Freelander 1 Return of the (Land) Rovers: Kilo-Hippo-Delta

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4Bee4Bee said:
Looks like you will be kept nice and busy with the new purchase :)

The water in the cubby box could be from the rear door seal, which usually seems to be a replacement job. The water marks on the B pillar might go away if you take the hard top off, and then give the seals on both the car and the roof a good clean. Last year I found that grit, dirt, and green mould, on mine was causing problems with the seal. But after taking off, cleaning, and rubbing a rubber conditioner on the seals before putting the roof back on, solved the leaking problem. Don't be alarmed when you look at the seal to see a split at some point on the slope. It is supposed to be there. (fingers crossed it *might* solve the wet cubby box problem too)

Have fun with the new vehicle! - 3 door with the removable roof are great.

Jim
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Thanks Jim. There may be some tell-tale stains on the rear window, which may be consistent with water entry from the upper, horizontal part of the window seal - although seems surprising water might enter this way? Capillary action perhaps?

Also, slightly worrying in this direction, flakes of rust come down from the hardtop when the rear window is lowered. I haven't figured out where this is coming from yet - but might it be related?

Cheers
 
Joe_H said:
Hi Rob and welcome.
Providing you are sure the brakes are ok and not binding, then and 'tightness' on lock and especially in reverse should condemn the VCU immediately.
Best place to get a VCU is from Bell Engineering - very very well respected. Probably the best recon VCU units in the world.
275 quid with fitted bearings. !
http://www.bellengineering.co.uk
Also, for VCU info -
http://www.bellengineering.co.uk/5.html

You can do the OWUT by all means but without a brake issue the symptoms you have are enough to condemn the VCU. Also, the OWUT only does a static test, whereas the rolling test on lock is dynamic. Many people prefer one or the other. - some do both :)
As for IRD, if the 'tightness' is as bad as you describe, then there is a good chance that a hell of a lot of strain has been applied to the IRD and even possibly the DIFF.
Unfortunately, it will be difficult to tell until you get a decent vcu.
You could of course remove the pinion input and inspect the crown wheel in the IRD - simple job to do.
Also, if you remove the IRD you can easily remove the end cover and slide out the main dual shaft assembly complete with DIFF and examine most components in situ. Pinion housing and end cover unit are simple to refit.
Also check all the drive shafts and cv joints (inner and outer) - where the D/S - in the UK - drive shaft inner cv enters the IRD can be an issue. (Details are in the Bell guide)
Might be as easy to remove the whole unit and give it a good once over - DO all the work on the engine - check the clutch and check the IRD at the same time ?
My L series had IRD issues when purchased and needed clutch and Cam / HPFP belts - and a LOT of other things ;) .. so out came the complete lump - far easier.

I wish you well.
I dont envy the air freshner 'pollution' :( - In a vehicle I cannot stand the smell of smoking, Dogs or bloody air fresheners - YUK !

Enjoy, it will keep you off the streets :eek:
(literally!) :D
Joe
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Hi Joe, thanks - great post and extremely helpful.

I have no experience (yet?) with the IRD: are there some on-line guides for what you've just mentioned? I'll just go looking for some now.

On a positive note, it doesn't appear that the previous owner was a smoker... (!)
 
