Freelander 1 Rust...

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rob_bell

rob_bell

Well-Known Member
Posts
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Location
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While under my Hippo yesterday, feeling a little frustrated by my having ordered the incorrect ABS sensor (incorrectly listed on eBay as being suitable for a 2001 FL1), I had a little look around at the underside of the car.

Obviously, the fuel tank cradle is a little crusty, but I don't think that this needs replacing just yet.

What bothered me is the crunchy rust in the sill ends on both sides of the car, and it looks as though the base of the OS outrigger has some blistering rust as well. Quite a shock!

Quite a lot of the sill is covered in plastic trim, so well hidden from causal inspection - but I think my Hippo is going to need some welding soon.

Is rust emerging as a problem on our Hippos, or is it just mine? (I do attempt to jet wash off all the mud after I go off roading, promise!)
 
Sorry to hear of the issues and rust bug Rob.
I have seen Hippos with a small weld patch on the sills and also have seen rust to wafer thin on the rear subframe where the suspension arms bolt !!
Mine have not been eaten yet but I did strip the underside and re underseal it also pumping about 5 litres of wayoyl (mixed with fresh engine oil) into all the sills and box sections during lockdown whilst I had all the suspension off being powder coasted.
Also have replaced many fuel tank cradles. Some rotted right through on the main brace. MOT apparently only fail it if the tank is deemed insecure. Some I have seen I wouldn't like to put 60 Litres in !!
Re your ABS sensor, if it is the early round push in type, you may be able to drill it out then pull out the case, saves taking hub off.
 
rust proofing is certainly a good idea. Some of the problems on mine appears to be related to failure of the underseal - and I suspect that moisture has been trapped against the metal.

After the MoT I'll take a wire brush on a grinder and see how much metal still survives - and then think about breaking out the hot-metal glue gun! ;)
 
Kevm said:
R is 1997
Click to expand...
Early one soon to be a classic
We live on the Scottish border and believe me the amount of salt they put on the roads up over the border is enough to rust a battleship
My is a “56” but started with SK any new style reg beginning with S is from Scotland ( or Carlisle apparently)
And it’s a mess underneath
Old style like yours if I remember correctly ( not 100% sure ) if it as a S in the middle of the last three numbers
So I would expect a bit of rust if it’s spent anytime over the border
 
I waxoyled mine about 8 years ago and have only made cusory inspections of the underside since. I spend a fair bit of time parked on the exposed north coast of Cornwall at Porthtowan, and also weekly near Falmouth, and I work by the local highways salt barn:eek: but don't appear to be suffering too much. I am expecting to be replacing the cradle in the next couple of years though and will probably give the underside another coat of waxoyl soon.
 
rob_bell said:
While under my Hippo yesterday, feeling a little frustrated by my having ordered the incorrect ABS sensor (incorrectly listed on eBay as being suitable for a 2001 FL1), I had a little look around at the underside of the car.

Obviously, the fuel tank cradle is a little crusty, but I don't think that this needs replacing just yet.

What bothered me is the crunchy rust in the sill ends on both sides of the car, and it looks as though the base of the OS outrigger has some blistering rust as well. Quite a shock!

Quite a lot of the sill is covered in plastic trim, so well hidden from causal inspection - but I think my Hippo is going to need some welding soon.

Is rust emerging as a problem on our Hippos, or is it just mine? (I do attempt to jet wash off all the mud after I go off roading, promise!)
Click to expand...

Hi,

Yes Freelander rust, I've changed my wishbones because of that ...
To avoid rust, you need to wash under the car, if mud get stuck somewhere under the car you will get rust ...

Wheel arches are a common problem in many car, plastic trim are here to avoid dirt and mud to get stuck to the metal ...
 
Mine is a 2001 “Y”. Came from the North Yorkshire area originally, but I suspect that its early life was as an urban runabout (as many where).

looks good behind the plastic liners though. It is the end of the sills that have become crunchy and somewhat depressingly great chunks of rust came off in my hands - mainly ahead of outer wheel arch trims and sill seam protector trims.

The out rigger rust on the floor plan behind rear wheels. Not sure if it is fully gone through yet, but something to look at after MoT: this may need a plate welding in.

If I can upload some pictures, I shall.
 
I've conveniently forgotten to look at this in any more detail - all my old cars are demanding my attention at once, the blighters!

Must take another look and see how deep under the surface any corrosion goes...

Thanks for the reminder @MollyNomad :D
 
rob_bell said:
I've conveniently forgotten to look at this in any more detail - all my old cars are demanding my attention at once, the blighters!

Must take another look and see how deep under the surface any corrosion goes...

Thanks for the reminder @MollyNomad :D
Click to expand...
I must admit that I find that keeping an old car on the road is getting harder. Even my comparatively young FL2 has quite a lot of rust on the underside. If it wasn't for the fact that the inner cills are made of steel much thicker than I've seen on some other cars chassis members, it would have needed welding by now. I was shocked that it measured at 2mm thick, which means more time for the tin worm to make a hole. :)
I do think these vehicles could have been better protected against rot though. The wife has had several German cars of late, and rust just isn't something I need to worry about. However other things are like headlamp bulbs are a pain. I've just had to buy a good pair of bulbs for the wife's A5 headlamps, which cost £150 for the pair, as the £30 pair I bought are causing issues with the ignitors.
At least there's no rust to worry about though.
 
Nodge68 said:
I must admit that I find that keeping an old car on the road is getting harder. Even my comparatively young FL2 has quite a lot of rust on the underside. If it wasn't for the fact that the inner cills are made of steel much thicker than I've seen on some other cars chassis members, it would have needed welding by now. I was shocked that it measured at 2mm thick, which means more time for the tin worm to make a hole. :)
I do think these vehicles could have been better protected against rot though. The wife has had several German cars of late, and rust just isn't something I need to worry about. However other things are like headlamp bulbs are a pain. I've just had to buy a good pair of bulbs for the wife's A5 headlamps, which cost £150 for the pair, as the £30 pair I bought are causing issues with the ignitors.
At least there's no rust to worry about though.
Click to expand...
Nissan qashqai headlights 😩 2018 dlr failed on both @£845 a side
 
Nodge68 said:
I'd have had a go at fixing them I think. I'm hoping the Audi DRLs don't fail, as the lamp units are well over £1k each, and come complete with bulbs, which is strange.
Click to expand...
It’s not mine but a good friend’s she’s a driving instructor so it’s a non starter if the cars not 100%
Is there no firms doing repairs on modern lights ?
 
Nodge68 said:
It would be quite lucrative I would think. Some of these modern BMW headlamps are laser LED, which cost about £5k per side, which is crazy money.
Click to expand...
It’s all fun and games till it effects someone’s livelihood car manufacturing shouldn’t have potential costs like that hanging around waiting to fail
shes in a hole with this one unfortunately
The driver side one I got her one from eBay with scratch’s and a lug broke but fully functional
But struggling getting a N/S one that doesn’t look like it’s been kicked around
 
my old FL1 had a fair but of rust, you have to peek behind the arch liners too, oddly where mine had most of its rot.

Some LR models are better than others my 22yr old P38 doesn't have a spec of rot under it being a swansea car for most of its life, the last of rust is impressive..

My D2 on the other hand has holes you can stuck yer head through... ;)

MepDJbul.jpg

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