Slow on start

Hi all
First time freelander owner here, so be gentle.lol
I have brought myself a 2004 td4 hse automatic which has a couple of known problems like window regulators, these I can handle but a couple of days after buying it I noticed a leak from under the engine.
I believe this to be diesel but in the past two days it has stopped,fingers crossed.
My question is when I start the car after it has been left overnight or all day at work I can pull away and put my foot to the floor and there's no power, no guts, but once the car has warmed up, say a mile of driving it drives OK.
Also while I'm here are the heaters only supposed to blow like warm air?

DAZZA77 said:

Hi all
First time freelander owner here, so be gentle.lol
I have brought myself a 2004 td4 hse automatic which has a couple of known problems like window regulators, these I can handle but a couple of days after buying it I noticed a leak from under the engine.
I believe this to be diesel but in the past two days it has stopped,fingers crossed.
My question is when I start the car after it has been left overnight or all day at work I can pull away and put my foot to the floor and there's no power, no guts, but once the car has warmed up, say a mile of driving it drives OK.
Also while I'm here are the heaters only supposed to blow like warm air?

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With a diesel auto, of any species, I would not expect great performance right away in very cold weather.
The engine will be down on power until it warms up, because the fuel will be thick, and doesn't vapourise very well for a while.
And the fluid in the autobox and diffs will be thick as well resulting in further power loss in the transmission.
So long as it runs well when hot, it is probably as good as a freelander ever gets.

DAZZA77 said:

I noticed a leak from under the engine.
I believe this to be diesel but in the past two days it has stopped,fingers crossed.

Click to expand...

If it's leaking from the front of the engine, on the RHS, then it'll be the HP fuel pump. These start leaking initially in summer, then slowly leak worse, until they leak all the time. A home recondition, or professional reconditioned unit is the only cure.

DAZZA77 said:

My question is when I start the car after it has been left overnight or all day at work I can pull away and put my foot to the floor and there's no power, no guts, but once the car has warmed up, say a mile of driving it drives OK.

Click to expand...

Pretty normal. You can improve cold performance by holding the revs at 2500 for 1 minute before setting off, obviously let the engine return to idle before selecting a gear. Holding the revs up will warm the injectors, so they spray better, and give you better performance initially.

DAZZA77 said:

Also while I'm here are the heaters only supposed to blow like warm air?

Click to expand...

Does the temperature gauge only go 1/3rd up?
If it doesn't get to normal, then the thermostat has failed, keeping the engine too cool, which will effect the heater and MPG.

My old fl1 was lovely and warm, I don't think I ever had it on full. Mind you, I'm used to the series heater which is like a cold knats fart.

Col

I've never driven a TD4 Auto - but I recon you've got a problem with the cold starts.

I used to own a 300TDI Disco auto. On cold mornings it was quicker to walk to the first 1/2 mile than drive. My L Series Freelander (admittedly a manual) has fine performance from start up in temperatures probably colder than the Disco experienced.

I never investigated what was wrong with the Disco, just lived with it.