Current Problem (and to-do) list is (will update and add to it):
  1. Head gasket failure and likely cooked cylinder head - 15/8/16 - Cylinder head confirmed toasted; replacement head with bent valves acquired, currently undergoing rebuild. Now completed along with new cam belt, new water pump and new tensioner, full gasket set replacement and new valve stem seals.
  2. Viscous coupling unit failing (now worried about the IRD...) and/or... - 13/8/17 - VCU seems okay, with a 45sec time to complete the OWUT ([email protected])
  3. Seizing handbrake (???) - 27/11/16 - confirmed seized OSR brake: rear brake disassembled and inspected; caked in brake dust and corrosion of back plate. Cleaned up and reassembled - now un-seized! Now need to run the OWUT, but no nasty clunks from the transmission, so fingers crossed the IRD and rear diff are still functioning fine :)
  4. Hardtop seal leak - curiously not leaking at the moment, and no more water in the boot. Not sure why, although the rear window has been re-calibrated following replacement of the battery. Watch this space for more water based fun... See (26) below for update. 01/17 - more water in boot - sprayed seals with silicone spray. Now seems surprisingly water tight :) See (26) below.
  5. Non-functioning reverse lights - 29/8/16 - identified that the reversing switch is FUBAR: new one ordered (Land Rover parts suppliers cheaper than MG Rover ones?). 4/9/16 - Replacement arrived next day, but found to be 1.8mm too long. Raided a spare gearbox for replacement. Now all fixed! - 27/11/16 - Err, no not all fixed. Reverse lights still didn't work. Discovered that the main loom bullet connector was also severely corroded. Cleaned up, normal working service restored. Happy days!
  6. Interior is hairy and stinks ("air fresheners"?!?) - it's like the fall out from biological and chemical warfare! - 22 and 29/8/16 - multiple attempts to vacuum and clean interior, leaving windows open in vain hope that the malodorous stench eventually receeds... So far, most effective product is Fabresse Soft Furnishing de-odouriser. 15/1/17 - Interior still smells of cheap air fresheners. Jeepers, how long does it take for this stench to go away?!? Not quite as bad as it was, but honestly... :( 05/06/17 - Yes, the interior still smells of nasty Halfrauds "air freshener"... grr! 04/12/18 - The "Au de Halfrauds" still lingers - if anyone has any suggestions on how to finally rid the car of the odour, please do let me know (so long as it doesn't involve a more powerful airfreshener!)
  7. Windscreen wiper blades disintegrating - 22/8/16 - Replaced with new Bosch items from Halfrauds
  8. Washer jets very slow (suspect gunked up reservoir tank: which idiot hid it behind the bumper?!?) - 16/12/16 - seems to be better now after a bit of use, but now noticed that the rear screen wash isn't working? I'm sure it did before... further investigation needed. 15/1/17 - Refreshed washer tank with 4 litres of fresh screen mix. Surprisingly, the rear wash has now come back to play! Happy days :)
  9. ABS, TC and HDC warning lights now permanently on (hello to the three amigos!) - 15/8/16 - Spoke to Phil at pscan.eu - he'll come over when back from hols (and I've finished rebuilding the engine) and get his diagnostic kit on the thing to work out what's gone wrong! 19/12/16 - the three amigos disappeared in time for the MoT, thankfully. But they've come back after the car's first road trip in my ownership. The TC seemed quick to come on, and the ABS seemed premature - and drives nicer with the system off in "fail-safe". Wheel speed sensor? 14/01/17 - Now had the car on Philip's T4. Non-functioning longitudinal accelerometer and an erratic signal from the right front wheel speed sensor. Not sure whether erratic speed signal is a sensor problem or a cracked reluctor ring: will need to take things apart to find out! 04/06/17 - After much phaff, the OSF ABS sensor broke when trying to remove it. That led to me having to remove the hub and hammering it out using a 3/4" extension. Replaced with eBay special and the "three amigos" have been extinguished. Still to replace the Yaw sensor... 6/8/2017 - replaced the Yaw/G-sensor, calibrated it on T4, and all seems to be well in the world: the three amigos are now obediently going away once the engine is running. Yay :) 01/12/18 - damp in the OSF connector causes Amigo's return. Now hopefully cured by smothering connector terminals with Vaseline.
  10. Aerial broken: can't receive radio 4 (disaster!) - 29/8/16 - Replaced with a spare MGF one - it's short, so not sure what the radio reception will be like with it. But the radio is a DAB unit, and has it's own aerial on the windscreen anyway? Update 29/12/17 - signal from both DAB and FM is pretty poor. Oh well, at least I have got the hands-free working (which works surprisingly well) and the CD is fine. Plus I can blue-tooth audio connect. Who needs a radio anyway? ;) Feb 2018 - accidentally broke aerial base when jet washing the car: replacement acquired - awaiting an opportune moment to drop the headlining to replace!
  11. Rust behind tail gate handle - taking the ostrich position on this one until other problems sorted, but thinking of cutting out bad metal and brazing in new... Painted area in rust preventer for now - but really needs for me to take the handle off and repair properly: ?braise in some fresh steel and paint?
  12. Interior clock works, but neither the minute nor hour setting buttons work. Repairable? Surround trim also broken, but sort of stays in place. - 29/11/16: replaced broken illumination bulb with WQ13 12V filament bulb from Maplins - £1.49 and job done. Clock taken apart. Minute/hour adjustment switch contacts cleaned, but still no joy. More investigations required. Searching on ebay for a reasonably priced replacement clock surround. Note to self - might try and take carbon rubber buttons from PCB of a spare MG ZR clock to see whether I can get it to work with these... 8/1/17 - discovered that despite the similarity in design, the ZR clock is Pektron and the LR one is Lucas. Rubber buttons are not interchangeable. Worse, even shorting the button pads with copper wires doesn't work. Can't quite work out the fault: PCB tracks are all fine as far as I can see and test. Good news: the clock keeps time - I can live with it being an hour slow during the sunny months ;) - 25/03/2018 - Weirdly, the clock adjusters now work: my Son kindly just lent over and adjusted when the clocks went forward today. Happy days! :)
