Freelander 1 Whining/grinding clutch.

Hi all, new here, been reading these forums for a while now and finally joined!

I bought my Hippo a few year ago after deciding my Rover MG wasn't up to the task of frequent green-laning and possibly beyond that so I sold her to a canny bloke from Chester-le-Street.

It's a 2002 GS TD4, and the only major and worrying problems so far has been the noise when de-pressing the clutch.

I got stuck in about 2 foot of mud about 2 months ago as I quite frequently use it in some pretty bad conditions and ever since then it has made a kind of whining/whirring sound when pressing the clutch down.

Recently I can feel a slight grinding/straining vibration through my foot when changing gears, along with the whining noise and today my clutch pedal suddenly dropped about 2 inches and sprang back up by itself.

It's going in to my local garage next week so I'll update as soon as possible.

Cheers!

Si

Hi Simon, welcome to the forum. Can't help with your TD4 clutch - although I believe there was a fairly recent thread with the same issue.

One thread you might like to have a read of that might save a whole load of pain, grief and expense if you're not aware of the Freelander's ability to chew up its transmission, is this one...

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/tests-new-freelander-owners-should-do-on-their-car.312863/

I suspect your release bearing seized, and has worn through the fingers of the clutch plate

Worn release bearing..

No doubt..

Thanks guys, seems to be pointing that way, I got the feeling that this is going to be a gear box off job + DMF and all the trimmings. At a 196k miles now so I think a new clutch is well in order! And thanks GrumpyGel for the new owners link.

Simon Fox said:

At a 196k miles now so I think a new clutch is well in order!

Click to expand...

At that miles, it's already had one clutch, maybe even two.

Just following up on this: The release bearing was disintegrated, so everything was replaced new including DMF, by the looks of it, the previous owner had the last clutch job done as a half arse one; which is a bit mental considering the work involved. But it's all done now with a 12k warranty. £800 + VAT from a trusted garage that I have been taking my sheds to for years. The job itself is an absolute pain in the arse and many avoid to do the job, so well done to those who have the balls to do it!

Simon Fox said:

Just following up on this: The release bearing was disintegrated, so everything was replaced new including DMF, by the looks of it, the previous owner had the last clutch job done as a half arse one; which is a bit mental considering the work involved. But it's all done now with a 12k warranty. £800 + VAT from a trusted garage that I have been taking my sheds to for years. The job itself is an absolute pain in the arse and many avoid to do the job, so well done to those who have the balls to do it!

Click to expand...

Jesus a grand to get a clutch fitted ?
Bout twice the value of the car but hey what can you do ?
Has it got a duo mass flywheel jobby on that model ?

Yup, unfortunately the pangs of the TD4, not sure if it balances out the Head Gasket problems of the K-series engine ( which I had with with Rover MG-ZT = £800) but the clutch is much cheaper the on Freelander petrol to replace.

Simon Fox said:

Yup, unfortunately the pangs of the TD4, not sure if it balances out the Head Gasket problems of the K-series engine ( which I had with with Rover MG-ZT = £800) but the clutch is much cheaper the on Freelander petrol to replace.

Click to expand...

yes it does a td4 clutch and dmf can be fixed k series issues will allways be a worry

Simon Fox said:

Yup, unfortunately the pangs of the TD4, not sure if it balances out the Head Gasket problems of the K-series engine ( which I had with with Rover MG-ZT = £800) but the clutch is much cheaper the on Freelander petrol to replace.

Click to expand...

Gulp, I think my clutch is on it's last legs ( high biting point ) was hoping it would be a couple of hundred lol.

TD4 and L Series clutches are completely different.

L Series ones are a lot cheaper - but its still a gearbox (and IRD) out job so there's plenty of labour to factor in if you don't do it yourself, and probably a weekend out of your life if you do it yourself.