Somethings Not Right!?

mine's done about 102K, no HGF so far. As you say, a lottery but they all get labelled as crap when that's not necessarily the case. It possibly helps that i warm mine up before driving it which i admit you shouldn't HAVE to do.
If you consider than on ebay there are a number of petrol freelanders with HGF for about £500 or so, you could spend £300 on all of the engine mods, spend a weekend fitting them and have a perfectly serviceable and cheap car at the end of it. Obviously it would still have the annoying little niggles such as VCU failure, water ingress, etc. but nothing's perfect.

Fair point.

I know the K-series isn't as fantastic as people would like and your points are to value but the only way I would sell this on now is when I get board or want to upgrade it to something bigger.

Diesels are good and we've got one as a second car (Ford Fiesta 1.6 S DTCI) that's what the wife tends to stick with which is her choice and this is mine (for now).

It would be interesting to know how many HGF from 2006 models + since these all had the upgrades fitted as standard.....?

Whythehellnot.

What year is yours? Have you done/had any work to it? At that miles have you changed the VCU or it's it still working...

It's fair to say the Freelander like the MGF/T needs love..... but it shouldn't put people off from giving them ago, the MG VVC was great fun to drive and left many a car standing and looked class for it's age. Once this is all done and dusted I'm going to change my use of the vehicle as seriously the trip to work takes less than 2 minutes which has probably caused some of the issues towards the HGF.

Mine's a 98 S reg model, I had it from ~73K a year ago. The cam belt was changed at 60K, i recently changed the clutch and mondo'd it as it was winding up. It uses a little bit of water so i'm going to flush it and change the water pump soon - I think the heater matrix is leaking slightly TBH.
I'm expecting HGF any time and if it does happen i'll mod it to within an inch of it's life. The question really is whether I should do a pre-emptive HG change. My thoughts are that if it ain't broke don't fix it.

PS
I paid £1500 for it, a TD4 would have been at least £3000. If I do get HGF and spend £300 on it, i'm still £1200 up. Not that i care - it's a company car that i get paid £500 a month to run so it paid for itself last May. I'm planning to run it until next year when i am getting an x-trail. I'm not sentimental, I understand that they have issues and a terrible reputation but from a financial perspective that is great as it depresses the price and the reality is that for a small layout you have a good chance of sorting it out. It suits me but if you don't know how to wield a spanner and don't have a backup vehicle then they're probably a nightmare.

My advice if anything can be learnt from this whole this is: Do the Mods now!

Your motor sounds great to have done all those miles without any of the key parts going but if you already know the waters dropping change the gaskets, oil ladder now before it goes! Your head might not be warped take it off and try the paste test to see if you've any raised points on the head if your lucky you might not need it skimmed, but the MLS gaskets/shim are for heads that have been skimmed. but again why pay for head testing/stripping/skim/built/testing when you've got the head off before a possible crack a simple skim is half the cost. I've also settled on "PAYNE" MLS Gasket/s and K branded head bolts (don't trust ebay parts on this one, if it's £35 for all gaskets/bolts etc it's to good to be true, the parts are sold cheap cos they are cheap) I know it's a canny lump of cash in one go but it's worth the effort. Again I've ordered the upgraded Oil Ladder some wouldn't bother but it should get the correct tention needed from the bolts.

You'd also need to get the upgraded thermostat, these are around £17 but you'd need the pipes to go with it (normal car shops cant get them) LR dealer/internet hunting or breakersyard, you could get the thermo from there if you choose.

I've basically shopped around different suppliers for these parts priced them up, checked up on satisfaction and settled with one supplier for the lot, I got a nice discount as a bulk order and UPS delivery for tomorrow.

So it could be running again by Saturday/Sunday!

Haha some good points........... Between you and me, our back up car the Fiesta the ECU failed the week before this happened hahahaha. I've just took receipt of a replacement unit from Oldham and the data's getting transf today/tomor, lucky us got the shopping in the day before mine went. £150 for ECU, £70 for fords IDS PC to do the biz. (issue immob died, Bosch unit's cant be taken apart, new/replacment match required)

Yeah I agree - I think later on in the year if I get bored one weekend i'll do it all in a one-er as i'd like to change the timing belt to be sure. I believe you can get the remote thermostat in a kit with all parts supplied for about £85 all in from rimmers here.
Let us know how long it all takes and how much it costs in the end, always interesting to know.