  13. Rear ash tray trim cover fallen off. Hopefully able to glue it back on? - 4/9/2016 - gorilla glued original facing back on, but ideally the rear ash tray could do with replacing... FAIL. The rear ashtray looked a mess, and wouldn't open. Decided to bite the bullet and buy a new replacement OE assembly from eBay (£15). 27/11/16 - replaced and it looks much, much better. And it works properly too.
  14. Rear back rest does not release to fold flat: near side mechanism appears to have failed? - 11/09/16 - identified that cable end has slipped out of handle. Cable still works, but attempt to reunite cable with handle failed, so will attempt again at a later date! - 01/12/18 - ahem - still bust! I haven't bothered to fix this yet, and have a small pair of pliers to pull on cable when I need to drop the rear seats... I know, that's a bodge!
  15. Corrosion on high level brake light/ rear wheel carrier. - 02/10/16 - removed wheel carrier, cleaned, primed and re-painted in satin black smoothrite. Looks much nicer now :)
  16. Passenger face level air vent has a missing adjuster knob. Not the end of the world, but could do with replacing. Can't remember when I fixed this - some time in 2017 I think - I popped the vent out, disassembled and then reassembled it, and it's now as good as new! :D
  17. Gear lever gaiter split. Eying up replacement on the bay of fleas.
  18. Rubbish, cheap Chinese light commercial vehicle tyres fitted by PO (doubtless a penny-pinching attempt to get through its last MoT). Plenty of tread, but won't be much cop off the tarmac. Looking to buy a set of Yoko Geolanders (215/65R16) - may be on a set of 16x7" Tuff Torque Modular steel wheels... hmmm :) [The slide into the darkside starts here!] - 8/1/17 - after much prevarication on my part, Geolander AT-S tyres ordered and fitted to the original 16" Triple Sport rims on the car: I wasn't too happy about wheels (i.e. Tuff Torque Modulars) that aren't hub centric. 15/1/17 - new tyres proven excellent on green roads and through mud!!! :D
  19. Near side rear brake light not working - 27/11/16 - after much messing around with fuses and checking of wiring diagrams, eventually figured out that at the problem was with the bulb holder: a contact just needed tweaking to come into contact with the electrodes on the bulb itself. Now fixed!
  20. Book for MoT - 30/11/16 - day of reckoning booked: 5pm 5th December... fingers crossed!!! 5/12/16 - failed on NSF ARB drop link. Replaced on 10/12/16: passed MoT 13/12/16 - yay! Happy days. 30/11/18 - another MoT passed: no significant advisories :)
  21. Undertray is looking worse for wear after some muppet cut a flap in it to make for lazy oil changes, and has lost the fixings for the plastic insert and replaced these with cable ties. Everything also covered in rancid oil. Not yet sure what to do about it... fix/repair or re-skin in alloy plate for better protection off road/ green-laning? - 8/1/17 - re-affixed the plastic undertray to sump guard with new stainless bolts and nyloc nuts. 15/1/17 - plastic undertray ripped off when green laning over Salisbury Plain. Grrr. Plastic brackets ripped off - I presume that these are sacrificial, but it has meant that rather more water than is desirable got into engine bay. Now thinking about replacing with an alloy plate replacement. Have now fashioned a lightweight alloy replacement in 2mm alloy. Should be adequate for the light green laning I have planned for the Hippo :) Feb 2018 - alloy better than plastic, but took quite a pummeling. Ideally wants to be 3 or 4mm thick I think - or better, raise the suspension!
  22. Change the oil in the IRD
  23. Perform OWUT to determine current health of the VCU - 13/8/2017 - as mentioned above - 45 seconds using [email protected], so should be okay for another year yet :)
  24. Noticed that the NS door mirror heater isn't working. Not sure why - driver's (OS) seems fine.
  25. Bearing type noise - difficult to figure where it is coming from: ?VCU support bearing? Dec 2018 - still ignoring this; doesn't seem to be getting any worse. Will observe and perhaps plan replacement in the warmer weather.
  26. Water getting into the luggage compartment past the rear door seal on the hinged side (damp carpet tell-tale). Might see whether the rubber can be re-vitalised... 8/1/17 - I think I've found the problem: a split in a part of the weather seal around the rear window. I've sprayed the rubber in silicone spray, which has certainly helped stop water ingress for now, but may need a small rubber repair to resolve.
  27. Developed knock from OSF suspension. MoT man had noted that lower wishbones had corroded and may need replacement in near future. Looking at the lower wishbone ball joint, rubber seal had split: needs replacement! 04/01/17 - completed replacement of lower wishbone and ball joint. Impossible to remove the old rear bush and housing from the wishbone - rusted solid inside the bush insert. Replaced with pattern parts. Now replaced, and knock has gone! :) 9/8/2017 - went to get the tracking done: man at tracking centre said that the adjusters and retaining screws were all seized. Decided to replace the steering arms and track rod end/ball joints. Used TrackAce to set tracking - which seems to have worked really well :) With rack centred, the steering wheel is not at straightahead - will need to remove and put back into correct position. March 2018 - knock as re-appeared. Bearmach drop links are already worn: either faulty or poor quality. Have replaced with OEM Delphi items - hopefully these will last longer!
  28. NSF brake caliper seized in March/April. OSF caliper piston seal found to have split. Both calipers replaced with new.
 
