...

You see op this is why you should diy there will be iron filings stuck to the ird drain plug.Were there big chunks or small filings?I bet you dont know because you dint see um.If the drive shaft needs replacing they need replacing buy the shafts and the buy the seals b4 y do.DIY.

I know theres some good honest mechanics on here,but mechanics especially dont like the freelander and think theyre a joke and will screw you for anything they think your almost willing to pay or they might take the thing off your hands for a meagre sum.You should keep the freelander and with the money you save doing the job youself go out and get a haynes manual and invest in the tools you need to do whatever job needs doing.

The freelander is a great vehicle to start mechanicing on because lots of things break on them and all can be fixed without hauling a welder about.You'll have to brush up on yer welding if you do ever sink money into a rusting disco or defender,not to mention the cost of all the replacement hinges...blah....blah........blah.

the mechanic said to me that the ird is on its way out and will need replacing. I will look for a reconditioned unit then and get it changed. probably will change the vcu as well incase that breaks as well. its probably better than selling it for cheap and getting another car.

If I replace the IRD and then remove the existing VCU will the car be okay in 2WD?

yes