What have you done to your Freelander today

...Gave it away!

I am now officially Freelanderless. I have donated it to my dad, as it was better than his car and I don't think he'll be driving for much longer. 2 years ago, when my wife's X-Trail was written-off in a crash and she was injured, it became a stop-gap towcar, but now she's driving again and has an automatic Kodiaq. Despite the Freelander having been something of a money pit, I was surprised at how attached to it I became. It never actually "failed to proceed" and I ended up feeling that they were actually much maligned by the motoring press and the public in general. In many ways, it was a better car than the X-Trail in fact!

kernowsvenski said:

To be fair, it's about time I called in and checked out this new fangled machine you've got now, and sort the mirror finally. We could save Jay the hassle of posting too.

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No problem. I'm on the final straight with the bathroom refit, so will have more spare time soon.
I've dug out the mirror, and found a new waterproof sensor for it. I can run a diagnostic on your SRS, and you can take a look at my FL2.

Ignored the noise coming from my aux belt this week. About a mile from home there was a louder noise from the engine bay, on inspection the aux belt was loose but pulleys were still turning. Decided to nurse it home, onroute the belt caught on something and tore itself up. Had the do the last few hundred yards with no power steering or vacuum assist. Luckily it's an L series so it doesn't get hot.
Got it home and had a look, tensioner pulley had fallen apart. There seems to be a little bit of damage to the cambelt covers but otherwise it seems ok.



So this weekend I will be borrowing the tensioner and belt from my off the road Rover 25 until the replacement part arrives. Might figure out a way to repair the hole in that cambelt cover as well.

Wonk said:

There seems to be a little bit of damage to the cambelt covers but otherwise it seems ok.

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That's lucky, as it's possible for a failed aux belt to take out the timing belt.

Nodge68 said:

That's lucky, as it's possible for a failed aux belt to take out the timing belt.

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Yeah I did read that on here just now. I'm planning to take it out and rebuild it at some point in the next few years. It going to need the timing belt done soon anyway and I think the rings are starting to leak a bit. You could inflate tyres from the breather pipe. That plan was almost brought forward today.

Avocet1 said:

...Gave it away!

I am now officially Freelanderless. I have donated it to my dad, as it was better than his car and I don't think he'll be driving for much longer. 2 years ago, when my wife's X-Trail was written-off in a crash and she was injured, it became a stop-gap towcar, but now she's driving again and has an automatic Kodiaq. Despite the Freelander having been something of a money pit, I was surprised at how attached to it I became. It never actually "failed to proceed" and I ended up feeling that they were actually much maligned by the motoring press and the public in general. In many ways, it was a better car than the X-Trail in fact!

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i'll be sorry to see you leave the freelander fraternity, but I'm glad you've enjoyed the vehicle, and I think it's really nice what you've done, giving it to your father is a nice thing to do. I did something similar a couple of years ago for my dad, I built him a Peugeot 1007, which has electric sliding doors, so is really easy for an old person to get in and out of. Perhaps that could be your dads next car after the freelander becomes too much for him?

Done nothing on the FL1 today. Been busy with the boy's new motor though. I wonder how reliable all this new tech will be...

Fitted a new thermostat, the second I've had to fit since owning my FL2.

Had to do it in 3 stages to dodge the rain/hail...!!

kernowsvenski said:

Done nothing on the FL1 today. Been busy with the boy's new motor though. I wonder how reliable all this new tech will be...

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I don't know how reliable it'll be, but it'll be old tech before I could afford one.

Enjoy the kids while they're young, as they'll be leaving for university before you know it.

@kernowsvenski Good to see you starting the lad in the faith of the green oval, at least that one won't rust up / need welded together in a few years As @Nodge68 says, enjoy these days, they really do grow up fast, my eldest is already splitting the difference between my missus in terms of height, and it only seems like a couple of offshore trips since he was crawling in the lawn trying to eat the lawn clovers.

Jayridium said:

i'll be sorry to see you leave the freelander fraternity, but I'm glad you've enjoyed the vehicle, and I think it's really nice what you've done, giving it to your father is a nice thing to do. I did something similar a couple of years ago for my dad, I built him a Peugeot 1007, which has electric sliding doors, so is really easy for an old person to get in and out of. Perhaps that could be your dads next car after the freelander becomes too much for him?

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Thanks for those kind words! I might pop in every now and then for advice though. I suspect that whilst I've given it away, I've probably also unwittingly entered into a lifetime maintenance contract! My dad is a mechanic, so he's been used to working on cars all his life, but these days, lacks the strength and flexibility to get under them. He's hurt his back, so I thought the extra height of the seating position would be good. His current car is an absolute dog of a Citroen Xantia, and he was really struggling to get out of it the other day. The Xantia's MOT is up in July, and I suspect it will fail, so maybe the Landy will become its permanent replacement.

Avocet1 said:

Thanks for those kind words! I might pop in every now and then for advice though. I suspect that whilst I've given it away, I've probably also unwittingly entered into a lifetime maintenance contract! My dad is a mechanic, so he's been used to working on cars all his life, but these days, lacks the strength and flexibility to get under them. He's hurt his back, so I thought the extra height of the seating position would be good. His current car is an absolute dog of a Citroen Xantia, and he was really struggling to get out of it the other day. The Xantia's MOT is up in July, and I suspect it will fail, so maybe the Landy will become its permanent replacement.

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Stick around, and get the old chap signed up to LZ too. He's got a much better home in an FL1 than a Xantia.

kernowsvenski said:

Stick around, and get the old chap signed up to LZ too. He's got a much better home in an FL1 than a Xantia.

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I shall try, but he's the wrong side of 80 now, and has never really got to grips with "computers" I expect I might be asking things on his behalf though!

Yesterday finally replaced bushings on tie rod kkh000070. Very easy job, but it was no easy to find correct bushings

Bought the Freelander fleet a new friend in the shape of a Mk1 Cortina GT.

andyfreelandy said:

Bought the Freelander fleet a new friend in the shape of a Mk1 Cortina GT.

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Lovely. The Mk1 Cortina is a lovely looking vehicle, and the GT is the nicest to drive.

I'm hoping to get my Avenger GT on the road in the next couple of years, so we could have a GT meet in the future.

Indeed !

However, the steering wheel has weirdly been attached to the passenger side so some work to do !!

andyfreelandy said:

Indeed !

However, the steering wheel has weirdly been attached to the passenger side so some work to do !!

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Not difficult like a modern car though. Even the wiring harness has just a few wires to move about.

andyfreelandy said:

Indeed !

However, the steering wheel has weirdly been attached to the passenger side so some work to do !!

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Careful matey - that suggests it's a friday afternoon build!!! So you'd best go over it with a fine tooth comb as if they put the steering on the wrong side, god only knows what else they goofed when they built it!

Bought a IRD and rear diff

Going to strip them and rebuild them as spares for the Mrs motor