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rob_bell said:
Hi Joe, thanks - great post and extremely helpful.

I have no experience (yet?) with the IRD: are there some on-line guides for what you've just mentioned? I'll just go looking for some now.

On a positive note, it doesn't appear that the previous owner was a smoker... (!)
Click to expand...
:)
Hi Rob,
The IRD inspection is REALLY easy !. - it is absolutely NOTHING like a gearbox's internals. It is large solid lumps and there are no adjustments or endfloats etc to worry about if it is a case of inspection. The end cover is sealed with RTV only, the pinion housing is sealed with an or ring and a touch of RTV.
You can tell how good your unit is very easily. Simplicity to tear down on the bench !. - more difficult if you decide to change bearings as you need pullers and means of getting the inner races of the timken units off. An angle grinder with a 1mm cutting disc and a careful hand can sort that though.:D
Here is a thread from Lord Hippo with some excellent pics - (the thread is about ratios butt he pics tell a thousand words)
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/freelander-1-ird-drive-ratio.280728/

Here is an exploded diagram, but dont be put off ! - if you look at Hippos pics, you can see that the unit is basically just a few connected modules. For example the diff and main drive and the inner drive for the NS drive shaft. (It is a concentric shaft assembly)
If it all looks good, just change the o rings and seals - all simple and no special tools required at all.
Joe
 

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Hi Rob, also, if you haven't got them - get the RAVE land rover service manuals !
For your model - you are best with both the early and later versions of rave (there is one for <2000 and another for >2000, however, for things like th IRD etc there is often more data in one or the other so worth checking. Things like the IRD are the same for all models and years apart from the V6.
Here is a link to my google drive to get both versions. (I will keep it active for a week or so)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzkFpJClXDWlNXJnX3hhUDlJM3M
both run happily on win 64, however, the original rave will uses it's own early version of acrobat - no worries - it will co-exist. It may also come up with an error on startup but this fine.
Another useful thing to have is the Microcat parts catalogue - you can enter your vin and get all the parts details, numbers and exploded diagrams. Very useful.
If you want that let me know. The thing with that is that it needs Win 32 - NOT 64. If you are familiar with setting up a virtual machine using Virtual box or similar then you can run a 32bit VM on 64 bit windows and run Microcat.
Hope that helps.
Joe
 
Found this on YouTube:

The unit looks nice and simple.

