Thinking about buying a freelander - advice please!

201964 said:

I have a 04 TD4 and think its a great machine. A few faults but no bad, easily fixed. Love the driving position and the drive. Great in bad weather and snow. Engine is reliable very. MPG 35 on long run, about 30 on short trips. As soon as I drove mine feel for it couldn't believe and good it felt.

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That happened as soon as i took the test drive it was the first time i have driven one and instantly thought "im buying this", been driving a vw caddy for the last 2 years and there is no comparison, the mpg is a lot better than i expected, drove it back from manchester to newcastle and cost £25 and that was doing 80 all the way (with the noise lol), i cant use it at the minute thoe as have to get the windows tinted as im using it for work so will be putting tools in the back, just started snowing up here tonight so will hopefully have it on the road mid next week..

Before you spend ANY money on it make sure your rear prop is in place! if not then the seller was probably disguising serious transmission problems!

No point getting your windows tinted if your IRD is fecked! I'm assuming that you didn't read any of the info that was posted when you first asked about buying one? You need to go back to the first reply on this thread and ready everything he posted. Just to give you a flavour, if you ignore a seized VCU you can expect to be paying upwards of £3000 to have a garage fix your IRC, rear diff and VCU. So get it sorted before you do anything else. A rumble at speed can be a very black omen for a Freelander so see to it now.

Sorry to sound harsh but I'm being cruel to be kind. I'm hoping your haven't bought a lemon but I'm afraid that's what tends to happen to uninformed new Freelander owners . Learn from this and you'll love the car.

Will.

Just checked and the diff and both props are in place, there is another post called "bad vibration" which is the same problem i am having and they are all pointing to vcu, will take off the back prop and see if that stops the noise!

aaron69 said:

Just checked and the diff and both props are in place, there is another post called "bad vibration" which is the same problem i am having and they are all pointing to vcu, will take off the back prop and see if that stops the noise!

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i learnt the hard way by ignoring it and blew the diff up, if i was you mate id get the rear prop off pretty sharpish

little1uk said:

i learnt the hard way by ignoring it and blew the diff up, if i was you mate id get the rear prop off pretty sharpish

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Was yours doing the same as mine vibrating at speed?

aaron69 said:

Was yours doing the same as mine vibrating at speed?

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It's vibrating at speed because it is probably seizing up. Did you read the "what does my VCU do" article? It explains how your VCU can fail and what symptoms you will have. Fortunately, if it's only your VCU then it's only £230 for a reconditioned one if you fit it yourself.

Also, what tyres are on the car? Are they all the same size and make? Is the wear even across all four? If not you may need new tyres, again that atricle will explain why .

Will.

Here's a quote from another thread this morning you might find illuminating :

To be fair the exploding diff was me being a cock and ignoring the VCU vibration, so i put that down to me letting the car down rather than the car letting me down, lesson learnt

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aaron69 said:

Was yours doing the same as mine vibrating at speed?

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yuuuup and trust me ya wanna get the prop off asap, no point in doing anymore damage if its preventable, for me there was no more warning sign, it didnt get worse, it didnt get louder but then bang the diff exploded and there i sat with it marking it territory with hot oil

Where about's in Newcastle are you mate

Hmm not going to use it then until i get it checked out, i should have read up a lot more before i bought it, it has to reach over 75 before the vibration starts and the test drive was along thin country lanes so was hard to put my foot down. Hi mate i live in dunston in gateshead
The wear on the tyres is the same as i checked that before i bought it, not sure if all tyres the same etc will have to check it tomorrow.

Took the freelander to 2 different garages today, the vibration noise has stopped?? First garage the guy took it for a drive and said all seemed ok, then he said he can feel something and was saying something about the gearbox diff? he said you can feel it when you knock the gears down, he said to find out the cause it will need to be stripped and could cost up to £1000 to sort it.
Second mechanic who i have known for a couple of years took it on a 20 minute drive along motorways etc and said there is nothing wrong with it and its the smoothest freelander 1 he has ever driven?? Hmm i am baffled, the first guy did advise me to just sell it so it wasnt like he was after getting the work! A might see someone else tomorrow and get a 3rd opinion but the vibrating has gone, mind i was driving back from manchester when it started so maybe it takes time for it to start doing it, anyone had similar experience with this? The freelander had been standing on the last owners drive for a couple of month as they bought a new one so the second guy says the noise could have been because of that! Very Confused!!

Did you take the prop off? That will have helped stop the vibration perhaps. Look, Freelanders are odd, damned odd, and most mechanics just aren't savvy about the ins and outs.

Give Bell Engineering a call and talk to them, and it will probably be well worth a tank of fuel to take it to them for a checkup unles you live on the Hebrides. They are THE experts on Freelander transmission and they will ferret out your problem in a heartbeat. That's the best advice I can give you. At the very least call them and have a chat, it'll cost nothing to get their advice.

Hi, no i never ended up taking the prop off as i am still driving my caddy so didnt want to use it untill i got it looked at, i might just take my chances with it, i only plan to keep it for a year so depends how bad the odds are of something happening in that time, thanks for the advice i will give bell engineering a call tomorrow. Where are bell engineering based at?

aaron69 said:

might just take my chances with it

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Ok, I will try to make this as plain as possible as I'm not sure you're taking the situation seriously enough: take the prop of now and get the vcu tested properly or you won't have a Freelander for up to a year.