Anguslives! said:

Fair point.

It would be interesting to know how many HGF from 2006 models + since these all had the upgrades fitted as standard.....?

Click to expand...

Not sure there are any 55/06 1.8's. Rover went belly up in 2005 and the engine manufacturer Power Train went with them. Im pretty sure the last 12 months of Freelander 1 production was TD4 only!

Hummm just asking as what what I can gather is late 2005 the mod's were all done, but something to do with 2006 the oil ladder became available to public....

So it's possible some 2005's have all the extra's.....? Just checked last reg on the Free1 is 2006 (56reg). 2007 Free2 was brought out.

Perhaps the reason they have fell under your radar is the mods worked hahaha

WTHN, I've looked up part ref from site you quoted and google'd it, other sites save on delivery "every pound helps"

What I've been looking at today is creating a sensor unit to warn of low water, these units are already on the market but at around £90 I think I can knock up a buzzer to tell me the waters low, Years ago I made a buzzer for my Mother to tell her it was raining so she could get the washing in "hahaha" I'd just need to reverse the board and it will tell me when it's dry instead.

Anguslives! said:

WTHN, I've looked up part ref from site you quoted and google'd it, other sites save on delivery "every pound helps"

What I've been looking at today is creating a sensor unit to warn of low water, these units are already on the market but at around £90 I think I can knock up a buzzer to tell me the waters low, Years ago I made a buzzer for my Mother to tell her it was raining so she could get the washing in "hahaha" I'd just need to reverse the board and it will tell me when it's dry instead.

Click to expand...

Mad hat man has done it I believe if you search, also there are thermostat and water pump mods

Its already got the thermostat mod on mine the water pump (elec) now that's some kit I'd have to workout the rate required I've seen some kits for £80-ish but yet haven't looked over water rate flow for the FREEYOURMINDLANDER!!!!!

yu dont need to - just get a Davies Craig EWP80 and the electronic control for it. Make sure it is designed to run for 10 minutes after engine shut-down and the temp sensor is as close to the hottest water as you can. This should help reduce the cavitation effects of a poorly designed coolant system.

As for the low coolant sensor - that latest coolant bottle incorporates one.

Does it? I'll look it up then.

Coolant Bottle RPCF000160
Coolant Bottle Sensor RPCJ000040

I'll price up these tomorrow with Quickco.

Couldn't be bothered to read all the posts, so sorry if it's been asked, but
if the head gasket was O.K. and the liners sealing how did all your water get into your sump in the first place ?

ianda12

It did overheat, the head was warped and has been tested/stripped/skimmed. The old original single steel gasket has been chucked, on removing the head bolts some felt slighty tighter than others supporting head issues. I've not measured the bolts yet but I'm going to just to see if they're all the same or not, either way they are off to bin-land.

The Liners are sound, but I'm changing the oil rail to make sure I get the best out of the bolts and MLS gasket.

If I'm spending the time on this I'm going to spend the cash to help prevent this again in the future. I've also bought top replacmenet gaskets/bolts/belt kit, and would guess that one of the main reasons GHF is so common (apart from design) is cheap and poor replacement parts flooding the market from Ebay and the likes off. Some garages dont bother with the rail as they are totally unaware of the design floor LR did post an update telling you if you change the gasket to change the bolts and rail/ladder!

I'm going to look into the sensor coolant bottle and then at a later date (but not that late) the DG Elec unit. I'm going to fit the new parts Saturday fingers crossed all goes well........ Wife's car is also sorted ECU data transf onto new unit total cost of that £220.00 going to pick up her's tonight after work.
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Well I've priced up the Water Bottle and Sensor from Quickco.

Coolant Bottle R PCF000160 £30.79+Vat
Coolant Bottle Sensor R PCJ000040 £17.17+Vat

This are special order parts and take a few days to arrive. If anyone can suggest other suppliers apart from scrapyards it would be good to know.

So now just to settle on either fitting a buzzer or using a light from dash? Or perhaps both.... The other parts needed should only cost around £15 or less, but you can agree will provides some much needed comfort for the K series.

This is a fantastic idea and well done to the peeps for suggesting it.