Interestingly, when I reversed the Hippo onto the drive, I don't recall hearing any clunks. However, one of the recovery guys mentioned that he did hear a clunk when the Hippo was winched off the back of the truck. Hmm.

If - *IF* - I am very very lucky, this might just be the VCU. I want to get the car a fresh MoT ASAP, so hopefully I can get the HGF fixed, and sort the VCU and I can get Kilo-Hippo-Delta back on the road. If the IRD is cream-crackered perhaps I can address this later?
 
Joe_H said:
Hi Rob, also, if you haven't got them - get the RAVE land rover service manuals !
For your model - you are best with both the early and later versions of rave (there is one for <2000 and another for >2000, however, for things like th IRD etc there is often more data in one or the other so worth checking. Things like the IRD are the same for all models and years apart from the V6.
Here is a link to my google drive to get both versions. (I will keep it active for a week or so)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzkFpJClXDWlNXJnX3hhUDlJM3M
both run happily on win 64, however, the original rave will uses it's own early version of acrobat - no worries - it will co-exist. It may also come up with an error on startup but this fine.
Another useful thing to have is the Microcat parts catalogue - you can enter your vin and get all the parts details, numbers and exploded diagrams. Very useful.
If you want that let me know. The thing with that is that it needs Win 32 - NOT 64. If you are familiar with setting up a virtual machine using Virtual box or similar then you can run a 32bit VM on 64 bit windows and run Microcat.
Hope that helps.
Joe
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Thanks once again Joe! I'll see how I get on. As it happens, I still have a PC at home running Win98, so I suspect that I'll be fine with these :D
 
lol :) - I have seen that video, it is frightening :eek: . simply because they are trying to show that you should buy one of their units :eek::eek::eek::eek:
The way they handle the units is terrible - dropping the dual shaft assembly back in like that will most likely bugger up the o rings that keep the IRD and gearbox oil separate. They just seem like total animals :rolleyes:
NOT the sort of place I would buy an IRD from......

The main things to check with the IRD - is the crown wheel and pinion - the pinion assembly is as said, really easy to remove - you can then check the play and bearing roughness. the mains concentric shaft / diff assembly and the intermediate shaft assembly (the two shafts with the huge gears on- lify out and you can check all the bearings visually and by feel.
What will be left is the crown wheel which is not removable without removing the oil cooler plate. You need to inspect the crown wheel teeth (and pinion) for damage- it will be obvious. Also check the crownwheel which will be the only bit left in the case when you remove the 3 main assemblies. (pinion housing, concentric shaft and Diff, and the intermediate shaft assembly) The usual big culprit for IRD failure is not the pinion bearing - it is the Crownwheel support bearing at the side nearest the oil cooler (which as this fails quickly damages the other support bearing !. This allows the crown wheel to move causing the eventual teeth disengagement and damage, This is more frequent that pinion issues.
As you can hopefully tell, it is very very easy and quick to inspect.
Joe;)
 
Ah. They're selling a service? Okay... (GULP)

So what I think we're saying (correct me if I am wrong), is that if I have the prop shaft off to change the VCU, I might as well unbolt the pinion to inspect the crown and pinion gears and the oil? Assuming that the oil hasn't assumed a metallic hue (like the example in that video) and the teeth on those gears are okay, chances are the VCU hasn't yet killed the IRD?
 
rob_bell said:
Ah. They're selling a service? Okay... (GULP)