The IRD could blow on your next trip to the shops, why risk it mate? Why? There's a reason that we all brick it at the sign of the faintest ruble or vibrations, the parts alone in a transmission failure often equal the value of the whole damn car.

I'm not trying to make you do anything, but if you do nothing about the situation then you will effectively write off the car for the sake of twenty minutes with a spanner. If you can't do it, get the garage to do it I'm sure they can handle that.

Bell are in Worcs, contact details here.

It might all be nothing and it could just turn out to be a fecked bearing, but are you willing to take a £3000 gamble on that? Good luck with Bell, you'll be in good hands.

My V6 is the same. When it first hits about 70-75 it vibrates loudly.
But that goes after about a minute and then it's fine all day.
I was assuming it was the prop bearings as the same happened to an XDi I had a few years ago, at about the same mileage.
Incidentally, I've still got the prop from that one in my garage if anyone wants it; the gaitor (boot?) at the front is split and the bearings need replacing but the VCU was fine when I took it off. Won't fit mine though so seems daft to keep it.

[Edit]
That's not an advert by the way - it's free if someone wants to collect it - risk all yours though...
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aaron,

you wisely joined this forum and asked the collected brains of hundreds of folks who collectively have driven millions of miles in these vehicles.

I think it would be unwise to ignore the sound advice you have received.

First off are all the tyres the same brand and size, as well as the same depth of tread? If not then you may have a mis-match problem.

As has been said the vibration may only be a pair of VCU mounts which cost £32.

Or it could be the actual VCU itself which is around £250 including a new set of mounts.

At the speeds you are apparantly going to be driving at, if you neglect a basic garage check of the above items, you're at high risk of becoming Freelander-less.

But it's your money, and your car, so do as you think best.

Good luck,

Singvogel.

Thanks for the advice and i am going to follow it up, had a search on the net and threre is a land rover service centre less than a mile away from where i live on a busy industrial estate so first thing tomorrow morning i am going in with it and get it booked in and have the vcu tested, dont have time to mess about with it myself working 12 hour days and dont fancy lying on the ground in minus temperatures tryin to get rusty bolts off something i have never worked on before, replaced tons of wishbones, engine mounts etc on cars but this 4wd just sounds like an absolute nightmare so good chance i would end up making it worse, regret buying the dam thing now but thanks for all the advice

aaron69 said:

Thanks for the advice and i am going to follow it up, had a search on the net and threre is a land rover service centre less than a mile away from where i live on a busy industrial estate so first thing tomorrow morning i am going in with it and get it booked in and have the vcu tested, dont have time to mess about with it myself working 12 hour days and dont fancy lying on the ground in minus temperatures tryin to get rusty bolts off something i have never worked on before, replaced tons of wishbones, engine mounts etc on cars but this 4wd just sounds like an absolute nightmare so good chance i would end up making it worse, regret buying the dam thing now but thanks for all the advice

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A wise decision. :clap2:
I doubt that you will regret buying it when the snow arrives. Note I said 'when' not 'if'.

S.

I am actually looking forward to the snow now! :clap2:
Went to land rover this morning and one of the mechanics took it for a drive, the verdict was vcu is fine but both prop bearings should be replaced soon and the back passenger side tyre is different size, the rest are 103H at the end and that one is 98 i am no expert on tyres as you can tell, so all in all im over the moon, was beginning to worry like hell about it. Land Rover quoted me £300 to supply and fit both bearings, they said the bearings are £80 each but there are cheaper ones out there but they fail after a year? Anyways all in all a good result, thanks to everyone for all the advice and now my mind is finally at rest at least until something else comes up lol

aaron69 said:

I am actually looking forward to the snow now! :clap2:
Went to land rover this morning and one of the mechanics took it for a drive, the verdict was vcu is fine but both prop bearings should be replaced soon and the back passenger side tyre is different size, the rest are 103H at the end and that one is 98 i am no expert on tyres as you can tell, so all in all im over the moon, was beginning to worry like hell about it. Land Rover quoted me £300 to supply and fit both bearings, they said the bearings are £80 each but there are cheaper ones out there but they fail after a year? Anyways all in all a good result, thanks to everyone for all the advice and now my mind is finally at rest at least until something else comes up lol

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OK then - you know are in a better position to decide what to do.

If the only difference between the tyres is the load rating - that does not matter at all. It's the tyre width and profile that need to be identical. Also the ones with the biggest diameter (more tread) need to be on the rear.

As for the bearings - you were given correct info - but not all the info.

Yes - the VCU bearings that you can buy from a LR dealer are £80 each - they come in a Landrover green and white box, are made by GKN and have FAG bearings in them.
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There is a lot of suspect unbranded rubbish on the internet - but .......

You can get exactly the same bearings from Foundry4X4 - made by GKN, with the same FAG bearings - but in a blue and white GKN box - for £32 a pair.

Any decent garage should be able to fit them for you.

Glad to hear that there is nothing seriously wrong.

Singvogel.