So what I think we're saying (correct me if I am wrong), is that if I have the prop shaft off to change the VCU, I might as well unbolt the pinion to inspect the crown and pinion gears and the oil? Assuming that the oil hasn't assumed a metallic hue (like the example in that video) and the teeth on those gears are okay, chances are the VCU hasn't yet killed the IRD?
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Yup, that about it :)
It should pass the MOT ok with the pinion housing removed - you can get a blanking plate from ebay.
If there IS an issue with the crown wheel / pinion teeth, then it is hardly cost effective to repair - sometimes (rarely) the teeth on the huge gears from concentric to intermediate can break (due to a break down of the D/S drive shaft inner cv input bearing. This is usually catastrophic. That is why it is worth inspecting the end case (as the bearing outer race is in there along with the caged roller for the intermediate.
Drop the oil first, that will tell you most of what you need to know .... then inspect CWP, if not removing the IRD for inspection then check for any play in the inner CV to IRD (any play here is the input bearing and should be immediately fixed.) if none then no worries.)
 
Thanks Joe. I'll come back to this once I've sorted the head gasket and more than likely replaced the cylinder head!

As you probably know, projects like this just need to broken down into digestible parts - but the insight into the IRD is extremely helpful. :D

PS I was amused to see an advert for the new Merc C-class on the telly the other night. Only £299 per month apparently. In three months, that would buy my car, a head gasket repair and a VCU. Add another month and a half for the worst case scenario of a replacement IRD! I know which I'd prefer. ;)
 
Removing the rear pinion on the IRD is just 5 bolts, and possibly a lot of naughty words lying awkwardly wondering why it won't budge. As said, with it removed you'll be able to examine the crown and pinion gears for broken teeth - which will obviously give you an immediate answer whether you should attempt to run the car 4WD without replacing the IRD. However, I'm not sure if you'll really be able to tell if its healthy or not. That will depend, mainly, on the bearings. The best indicator of the bearings is the oil that comes out. When my IRD gave a 'loud audible alarm' that it was not in the best of health the oil that came out was grey with mushed bearings.

I've always though that any lateral play in the pinion is a sign that the bearings are shot - once there's play on the pinion, then the gears don't mate properly and their teeth break. However, I think there's a greater belief on the forum that the bearings on the main shafts in the IRD go first and are more difficult to test without stripping it down.

Recon IRDs are about £650 I believe - so for a project - an expensive item. The crown & pinion gear condition is the guide to the complexity/cost of a recon. They're about £175 to buy. A bearing/cooler/seal is about £150. So if you catch a failing IRD before it damages the gears, then given your familiarity with spanners, and what looks like a decent set people to call on with different specialities - a DIY recon need only cost about £150 plus the oil and maybe some beer. In fact, if you know what you're doing, you can probably determine which bearings/seal need replacement and get the bits even cheaper.

Having said that - you may find that your IRD's fine and dandy :)

The first thing to remove on the IRD is the fill plug - be careful it is made of a very soft cheese.

Nice write up :)
 
rob_bell said:
PS I was amused to see an advert for the new Merc C-class on the telly the other night. Only £299 per month apparently. In three months, that would buy my car, a head gasket repair and a VCU. Add another month and a half for the worst case scenario of a replacement IRD! I know which I'd prefer. ;)
Click to expand...

And that would be after putting down a hefty deposit, no doubt.
Also, have you seen inside a Merc recently. They all seem to have a really crappy plastic looking tablet thing shoved in the middle of the dash that looks totally out of place.
 
GrumpyGel said:
The first thing to remove on the IRD is the fill plug - be careful it is made of a very soft cheese.

Nice write up :)
Click to expand...
Thanks - and you're absolutely right. I guess broken pinion/crown gear teeth basically writes the IRD off. But the gear oil colour will probably tell a story of its own regarding bearing health. A full check will require what you and Joe have indicated: IRD removal and disassembly.
 
4Bee4Bee said:
And that would be after putting down a hefty deposit, no doubt.
Also, have you seen inside a Merc recently. They all seem to have a really crappy plastic looking tablet thing shoved in the middle of the dash that looks totally out of place.
Click to expand...
Difficult to describe a modern Merc without being rude... They're much too bling for my taste. And yup, there is deposit, insurance - and I would imagine that that £299 is only to lease the car for a couple of years, after which you own nothing at all. Bargain.

I'm old fashioned. I quite like owning what I drive. ;)
 
rob_bell said:
PS I was amused to see an advert for the new Merc C-class on the telly the other night. Only £299 per month apparently. In three months, that would buy my car, a head gasket repair and a VCU. Add another month and a half for the worst case scenario of a replacement IRD! I know which I'd prefer. ;)
Click to expand...

And after next april, the VED gets changed so it could be silly money per year !!

4Bee4Bee said:
And that would be after putting down a hefty deposit, no doubt.
Also, have you seen inside a Merc recently. They all seem to have a really crappy plastic looking tablet thing shoved in the middle of the dash that looks totally out of place.
Click to expand...

+1

rob_bell said:
Difficult to describe a modern Merc without being rude... They're much too bling for my taste. And yup, there is deposit, insurance - and I would imagine that that £299 is only to lease the car for a couple of years, after which you own nothing at all. Bargain.

I'm old fashioned. I quite like owning what I drive. ;)
Click to expand...

A colleague of mine has a new merc something or other - with the daft plastic tablet thing - it not only looks rubbish (IMHO), but the sat nav doesn't seem to work very well - it did its best to get us lost on the way into Manchester the other day = poor in my book. Its also got bluemotion or somesuch, which turns the engine off when it wants to, and then you have to wait for "it" to restart it before you can go ( obviously) - I found it infuriating, and I wasn't driving!!
 
Hi Rob, welcome to the mad house. I followed your MGF madness before but afraid you just took a step into the dark side. Before you know it you'll have diseasils in the fleet like me.
I sold my MGF recently and only today sold my K series Freelander so now I've only 2 Freelanders, a TD4 2002 4 door and a TD4 2002 3 door.
As for your VCU and IRD, at 80k miles I'd be very surprised if the IRD is dead and the VCU will probably be due replacement but shouldn't be locked up completely. The VCU will normally be fine up to 120k, yes much less if tyres badly neglected but most will still be OK at 80k.
As for testing your VCU, some here will swear by the OWU test and others think it is a waste of time but I think it is a useful tool for checking if it is overly tight. I've tested it on two cars and got 2 minutes on a car with 120k miles and 3 minutes on a car with around 110k miles. I reconned them both myself and they are now around the 30 second mark. Some have found a VCU didn't put drive to the rear wheels in slippy conditions even though it gave a normal time doing the test but this was a reconned VCU and who knows what fluid was used. Mine both worked perfectly and the OWU test times concurred with how they drove.

BTW here are my project threads so you can get an idea of what to look for.
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/i-bought-me-a-freelander.275148/
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/freelander-project-iii-audrey.299738/
https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/looks-like-ive-done-it-again-doh.293904/
 
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Welcome aboard Rob!
There seems to be an increasing number of mentally challenged hippo..MG owners on here. Not that that's a bad thing!
Myself, I own an MGF-VVC and recently bought a V6 Facelift Freelander using the warped logic that if the Hippo was to pack it in
the V6 could go into the MG. Of course the V6 would likely be the first part of the Hippo to go so that idea may not be too practical. :confused:
Good luck with your project!
BTW: Are you the Rob Bell of Shed fame...If so I have a suspension sphere question for you. :)
 
Thanks Alibro! :D I'll have a read of your projects! I fear that the dark side of the force runs strong with me: I've had one MGF since it was new in Jan 1996, and the other is called Project Shed, for which I am picking up a 160PS VVC engine and transmission (from a ZR160) fairly shortly. I've also made up a motorbike throttle body set up for it - which should prove interesting... Plus, my MG ZTT runs the same M47R diseasil found in the Freelander (have had to work through all the common problems on that too!). Runs brilliantly on the 160PS re-map that the Rover75 and ZT club T4 guys do :)

Thanks for your thoughts on the VCU and IRD. Fingers crossed. I am pretty certain that the VCU needs replacing, but I really hope that I am not in for an IRD overhaul too...

Hi Rich, I hadn't realised you were here too? Yup, as you guessed, one and the same! Drop me a mail either here or over on the register forum regarding the Hydragas spheres... :)
 
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